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Travis County Commissioners Court

June 9, 2009,
Item 5

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>> all right.
now, let's go back and pick up number 5.
5.
consider and take appropriate action on the following: a, amendment to Travis County code s 10.0295 (h), peace officer pay scale - skill based pay, effective June 9, 2009; and b, authorize human resources management department to work with constables 1 through 5 in processing pay actions under the amended Travis County code s 10.0295 (h), peace officer pay scale - skill based pay if approved.

>> good morning, Commissioners and judge.
i'm taking a little getting used to looking up and seeing only three of you.
we're here today.
we came to you last week and there was a week from constable 3 to make an exception to the pops policy, that particular policy stated that in order to get paid for your certification pay, that you had to wait until October the -- the 1st.
and I think that applied to all constables.
so what the court -- my sense is what the court wanted to do is a sense of uniformity and for the policy to be addressed as opposed to doing ad hoc action.
so you asked us to come back.
we have made some amendments to -- to the pops policy in this area.
those amendments were sent to all of the constables and we got responses from them saying that they were fine with the particular amendments that we were proposing or that were being proposed.
and luanne I'm going to ask you to go through those amendment.

>> what we for focused on was the effective date, if there was department discretion and if there was funding issues with the department.
what we have done is amend, in your backup on page I believe it's page 5 of your backup, the highlights of the changes reflect where now the -- if approved the implementation would still be department discretion and that the -- with the ability to pay, so if the department does not have that ability to pay or if it's department discretion, they can still choose not to pay the cpp or tcleose, that that line in section h.
if the department does warrant that discretion and you have the ability to pay, then they would move forward and put that in its approved budget.
work with p.b.o.
to have in a funding approved.
the effective date we're focusing on would be the first of the month after hrmd receives the departmental memorandum with the official certifications attached.
so that would be an example for the action, the seven slots potentially an additional nine slots that the other constables have indicated to us for this fiscal year, those would be effective June 1st.
if hrmd receives all of the appropriate paperwork, which is a certification that would be attached.
so these actions that would be effective June 1st for the amended policy what that means would be if we were to receive pay actions between like the first and the 15th of the month, those would be at the beginning of the following month.
if -- if we receive them between the 16th and the end of the month, then those pay actions would be the following month.
so that's -- that's -- questions?

>> when you say with official certifications attached, this is like a certificate from -- from -- from whoever provided --

>> right, it's tcleose certification.
we get-- the departments will call us and say that the individual tested and passed, but we can't take that for just the documentation, we must have from the department the actual certification from tcleose.
and the departments are accustomed to doing that and they do provide that to us.
so those are the highlights to section h.
and that -- that the -- all of the constables and the other departments that use the pops policy did agree to these amended changes.

>> so if the department does not have the money to -- to cover the increase say mid year, then it simply becomes a budget item for the next budget cycle.

>> that's what randy and p.b.o.
indicated to us, that they would work with the departments for the next fiscal year.

>> we have been working with them, so randy can respond to that.

>> do we need to state that in the policy if that's the case.

>> judge, regarding the civil certification, that's something knew that you all started a -- new that you all started a few years ago.
since it's new admin, we would add that to their budget.
what the departments have been doing during the budget process, saying -- I have three people who passed and we have been adding that and the guidance at the time was until that -- until that -- until we reach a certain certification level in a department and that line item self sustaining through turnover would be adding until then.

>> so if the certification is obtained mid year and the department is -- does not have the funds to cover it, it becomes a -- becomes a budget item for the next budget?

>> yes, sir.

>> you all will put it in the preliminary budget.

>> yes, sir, we would.

>> okay.
do we need to say that in the policy or is that understood by all luanne?

>> the problem is -- it's understood.

>> up front every department thinks it will have the money when needed, I suspect.

>> yes.
it's -- some of them have already had the -- the funding needed through salary savings or other means because -- because these amounts are small, for the next year, yes, sir, they have submitted packages.

>> right now the only department we would be looking at to add money to would be constable 1 because they don't have a civil certification line item as of right now.
they haven't ever submitted to anybody.
so we would be adding that like we have the other offices when they have come forward.

>>

>> [indiscernible]

>> for constable 1, since again is new, we would just add it in.
it would be added into our recommendation for the preliminary budget, to start it off, for whatever personnel submit the certificates.

>> I guess as long as the intention is -- is part of our -- of our discussion and minutes today.

>> yes.

>> it's all right.
but --

>> the policy is very clear on -- at the department's discretion and within their ability to pay.

>> questions?
discussion?
move approval of the proposed policy.

>> second.

>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you all very much.

>> that includes a and b, judge?

>> yes.

>> thank you.

>> b is basically to go ahead and implement it.

>> yes.

>> okay.

>> thank you.
number 7 is to receive -- nope, we covered that didn't we.


The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.


Last Modified: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 2:41 PM