Title
Finance Committee Meeting Highlights of March 17, 2015
Body
CITY OF SAN LEANDRO
CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE
March 17, 2015
5:00 P.M.
San Leandro City Hall
835 East 14th Street
San Leandro, California
(Sister Cities Gallery)
HIGHLIGHTS
1. CALL TO ORDER
1.A. Attendance
Committee Members: Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter, Vice Mayor Jim Prola and Councilmember Benny Lee
City Staff Present: City Manager Zapata, City Attorney Pio Roda, Finance Director Baum, Business Development Manager Kay, Community Development Director Battenberg
Public Present: Councilmember Corina Lopez, David Johnson, Andreas Cluver, Matt Maloon, Dewayne Cornelius, Bernard Ashcraft
The meeting was called to order at 5:00 P.M.
1.B. Announcements:
None.
2. DISCUSSION ITEMS:
2.A. Discussion Regarding Community Workforce Agreement
The purpose of this Agreement is to support the efforts of the City to increase employment opportunities for workers who reside in San Leandro, to help increase training and employment opportunities for the City's students in the construction trades through apprenticeship and pre-apprentice programs as the students graduate, to promote efficiency of construction operations performed for and within the City of San Leandro and to provide for peaceful settlement of labor disputes and grievances without strikes or lockouts, thereby promoting the public interest in assuring the timely and economical completion of the projects.
Article 8 of the Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) was discussed regarding the Referral and Local Hire Program indicating that contractors performing construction work on the Projects described in the Agreement shall utilize and be bound by the registration facilities and referral systems established or authorized by the Unions Job Referral System and will be operated in a non-discriminatory manner and in full compliance with all federal, state and local laws.
City Manager Chris Zapata questioned how a company is to be awarded a project using the Local Hire Program. Business Development Manager Jeff Kay answered by stating the company with the lowest bid is usually awarded the project. However, with the Local Hire Program, a bid that is submitted by a local San Leandro business is lowered by 10% for being a single venture San Leandro business and 5% for being a joint venture San Leandro business.
Business Development Manager Jeff Kay also indicated the importance of the New Hire language within the CWA focusing on the new hire apprentice as that is the new career opportunity and gets them started on a path toward a career within the trade.
City Attorney Pio Roda reviewed and strongly recommended that the CWA establish a $1 million threshold as a minimum for a contract to be subject to the CWA and that core employees be students and residents of the City of San Leandro and be provided by the general contractors through the Referral and Local Hire Program as mentioned above. The contractors would also fund pension plans for the benefit of the employees.
It was also discussed that the credits accumulated by a non-union worker working on a public works job, would count toward their union vesting period which is usually 5 years or 1000 hours. A non-union company that sends a core employee to work on a public works project could either pay a fringe amount to the employee or pay for benefits. However, during the time that the employee is on a public works job, their regular employer is not required to continue paying into the employees 401K plan but is required to pay the unions prevailing wage base pay where a portion of the money would go to the union pension fund for the benefit of that employee.
2.B. Discussion Regarding Measure HH Committee
Staff requested Committee direction for the establishment of the Measure HH Citizens Oversight Committee. The Committee expressed interest in preserving the criteria that established the Measure Z Citizens Oversight Committee. The Committee directed staff to contact existing Measure Z Committee members to determine which members would consider converting to the Measure HH Committee. It was acknowledged that Councilmember Corina Lopez can no longer serve on the Measure Z or Measure HH Committees due to her November 2014 election to Council.
The Finance Committee directed staff to return with an update on the formation of the Measure HH Committee at the April Finance Committee meeting. At that time, staff will receive additional direction on the next steps needed to form the Measure HH Committee.
2.C. Discussion Regarding Future Meeting Dates and times
The next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for April 21, 2015 at 5:00 P.M.
3. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
4. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
5. COMMITTEE MEMBER DIRECTION
None.
6. ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 P.M.