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City Council Minutes Page 7 <br /> September 4,2018 <br /> ----------------------------- <br /> ------------------------------ <br /> Council recessed at 7:52 p.m. in order to go into work session. Council reconvened <br /> at 7:57 p.m. <br /> 10.1 Former Fire Chief s Request for Duty Officer Pay <br /> Mr. Portner presented the staff report. He reviewed this item was brought to the <br /> Council at the July 16, 2018, Council work session,however, former Fire Chief Jon <br /> Cunningham was not able to attend. <br /> Mr. Cunningham addressed the Council. He stated his request for duty officer pay <br /> was not a legal issue it was an attempt to correct what he felt was a wrong during the <br /> beginning of his employment with Elk River. The Elk River Fire Department is at a <br /> different point in organization currently than it was in the past. He stated he did not <br /> feel he had the support of upper management and there were several changes in city <br /> administrators during this time. He realizes that as an exempt employee he is <br /> expected to work outside of normal business hours,but there seemed to be no <br /> beginning or end of the day. <br /> He felt he could not ask for the additional pay during the early days of his <br /> employment. He is proud of his time here and the firefighters who work for Elk <br /> River and doesn't feel he will be setting a precedent. Because Elk River is a paid-on- <br /> call fire department,the first responder out the door is a duty officer. <br /> Mayor Dietz understands there was a problem with the duty officer program in the <br /> past. He wondered what the response of upper management was when Mr. <br /> Cunningham brought up the issue. <br /> Mr. Cunningham understood, at the time,there was not an option for additional <br /> compensation for the additional time worked. His main focus was to get the <br /> program fixed and was hoping the issue would be resolved once positions were re- <br /> evaluated. Position evaluations continued to be delayed. <br /> Mayor Dietz stated having additional duties did not mean you received additional <br /> pay. <br /> Ms. Wipper said all of the directors are now in the same pay grade and have the same <br /> pay range. <br /> Mayor Dietz asked Mr. Cunningham for clarification if he performed duty officer <br /> shifts because no one else would do them and that,if he had not done the duty <br /> officer shifts,they would not have been done? <br /> Mr. Cunningham responded that the volunteer firefighters at the time would boycott <br /> and not perform duty officer shifts. <br /> UREJ <br />