STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Public Safety
AGENDA DATE: October 26, 2022
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S): N/A
DEPARTMENT: City Manager’s Office
EXECUTIVE: Jon Fortune
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SUBJECT
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Authorize (1) the ratification of a meet and confer agreement between the City of Dallas and the Dallas Black Firefighters Association, Dallas Hispanic Fire Fighters Association, Dallas Fire Fighters Association, Black Police Association of Greater Dallas, National Latino Law Enforcement Organization, and the Dallas Police Association (collectively, the Meet and Confer Team); and (2) the City Manager to execute the agreement, approved as to form by the City Attorney, to be effective October 26, 2022 through September 30, 2025 - Not to exceed $111,063,230.00 - Financing: General Fund (subject to annual appropriations)
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BACKGROUND
Chapter 147 of the Texas Local Government Code, as amended, authorizes police and fire sworn employee groups to meet with designated city management teams to discuss employment matters such as wages, benefits, and working conditions.
This process, called “meet and confer", provides an opportunity for police and fire sworn employee groups and city management to reach an agreement on important employment issues. Unlike collective bargaining, meet and confer provides an opportunity, not a requirement, for the city to reach an agreement with its police and fire sworn employee groups.
Under Chapter 147 of the Texas Local Government Code, as amended, a meet and confer agreement must be in writing and ratified through a voting process by all sworn police and fire officers and the city council.
The city’s current meet and confer agreement expired on September 30, 2022. Over the past few months, staff has been meeting with the Meet and Confer Team to negotiate the terms of a new agreement on a range of issues, including wages and working conditions. After completing deliberations, the parties have reached consensus for a new three-year agreement.
The agreement maintains a market-based pay structure based on a survey of comparator cities with enhancements to continue promoting the recruitment and retention of police officers and firefighters. Step pay adjustments as well as annual market-based pay adjustments are contemplated in each year of the agreement’s three-year term. The following is a summary of the major changes and enhancements to the agreement. All other existing articles remain substantively unchanged.
Article 2 Definitions:
• Includes additional definitions to provide further clarity to the agreement.
Article 3 Operational Improvement Initiatives:
• Increases the frequency of meetings between the departmental chiefs and the departmental work groups from every other month to once per month.
Article 7 Wages:
• Adds the single function paramedic rank to the pay structure equivalent to the rank of fire-rescue officer if the single function paramedic rank is implemented.
• Changes the timing of an officer’s market-based pay adjustment from the officer’s step eligibility date to January 1 (if market-based pay is implemented).
• Maintains step pay adjustments on an officer’s step eligibility date.
• Collapses the steps for senior corporal, fire-rescue driver engineer, and senior fire prevention officer for fiscal year 2024-2025 to eliminate overlap in the pay steps from the previous ranks.
• Releases the city from liability on any claim that was brought or that could have been brought in the lawsuit involving Article 7 of the 2019 meet and confer agreement.
Article 8 Education, Certification, Assignment and Other Special Pays:
• Allows firefighters to receive three certification or assignment pays for which they are eligible instead of two.
• Decreases the years of experience to qualify for certain thresholds of EMS assignment pay for fiscal year 2024-2025.
• Adds special pays for the SWAT Unit and the Explosive Ordinance Squad.
• Expands eligibility for patrol duty assignment pay to sergeants and senior corporals with a minimum of 6 total years of service to receive patrol duty assignment pay, rather than only police officers with a minimum of 6 years of service.
Article 12 Trainee Fire-Rescue Officers and Trainee Fire Prevention Officers:
• Gives DFR the ability to send recruits to paramedic school prior to completing training at the academy, rather than only after the recruit has graduated from the academy.
Article 15 Catastrophic Leave Program:
• The catastrophic leave program, which was previously Article 15, was removed due to the addition of compassionate leave to the city’s personnel rules.
Article 18 (formerly Article 19) Modified Hiring Process for Lateral Entry Officers:
• Amended to allow DFR to create a lateral hire program.
Article 23 Process to Discuss Interpretation of this Agreement:
• New article added to provide a process for management and the Meet and Confer Team to discuss and potentially resolve differing interpretations of the meet and confer agreement.
Upon ratification by police officers and firefighters, the 2022-2025 agreement will be presented to City Council on October 26, 2022. It is recommended that the City Council approve the agreement and authorize the City Manager to enter into the agreement.
PRIOR ACTION/REVIEW (COUNCIL, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS)
On February 24, 2010, City Council authorized the initial recognition of the 2010 Police and Fire Meet and Confer Team, and authorized establishment of a management meet and confer team by Resolution No. 10-0534.
City Council ratified and authorized Meet and Confer Agreements in the following years:
• September 1, 2010 - three years by Resolution No. 10-2259
• December 11, 2013 - three years by Resolution No. 13-2060
• December 14, 2016 - three years by Resolution No. 16-2002
• December 12, 2018 - the 2016 Agreement was amended to incorporate additional pay by Resolution No. 16-2002
• September 18, 2019 - Three years by Resolution No. 19-1460
The Public Safety Committee was briefed by memorandum regarding this matter on October 11, 2022. <https://cityofdallas.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11295551&GUID=8A94DA54-8B64-4C15-BA0B-A4CF0490E733>
FISCAL INFORMATION
General Fund - $111,063,230.00
Total cost to implement new pay schedules from 2022-2026 is a total of $111,063,230.00.
|
FY 2022-23 |
FY 2023-24 |
FY 2024-25 |
FY 2025-26 |
Total |
|
$38,131,135.00 |
$30,612,519.00 |
$32,296,208.00 |
$10,023,368.00 |
$111,063,230.00 |
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