May 5/04 Report

Present: Chad Collins, Phil Bruckler, Maria Pearson, Russ Powers, Dave Braden, Murray Ferguson (chair )

Also present: Dave Mitchell

Item 9.1 - Funding for School Crossing Guards Awards Banquet

Councillor Powers moved that this item be removed from the agenda because staff has decided that they will hold a reception for the crossing guards rather than a banquet, therefore $6,000 does not need to come out of the contingency fund.

Consent Item 5.1 - Authorization to Enter into Extension Agreements on Specific Properties for the Payment of Property Tax Arrears

If a property owner is three years in arrears paying taxes (or two years on unimproved property),  a certificate is registered by the Municipal Treasurer, and the owner then has one year to pay all amounts owing.  If he cannot pay in full, a new by-law gives the city advance authorization to enter into an Extension Agreement with the owner (the spouse of the owner, the mortgagee, or tenant).  The City cannot sell the land for tax arrears for a maximum period or 24 months, and the aforementioned parties then have an extended time to make regular monthly payments on these arrears.

Bruckler: It indicates that several individuals can request the extension.  Can the tenant actually commit the owner?  (Answer - No, if the tenant wants to pay the taxes on behalf of the owner, he can enter into the agreement.  The owner can step in and make the payments also, at any point in time).

Collins:  Formerly we had received reports that provided additional information in regards to the address, the name of the establishment and the owners....is that available for council's information?  Oftentimes we find out what brownfield properties are on the horizon because of this list.  I'd be interested in knowing who has the highest amount of arrears.  (Answer- We could do a separate report on that..the top ten or top fifty worst offenders.)  An e-mail would suffice.

Bruckler: In the case of an extension, what happens if there's a default with respect to a payment during that time period?  (Answer: If they enter into an extension agreement, it stops the clock ticking.  They have one year from the date that we register it before we can go to tax sale, so if it was on the 364th day ... and as soon as they default on a payment, the clock starts again.  Once they default, then after a day we could technically put the property up for tax sale.)

Staff Presentations - 7.1 - City of Hamilton Workforce Profile/Demographic Report

This report was prepared and presented by Mark Amorisi.  Basically it presents demographic information relating to the age and gender of city workers, full time equivalent and headcount figures, ratios between union and non-union, management to non-management and supervisor to supervised, turnover, job changes, new hires and workplace health and safety/wellness.  It covers all City departments but not Police, HECFI and the Library. 

Some of the important highlights are:

1. The average age of a regular full time City worker is 43 years, which is consistent with the national average for public servants.
   
   
2. Most City employees are between the ages of 40-49.
   
   
3. There are a relatively equal number of males and females.
   
   
4. Up to 68% of the workforce may be eligible to retire within the next 10 years.  The impact for the City could be significant.
   
   
5. There are 6,753 employees (regular and temporary, full and part-time).
   
   
6. Union to non-union distribution if 70% to 30% (86% to 14% for regular full time employees).
   
   
7. The management to non-management ratio is 1:32 .  The Human Resources Benchmarking Network areported a ratio of 1:18.32.
   
   
8. Employee turnover (6%) reflected the national average, however there was a significantly higher turnover rate at the senior levels in the organization since 2001.  In 2003, turnover for Manager, Director and GM levels were 13%, 25% and 26% respectively.
   
   
9. Total new hires for 2003 were 1552 employees.
   
   
10. Average absenteeism per employee was 6.8 days.  The national average in 2003 was 7.4 days and the provincial average was 6.4 days.
    
    
11. There were a total of 1324 workplace accidents.  While the nature of the accidents has remained constant, the total number has increased 6% over 2002.
    

Based on this information, the City is reponding as follows:

1. The Human Resource Strategy, to be presented to Council for approval in the second quarter of 2004, will support the City's efforts to attract, develop, motivate and retain high performing public servants.  This will be accomplished through initiatives in four areas: respectful and supportive workplace, leadership, learning and performance excellence.
   
   
2. The City is collaborating with other municipalities to conduct a comprehensive review of retirement options in an effort to retain organizational knowledge.
   
   
3. The City is implementing a new Attendance Support and Management Program which is intended to support employees in safe and early returns to work following occupational and non-occupational injury/illness.
   
   
4. Each department will target areas that have experienced increased workplace accidents and will be developing strategies to address issues through a combination of safety audits, preventative training and communication to all employees.
   

Collins: The ratio of supervisor to supervised, 1 to 12, that was a topic of discussion during the budget deliberations.  Do we have a corporate policy on an optimal number that we'd like to see?

Mark: There is no corporate policy..it's never advisable to have a one-size-fits-all approach to that.  Where you have situations where employees are doing very discreet kinds of different work, or higher level knowledge type work, those ratios are inherently small.

Collins: From a budget standpoint, how do we address those areas where we receive common complaints from the workforce that one area is management- or top-heavy compared to another part of the organization?

Peace: The issue is because we get a complaint from an employee, it doesn't necessarily mean that's true.  I think there's a huge danger in us starting to respond to people's perception rather than the fact.  If there are issues that require us to do an investigation, that would be appropriate to do.  Quite frankly we're fairly lean as an organization in that management aspect.

Collins: I guess what I need to know is what triggers that investigation?  How often do you go throught the process of trying to determine if, in fact, we do have the optimal number of supervisors to front line service providers?

Peace:  I think that's an excellent question.  We've had a number of reviews and reports back.  If council had a specific area that they wanted us to investigate, then we would take that as staff direction and do that investigation report after doing a comparison with other municipalities and other like services.

Collins: The other issue I have..the job-evaluation process and compensation.  Is there any opportunity to try to get at the whole issue of increased salaries as part of the JE process, understanding that we have obligations under pay equity.  It seems to be a vicious circle, whereas one position is increased, it triggers positions below it to be increased or re-evaluated, and it just seems that we're building this pyramid...and paying more for salaries, wages, and other types of benefits.  It's really not in the report, but it does have to do with why peole are leaving, retaining some of our most valued employees.  What does it cost us on an annual basis going throught that process?

Mark: 86% of the full time workforce are unionized and there are job-evaluation plans that are imbedded in each of the collective agreements..any changes would have to be done through collective bargaining.  For the non-union..there is an approved compensation plan where our salaries are set to be within a certain percentile to be competitive with a certain group of municipalities.  We could report back on overall costs.

Collins:  I talk to people in the organization and they look at another employee in another part and say they're doing the same job I'm doing, and they're one classification up, so I'm going to put in a JE review..it's just a vicious circle.  What do other municipalities do?  (Answer (Catharine Graham) We are having discussion with our unions.  Our preferred approach would be to have broader job classifications.  Our practices are very comparable to what's going on in other municipal sectors)

It seems there was little or no net loss of employees through the amalgamation process.  (Mark's answer - We can get that report to you)

Braden: Can I find out the cost of this study and the pending study and whether or not that was all done "in house" or whether you had to go outside?

Mark: We had an external consulting firm come in to assist us only with the consultation piece.  Since that time it has been led by our department and we've had representation from every other department. 

Braden:  Could I suggest you look at absenteeism. Publically we need to get at this.  Absenteeism on the Hamilton Mountain in arenas on Saturdays and Sundays..It's about 600% higher than it needs to be. 

Can you compare the ratio here (employees to population) to a comparable municipality, and the cost?

Bruckler: Could there be a tracking of each of the categories?  Glad to see the responses to the information that came out in the report. The new attendance support management program..is this something different?  (Answer - The old Attendance Management System was not being consistently applied, we have revisited this and the new plan will be more consistent.  We're doing a lot of work around attendance data..we're hoping to see improvement in those areas where absenteeism is driving cost, and that was some of what you heard about in the budget process.  We've just about completed a comprehensive review of our whole disability management, return to work protocols.)

The other thing that's somewhat revealing is the trends of turnover.  Is there a succession plan within the corporation?  (It's contemplated as part of the HR Strategy that's coming forward.  We have started laying the groundwork, but are still in the early stages.)

Mitchell: In the last few months there have been a resurgence of phone calls with regards to deamalgamation.  When I go back and look at the figures for 2001-04, that's 406 people increase employees...What was it before we started and what is it now, and here's a list of the reasons..we could hand this report card out to people.

Re Job Evaluation..when you start saying a person has to have a Masters for a job with the city to be in nutrition..that just drove up our costs..and that happened with the animal control officers..my phone hasn't stopped ringing over that one..they got a $9 pay increase because of job evaluation and that never came back to any committee...that's 45 employees getting a huge pay raise so we've got animal control officers at $50,000 a year..why could we not get that in this forum to talk about it together?..Something's missing in this process.  (Answer - We've pulled together a significant amount of information and hope to meet with you sometime soon.) 

"There were some other options we could have used here.  It just felt to us that it kind of got rammed down our throats..here's job evaluation, here it is, and your fees just went up $800,000 in one year..well the public would like to try to understand that."

I've heard many times that we have way too many job categories which is causing us an awful lot of grief.  I spoke to Gus Oliveira and they seem to be right on side with having more flexibility, more multi-tasking, but they haven't even been spoken to yet.  Now who's telling the truth here?  Where can we find those efficiencies?

Mark: We reviewed every job category in CUPE 5167 and developed a series of proposals that address what you're talking about.  Dave has raised the issue in bargaining and the president is also on side for that, but "the devil's in the details".  I'm not sure that they'll be able to come to an agreement during this set of negotiations.  They could get a letter of understanding that this project take place. 

Mitchell: Re the compression factor.  Every time we give a pay raise...the spread between management and front line employees gets wider.  In the rural area we did this compression twice to keep things on more of a workable basis together.  Can I get a report on that?  Is that so loony-tune coming from the rural area that we can't do that in the big city?  I'd like to see that considered for next year's budget process.

Pearson: Flex time...we don't have flex time at all in the City of Hamilton ?  It was a positive move in Stoney Creek. How far are we in reducing the number of job classifications?

Mark:  We have a number of flexible work arrangements...compressed work weeks, 4 days of work, the 5th not paid, job sharing etc...we do have a set of policies.

Catharine: Job classifications is a subject of bargaining.  It's premature for us to speculate.  (non union has been done)

Ferguson: 6.8% absenteeism..I was pleased with that, weren't you?  I thought it would be higher.  (Answer - I guess the ideal would be zero..we've spent a considerable amount of time to improve that number.)  Turnover rate, especially senior project manager and up, is very high.  Is that market driven, because of reorganization, mobility?  (Answer - A combination of all of them.  It's difficult to speculate.)  When you saw this data, did it raise any eyebrows for you?  (Answer - The most striking thing is the retirement projections.  We are already experiencing difficulty in recruiting for certain highly skilled positions.  We're trying to look at flexible retirement options.  Check out the new employee and perspective employee orientation website.  We're very proud of E-Rcruit which currently allows internal employees, and by June, anyone in the world to apply for positions in Hamilton on-line.  Research proves that the faster you can attract someone to your website or to your advertised positions, help to attract and retain.  What employees want is challenging and rewarding work.  They want to know the mission and values of the city, what learning opportunities are there for them..these are in the forefront of attracting and retaining staff.  Remuneration is not always #1. 

Powers: I was not surprised with the projections.  Universities and Dofasco are the same way.  It's an issue of planning.

Mitchell:  What I admired from the HSR side is what they call "employee wind-down" where they allow retirees to come back for 20 or 24 hours a week...that saved a lot in overtime and it was healthy for the retirees.  It seems to be working very well.  Why can't we start to implement that in City Hall.  (Answer - we are in the process of reviewing flexible retirement options, given the provincial promise to remove mandatory retirement age.)

Braden: I want to comment on challenging and rewarding work.  What I'm finding out, and I'm speaking in defence of unions, is that employees are coming forward and sayin, look, we don't want more money, we want more responsibility and maybe along with that some more respect.  I think there is a serious, serious communication problem...we need to work on communication between lower and senior levels..everybody's going to win..the knowledge base of employees is being minimized by higher-ups..they're thought to be mop pushers rather than people with creative ideas. 

Discussion Item 8.1 - Hamilton Hydro Inc. - Fair Credit Risk Regulation

Background:

Hamilton Hydro Inc. (HHI) earns its revenue by distributing Electricity to residential and commercial customers in Hamilton .  This distribution charge represents approximately 20% of the total residential hydro bill, 25% for small commercial customers and less than 1% for very large commercial customers. 

As for the rest of the hydro bill, generation charges go to generators such as OPGI, transmission charges belong to Hydro One, while the remaining non-distribution charges go to the provincial government.  Hamilton Hydro passes through these charges to its customers at cost, and is not entitled to the revenue related to this portion of a customer's bill and is not permitted to earn a profit ot otherwise mark-up this portion. 

Regulations imposed by the province through the Ontario Energy Board requires Local Distribution Companies such as HHI to bear the credit risk for the entire amount billed to its customers even though it retains only a relatively small portion of the overall bill.

In January 2004, as a result of the bankruptcy filing of Stelco, HHI suffered a $6.3MM credit loss of which only $72,000 represented its own distribution service charges.  HHI was required to remit the remaining $6.2MM, owing to generators, Hydro One and agencies/affiliates of the Province, despite the fact that this amount will not be collected from Stelco.

Recommendation:

That the province and the OEB be requested to enact regulation that:

1. Fairly allocates credit risk among participants in the electricity industry
2. Relieves Local Distribution Companies of the unfair and unreasonable burden of bearing credit risk for amounts billed to hydro customers for charges passed through LDCs by other industry participants
3. Allow LDCs to establish more favourable customer credit policies that mitigate risk only to the extent of the portion of the customer bills which represents revenue to LDCs

This motion was carried.

8.2 Citizen Protection Project

Presented by Caroline Fernandez. 

Recommendation:

That the City of Hamilton continue to partner with the United Nations Association - Hamilton Branch by providing services in kind of office space and equipment, and participation of stfff in the implementation of the pilot project in an amount estimated at $11,000.

(The first phase of the project was a pilot of the safe haven concept in one area of the city, for which the city has already provided $11,000.  Phase 2 is intended to provide expansion of the safe havens into additional areas of the city.  Phase 3 includes implementation of a help-line for people who need assistance but are unable to reach a safe haven or to provide telephone support to the safe havens themselves.  The goal of the project is to provide a community-based response to counter racial and hate crimes.)

The Downtown International BIA has embraced the project and is willing to provide pilot sites.  In fact, they would like to see a safe haven on every block.

This motion was carried.

8.3 Re-establishment of Citizen Volunteer Committees Reporting to the Corporate Administration Committee

Recommendation:

1. That 8 volunteer committees, with the membership indicated, be reestablished and report to the CAC:
2. That a subgroup of the CAC be appointed to conduct any required interviews, or appoint, for the selection of citizens for these committees:
3. That members of the CAC, at its discretion, be appointed to the volunteer committees within its jurisdiction.

Discussion:

Collins: To the best of my knowledge I don't believe we ever interviewed for any of these committee (other than The Status of Women).  Has that historically been the case?  I thought the board themselves controlled their membership.

Jane:  The Volunteer Coordinating Committee members of council met and reviewed the applications and all of the members who applied were appointed.

Collins:  The fact now that we're starting to get into the process of choosing some members where traditionally we haven't, is a little problematic.  ..download that responsibility to the committees themselves to determine if they want to increase their memberships, or remain status quo.  I would like to strike part (b), if that's possible, and just give the direction that these committees from this point forward be charged with the responsibility of choosing their membership and the number on their committees.

Ferguson: I'm not saying it would, but does that open the door for a "closed shop"?

Collins: Not to debate it, but we're looking for their guidance, they ' re suggesting they want a couple more...who's going to oppose that today?  We've given them that responsibility, we're just kind of rubber-stamping it, why are we even involved in that whole process?

Bruckler: With respect to the numbers..if next year we get 17 or 20, do we just keep adding numbers?  Is there a first choice, second choice...are those options on the forms?  (couldn' hear answer)

Motion carried to delete part (b).

8.4 Policy for Business Travel, Seminars and Conferences

Recommendation:

That the CAC accept the Policy for Business Travel, Seminars and Conferences which has been revised and is attached as Appendix A .

• Reasonable expenses for travel days or partial registration days should be reimbursed either by submission of receipts or by claiming 1/2 the per diem reduced by meals supplied.
• When renting a car for business travel, one of the national rental companies must be used.
• Any optional insurance purchased from the rental company must be specified and pre-approved.
• When using a personal car for business travel, fuel will not be reimbursed, as reimbursement is per km.
• All travel must be pre-approved even if a travel advance is not requested.
• Gratuities are to be included in the per diem claim unless unusual circumstances exist to support the extra cost above the per diem.

Discussion:

Braden: I don't see a need to have it so that you necessarily have to rent a car from a national rental company.  I'd like to ask if the policy is the same for the mayor, members of council and staff. 

On the first page of the Appendix, it says the Mayor must approve in writing the attendance of the City Manager at any conference, seminar or for other business travel outside of Canada or the United States .  I'd pointedly like to ask this question...In the past administration did the Mayor approve the attendance of the former City Manager at a 3 week conference out of the country with all expenses paid, in the State of Massachusetts ?  I want to know if it was only the Mayor that approved that, if it contained all the expenses and if that time was considered work or holiday.

Peace: I'll get that information off-line and then follow up and report back to the committee by e-mail.

Braden: Further to that, if we were talking today, would the existing mayor be able to, on his own, give the acting City Manager 3 weeks to go to the London School of Economics to take a course and have that to be considered work with all expenses paid?

Peace: Well I'm not going, first of all (ha, ha, ha).  That's not travel, that's a much different issue, quite frankly.

Braden:  Does the mayor have that kind of authority to make that call?  (Answer - yes)

Rinaldo: The reason that the Internal Auditor is recommending that we limit car rental to the national companies, is that there is less risk of us getting charges at the end of the cycle when the employee returns the vehicle.  Some of the smaller companies tend to put in a lot of hidden cost.

Powers: Could you please provide everybody with a list of preferred national companies?  I'll give myself as a perfect example..some of the destinations I've had to travel to, I've spent the better part of 14 hours to get there.  On the basis of the interpretation of this, I would not be able to draw a per diem for the day, I would be able to draw a 1/2 a per diem.  I operate under 4 or 5 travel policies, and this is the most restrictive one I've been involved with.  Perhaps some rationale behind it.

Rinaldo:  If you've got legitimate expenses within that 14 hour trip, you must produce receipts and we will reimburse you, regardless of who you are.  If you haven't got receipts, you only get reimbursed for 1/2 a per diem.

Powers: What is the per diem? (Answer - $71)  With regards to optional insurance...my own example..because we're not in a position to use corporate credit cards, we use our own credit cards..if I use my card that has the ability to minimize the insurance on it so it is not a cost to the city..I have a little problem with this pre-approved..

Rick: The reason this was put in place is because there were significant number of claims coming back where the employee would quote the actual daily rate when preapproval was asked for and then in the end, when the insurance was added on to the expenses, it was significantly above and that may have affected the decision of whether the department head would have authorized the trip in the first place.  In the case of councillors, this wouldn't be an issue.

Powers: May I suggest two options..one, that we look at requiring mandatory insurance to ensure that the corporation and the individual is covered..two, the ability for us to have credit cards issued by the car companies or cards that ensure that the insurance costs are offset.

Does the per diem include the incidentals? 

Rick: There's an expectation the per diem covers the majority of these things, but there's also a recognition of the fact that there are expenses that the per diem should not cover.  A case has been made with the Economic Development people who may be going to a trade fair and are carrying large bulky materials that require special handling and it's not anticipated that their per diems would be paying for such.  That would be put into a separate expense.

Powers: Could I respectfully request a copy of the internal audit recommendations please?  I'd like to know the rationale as to why they're considering these changes.

Collins:  One issue that has bothered me is the issue of travel during the budget period.  We've run into instances in the past where we've lost some senior management team members and, in some cases, council members to conferences or seminars during the budget.  Has any consideration been given to limiting the timing of employees travelling during those sensitive time frames?  If it's unwritten, maybe it should be written.

Peace: That's truly the responsibility of senior management.  

Collins: We have had problems in the past with people who frequently travelled and to get around this we required information reports.  Is it possible to have these reports regarding the frequency, purpose and timing of travel?

Peace: I have no issue at all with the reporting structure such as a quarterly variance report.  (Direction to staff to incorporate these two issues into their annual report)

Bruckler: With regards to attendance by elected officials, how might "where applicable" be referenced? 

Rick: There are 2 aspects to your budget..there's the pot which you draw upon and that requires council approval, then there's your personal budget for travel..that "where applicable" only pertains to the shared budget that councillors access.

Braden: I got an advance to travel once.  I'd rather get rid of all the advances unless someone is going to spend a whack of money and they have a problem dealing with that kind of credit.  Can we divorce ourselves from advances for small things?

Rick: When a person puts in to travel and it's approved, the big expenses are either invoiced directly or put on a credit card.  The advance is given to cover the per diem amounts or if they're going to be driving, it would cover that.  If the employee wished to be given a cash advance to pay for their hotel rather than use their credit card, we give them that, but in most cases it covers the first two.

Braden: I figure that writing one cheque, that saves you guys a lot of money.  If you spoil people, we take advantage of it.  If people really don't need it, don't cut two cheques.  I want you guys to figure out the policy so that we save money.

Rick:  There's a place on the trip approval where the employee can indicate whether they need an advance or not.  We'll look for ways to streamline this process.

Collins: When I travelled with Councillor Braden, he was bringing his own oatmeal bag to some of the breakfasts. I'm not lying about that.

Powers: If I have to travel, I'll book my flights 2 or 3 months in advance and I'll lay out $200 or $300 in advance on my own credit card.  The same thing with hotels..we'll take advantage of discount hotels.  Councillor Braden's point is valid, but I'm personally out of pocket.  In order to save the money, it's worthwhile doing this. 

Is it recommended that we use the travel agent suggested, or is a requirement/

Rick: There was a corporate travel agent appointed years ago...in those days it made sense, but today you can go on the Internet and find the best deal..we're coming back with a recommendation later this year on that.

Powers: Glad that we're not being obligated to use the recommended vendor.

Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned.