2010-07-20 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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The Board scheduled Mr. Zeiller's appeal hearing for September 21, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. B) Change meeting time of Merit Appeals Board meetings. Vice Chair Yoshiyama explained that this issue stemmed from a conflict with another board that he serves on, which meets 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on the same dates as the Merit Appeals Board. He believed that it would be a disservice to both boards if he couldn't fully participate as expected to carry out his responsibility, which led to Chair Robinson suggesting having a discussion on changing the time of the Board's meeting. There were no objections to changing the meeting time to start at 10:00 a.m. MOTION: Vice Chair Yoshiyama moved that the meetings start at 10:00 a.m., with appeal hearings to start at 10:30 a.m., effective September 2010. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rowe and unanimously carried. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Mr. Takahashi reported the following: 1) Furlough Update. The County's furlough plan began in July and will be on the first and third Friday of every month, except for August when the third Friday is a holiday, thus the furlough Friday will be observed the following Monday. They were able to negotiate and finalize final supplemental agreements with the unions on how to implement the furloughs. They negotiated a 5% reduction in pay for the Water Safety Officers (beach lifeguards), Police and Fire Dispatchers, and the administrative personnel in the Wastewater Division of the Department of Environmental Management. The departments for those employees felt it was difficult to shut down operations for one day, so the alternative of not furloughing them two days per month was to agree to a 5% reduction in pay where they continue to work their 40 hours per week. Everything is in place now, and they're facing their first payroll situation with the furlough, which will probably generate a lot of questions on dealing with those situations. oil