CITY OF VANCOUVER

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON

CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

MAY 14, 1998

A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, May 14, 1998 at 12:05, in Council Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.

PRESENT:	Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Don Bellamy Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario Councillor Jennifer Clarke Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Gordon Price Councillor George Puil Councillor Sam Sullivan
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Ken Dobell, City Manager
CLERK TO THE COUNCIL:	Tarja Tuominen

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,

THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the chair.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLYCOMMITTEE REPORTS

Report of Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets

May 14, 1998

Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the attached report:

Cl.1: Review of Proposed Partnership with Richmond

for the Joint Production of Asphalt

Cl.2: Compressed Work Week

Clause 1

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the recommendation of the Committee, as contained in Clause 1 of this report, be approved.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Clause 2

Due to time constraints, the remainder of registered speakers will be heard at a special Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting to be held on Monday, May 25, 1998 at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers.

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,

THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Council adjourned at 12:10 p.m.

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REPORT TO COUNCIL

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

ON CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

MAY 14, 1998

A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on City Services and Budgets was held on Thursday, May 14, 1998 at 9:30 a.m., in Council Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:	Councillor George Puil, Chair Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Don Bellamy Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario Councillor Jennifer Clarke Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Gordon Price Councillor Sam Sullivan
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Ken Dobell, City Manager
CLERK TO THE COMMITTEE:	Tarja Tuominen

ADOPTION OF MINUTES

The Minutes of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of April 23, 1998, were adopted.

RECOMMENDATION

1. Review of Proposed Partnership with Richmond

for the Joint Production of Asphalt File: 5801

The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated April 6, 1998, in which the General Manager of Engineering Service presented the results of an independent analysis of a proposed partnership agreement between the Cities of Vancouver and Richmond for the production of asphalt, and recommends the financial partnership proceed. cont’d

Clause No. 1 (Cont’d)

Don Brynildsen, Assistant City Engineer, Streets, presented a brief overview of the report, noting KPMG, the independent analyst, concurs with the original Engineering Department analysis.

Anthony Toth, BC Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association, advised he felt Council had made a commitment that the independent analyst would contact industry representatives as part of the analysis. However, neither Mr. Toth’s organization, nor other private industry representatives were contacted. The analysis shows an anti-market, anti-private sector bias. His Association is still opposed to the renewal of City activity in the asphalt business. There is a high production overcapacity in the Lower Mainland; no government should exacerbate the problem.

The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services be authorized to pursue a financial partnership with the City of Richmond for asphalt supply and to report back to Council for final approval.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

2. Compressed Work Week File: 1302

The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated April 23, 1998, in which the City Manager, in consultation with the Corporate Management Team, responded to Council’s request to report on the compressed work week and sought approval to give notice to terminate the compressed work week.

Ken Dobell, City Manager, briefly reviewed the report. The four-day week has existed for over twenty years. However, workers are not always available to answer questions, and it is not always practical to keep someone else informed. It is a disruption to the work of those outside and inside. Some other organizations have some forms of compressed work

cont’d

Clause No. 2 (Cont’d)

weeks, such as nine-day fortnight, however the rest of the world is reverting to a five day work week. In addition, some staff work a four-day week while others work a five-day week which creates equity issues and internal pressure to move to a four-day week.

The following spoke in support of retaining the compressed work week:

·Rick Gates, CUPE 15 (brief filed)

·Brian Porter, Vancouver Association of Civic Managerial & Professional Staff (brief filed)

·Michael Flynn, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 213

·Jody Andrews, Engineering Department Professional Employees Group (brief filed)

·Trish French and Cliff Caprani, Compressed Work Week Steering Committee (brief and petition filed)

·Phil Mondor, Development & Building Review Group (brief filed)

·Jim Anderson, CUPE 15 (brief filed)

·Brian Riera, CUPE 15 (brief filed)

·Donalda Viaud, CUPE 15 (brief filed)

·Dierdre Bradshaw, CUPE 15 (brief filed)

·Tom Walker, Vancouver Compressed Workweek Network

·Louise Marphis (letters from City employees in support of the compressed work week filed)

·David Murphy

·Graham Lougheed

The following is a summary of the points made by the foregoing speakers:

·reverting to a 5-day schedule will create negative consequences for virtually everyone who is involved with the City: hardship for employees; increased costs to City; loss of volunteers for the community; increase in traffic; and a serious setback in labour relations;

·supervisors and managers have not found an instance where the four-day week affected customer service; any problems have less to do with the four-day week than lack of staff to do work;

·the City will be less attractive as an employer; the best and brightest will not come to work at the City;

·the big bone of contention on last contract talks with IBEW was the City’s requirement for flexibility of hours; elimination of compressed work week is an act of betrayal;

cont’d

Clause No. 2 (Cont’d)

·the perceived benefit of the compressed work week has been the single most effective means to hold cost of living increases and overall remuneration for City of Vancouver engineers below market value; salaries are 15% below the BC market mean;

·a large number of organizations have some degree of compressed work week; a growing group of private companies are adopting Vancouver’s compressed work week to recruit and retain qualified staff and increase morale and productivity;

·the compressed work week has been a key factor in accommodating single mothers and care givers who might not otherwise be able to arrange or afford to pay for child care five days per week;

·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for employees because of added commuting, child care, and other costs;

·cancellation of the compressed work week will not be cost neutral for the City or taxpayer because it will likely result in higher staff turnover, increased training costs, a reduction in unreported overtime due to reduced staff morale, increased absenteeism due to medical and dental visits on City time, and a loss of some of the most marketable people;

·instead of accepting the recommendation to cancel the compressed work week, Council should instruct staff and management to work together to improve areas which need improvement, in a coordinated and accountable manner, using a number of suggested solutions under the following broad categories: better scheduling of staff and work, effective backup, customer communications and reconfirming the commitment;

·the real issue with the compressed work week is customer service; if customers receive excellent service, the compressed work week will not be an issue;

·the compressed work week is a significant Transportation Demand Management measure and makes an important contribution to reducing the demand for travel; it also reduces the number of trips, reduces congestion, and reduces vehicle emissions;

·the compressed work week is a reality almost everywhere in the public sector and more and more in the private sector;

·the City Manager’s report gives no documentation to support his arguments for potential cost savings by reverting to a five day week; however there would be significant negative impacts, including a reduction in time spent with families.

The Chair noted, due to time constraints, the remainder of the speakers will be heard at a special meeting of the Standing Committee to be held on Monday, May 25, at 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers.

The meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver