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Major Contract Considerations <br /> <br />One of the biggest changes from a "standard" sergeants contract versus our <br />proposal is that the sergeants are moving to exempt status. This means that <br />they will not be eligible for overtime pay and that they are truly moving into <br />a management position. The typical contract in other cities for sergeants is <br />very similar to the contract for the regular officers and includes payment for <br />overtime hours worked. It was important to us (the management team - Lori <br />Johnson, Tom Zerwas, Jeff Beahen, Ann, and me) to move these positions <br />into the exempt status to reinforce their management and supervisory <br />responsibilities. Of course in exchange for this exempt status, the city paid <br />for a certain amount of overtime hours. The city's offer to the union is 3 <br />percent wage increase per year, but an additional 6 percent increase if (and <br />when) they move to exempt status. Essentially the city is paying for 83 hours <br />of overtime per sergeant in the contract and history has indicated that all of <br />the sergeants work for more than this amount of overtime hours. Use of <br />compensation time by the sergeants will be the same as it is for all other <br />exempt employees. <br /> <br />Another issue in this contract that needs to be discussed with the City <br />Council is that the Wage Incentive Program (WIP) will be based on the <br />sergeant's pay versus the current guidelines that call for the WIP to be based <br />on the top patrol officer's pay. However, the city has negotiated that future <br />sergeants will not be eligible for WIP and the program will be phased out as <br />the four current sergeants retire. <br /> <br />Another component of the contract to be reviewed is that we are going to a <br />Start, end of 2 years, and end of 4 years pay plan. This is different from the <br />current pay plan of Start, 3, 5 and also different from the normal police <br />sergeant contract in other communities that calls for a Start 1, 3 pay plan. <br />(The police officers are on a Start, 1, 2, and 3 year plan.) Essentially we <br />moved down slightly from where we were, but we remain above the normal <br />sergeant contract in terms of how many years it takes to get to the top of the <br />pay plan and also when the first pay increase is received. <br /> <br />Additional Issue <br /> <br />This was a difficult financial contract to negotiate, as we were already <br />concerned about the pay differential between the sergeant and the assistant <br />chief positions. Depending upon the amount of overtime earned, it was <br />conceivable that a sergeant could earn more than the assistant chief and yet <br />actually work less hours. (We were close to this situation in 1999.) While the <br />proposal before the council will get the sergeants within about 4 percent of <br /> <br /> <br />