City Council revisits concerns on City Employee Pay Plan and Fire Fighter Agility Test
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Eagle Pass City Council revisited the City employees concerns regarding the City Employee Pay Plan and the Fire Fighter Agility Test in a lively discussion during their special meeting held on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at City Hall in Eagle Pass, Texas.
In earlier City Council meetings previously reported, Eagle Pass Police and Fire Departments employees raised concerns regarding the City Employee Pay Plan not being completed and consequently negatively affecting their salary pay. One of the problems is that not all job descriptions have been completed for the City Employee Pay Plan, particularly the Police and Fire Departments. Another issue is the Fire Fighter Agility Test required by the City Fire Department causing injuries to Fire Fighters. City Council has previously requested City Administration to handle and resolve these City employees concerns.
During the February 24th City Council meeting review of Departmental Reports, City Councilwoman Gloria E. Hernandez asked City Human Resources Director Isabel Perez: “Last month (January), I requested some information on some letters that were sent by some fire fighters and I was given a response that was generated around a week or two weeks ago (February). Mrs. Barrientos signed it. Was that generated by you and Mrs. Barrientos signing it or was it Mrs. Barrientos?”
Human Resources Director Isabel Perez answered that the letter was submitted to the City Manager, Fire Chief, and Human Resources Department. “It was the exact same letter so the response came from administration,” said Perez.
“Did Former Fire Chief Rodriguez file any answer or give any response?”, asked Hernandez.
“He provided a lot of the information that has been in review by administration and the legal department,” replied Perez.
“In response to the request?,” asked Hernandez. “Yes,” said Perez.
“Did he provide any answers to the employees?”, asked Hernandez. “That I don’t know,” said Perez. City Councilwoman Hernandez requested Perez to provide her with a copy of the letter. Perez advised Hernandez that she had not received anything.
Mayor Ramsey English Cantu questioned why did it take so long to respond to City Council’s request for information or an answer on a question. Perez replied that it just depended on the issue or concern and the documents availability.
“Was any concern brought to administration by former Fire Chief Rodriguez in regards to this?”, asked Hernandez. “In regards to the agility test,” asked Perez.
“No in regards to responding to the employees. It is about the agility test. How did we respond to the employees?”, asked Hernandez.
City Manager Gloria Barrientos replied to Councilwoman Hernandez: “To the ones who submitted the letter, I met with one of the employees who had an issue. I met with him along with at the time Fire Chief Rodriguez and Assistant Chief Mello and Human Resources. We basically wanted to see what they were requesting was it more time for the agility test, was it a concern to remove the agility test. So basically the meetings we had was to see what they were requesting.”
Hernandez asked if it had occurred before or after the letter. Barrientos answered that it had occurred before the letters.”It was before the letter and at the time that they handed out the letter,” said Barrientos.
“We did respond to them and informed them that we would not be able to respond to their questions within the 5 days that they were requesting. And then we had various meetings with legal in regards to some of their concerns as far as allowing more time, doing away with it, doing a different type of test, trying to find out how all this came about, what we could do about it, how it would be fair to everyone,” said Barrientos.
Hernandez noted that there were only four questions on the letter and that the City had not responded to it until February.
Barrientos concurred with Hernandez and explained the process that needed to be followed before an appropriate response.
Hernandez then inquired into the issues with the employee pay plan and its implementation.
“There was a concern with some officers regarding the pay plan. It’s been about two meetings since we discussed that and we left with a directive to get it fixed. Did it get fixed?,” asked Hernandez.
Lt. Alejandro Guedea, Jr. stated that they had submitted the job descriptions of the police officers, dispatchers, and Sergeant positions and that the only ones not yet done were the job descriptions for Lieutenants. “My question is did it get resolved?”, asked Hernandez. “No, we haven’t had return on that,” answered Lt. Guedea.
Mayor Pro-Tem Luis E. Sifuentes jumped in and stated that the City Employee Pay Plan had been approved and that it was in effect. “What used to be the starting pay is no longer the starting pay because we did away with it. I think there is a misconception here that the job descriptions are going to promote somebody and it’s not,” said Sifuentes.
Sifuentes then used the Lieutenant position as an example without a job description that if a description was to be set that it would not warrant an increase in pay. Lt. Guedea concurred with Sifuentes. “I think we need to clarify the pay plan is in motion. It’s been in motion since we adopted it,” added Sifuentes.
Mayor Cantu noted that the City Employee Pay Plan has been in effect for those individuals who have received their job descriptions and who have been evaluated through the job chart that would allow them to know where their rate is. “There are employees as a member of that committee who has not been finalized on that particular plan,” said Mayor Cantu.
Mayor Cantu then added that he was glad that the department had submitted their job descriptions. “But I have yet to be called on as a member of that committee to review them because that is the process. Or at least that is the process that I have always been eluded to understand is what we are doing,” said Mayor Cantu.“I don’t believe we have had a meeting to finalize that,” added Mayor Cantu.
Mayor Cantu then added that he didn’t know when those descriptions were submitted to Human Resources or City Administration but that the process has not continued thoroughly throughout the city. “This is not only in the Police Department, but there are other departments that are having the same issue,” said Mayor Cantu.
Mayor Cantu noted that there were other city employees that had spoken to him over the issues and that he knew that Human Resources had been made aware of the situation.
“The issue is have they resolved it? They have been dealing with it for a year,” said Mayor Cantu. “I don’t think that is fair to any employee to have to be waiting on to whether their payment or their pay scale is going to be verified within that time frame. It’s not right,” said Mayor Cantu.
“We are dealing with over 320 employees who ultimately deserve to make sure that those pay rates are set,” said Mayor Cantu.
Sifuentes stated that what was needed was a list of the employees who haven’t had their pay rate set. “What we adopted was based on where they were at. If the directors are coming up with new descriptions and upping the promotional stages that are available then we need, to push those directors to put that information in,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Sifuentes.
Sifuentes opined that the way the city employee pay plan was set was to bring up the starting pay and those who were underpaid be brought up to par. “It was understood that some people were going to get a bump and some were not. I understood that,” said Sifuentes.
“I also understood through that process that there was to be an evaluation merit pay that hasn’t taken effect when we approved this plan,” said Mayor Cantu.
“I don’t remember that but I do know that it was based on the stages and if it’s something that we need to bring back to City Council, I think we need to,” said Sifuentes.
Cantu agreed that it did needs to be brought back to City Council. “We need to bring this to a conclusion,” said Mayor Cantu.
Hernandez stated that her concern was that the employees are thinking that their concerns are not being addressed and given closure by City Administration and City Council.
City Council agreed to hold a Council workshop on the City Employee Pay Plan and bring it back to City Council for approval and finalization
Many city employees, particularly within the Police and Fire Departments, are discontent and upset that the City Employee Pay Plan has not been completed and finalized, affecting their salary pay. The City Council approved the City Employee Pay Plan in December 2013 and it has yet to be completed and finalized. Various City Administration Departments and Directors have been going back and forth as to whose fault or responsibility it is that the City Employee Pay Plan has not been completed and fully implemented. City Councilwoman Gloria E. Hernandez is pressing City Administration to complete and finalized the City Employee Pay Plan for the benefit of all City employees.
