Laserfiche WebLink
City Council Minutes <br />September 4, 2018 <br />Page 7 <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 Chiefs 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 be 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 />P01[O[1 OT <br />NATURE <br />