Quincy Reporter

Adams County Joint Emergency Telephone System Board met Wednesday, July 18.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

Quorum Call. Chairman Farha called the meeting to order and indicated a quorum was present.

Ryan Niekamp made a motion to approve the minutes of the May 30, 2018 special meeting and Richie Reis seconded the motion. The motion carried and the minutes were approved.

204 Fund balance. Director Rowlands reported the Emergency T elephone System Fund (Illinois 9-1-1 surcharge) balance was $825,985 as of July 16, 2018. He noted that the County will owe $200,000 on December 1, 2018 to reimburse the ETSA fund for the County’s portion of the radio project.

Personnel status. Director Rowlands stated that there is currently 1 Dispatch Supervisor vacancy and 3 Dispatcher vacancies. He noted the r etirement of Dispatch Supervisor, Jo Liesen, on June 30, 2018; the resignation of a Dispatcher Trainee effective June 26, 2018; and the resignation of a Dispatcher effective July 26, 2018. Director Rowlands said that the staff shortage is significant and that there are over 464 hours of overtime expected in August.

Director Rowlands stated that there have been 3 new employees hired since February. He reported that, out of the three, 1 failed to report, 1 resigned, and 1 has been retained and is doing well in the training program.

Ryan Niekamp asked what the reason was for the latest Dispatcher resignation. Director Rowlands stated that the employee’s decision to resign was due to mandatory overtime and scheduling adjustments as the result of the Center’s staff shortage.

Director Rowlands stated that he intend to hire 2-3 new dispatchers to start on or about August 9, 2018 and another 1-2 dispatchers between October 2018 – January 2019 timeframe. Director Rowlands noted that the capacity to train new employees in syllabus hindered hiring new dispatchers all at once. He stated that, at most, there can be 3 dispatchers in training at a given time and noted that training takes course over an approximately 9 month period and that new dispatchers are trained in call-taking as well as 3 areas of public safety dispatching

Director Rowlands stated that he delayed promoting a Dispatcher to the position of Dispatch Supervisor until sometime in 2019. He stated that promoting a Dispatcher to Supervisor now would exasperate the staff shortage even more by cr eating another dispatcher vacancy at time where it would be extremely destabilizing.

Sue Hester asked about employee morale and how the delay of the promotion opportunity impacted morale.

Director Rowlands stated that there are some that morale is definitely impacted and that the management staff is on top of keeping everyone informed, working to tackle the challenges, and to foster a positive environment as we move forward. He stated that staff shortages and challenges are a fact of life for 9-1-1 Dispatch Centers nationally.

Concerning the staff shortage, Director Rowlands stated that the union had agreed to a shortterm Letter of Agreement in 2005 regarding management being able to schedule qualified parttime personnel during a previous significant staff shortage. He stated that he recently formally asked the union to enter into a similar short-term Letter of Agreement to schedule the 9-1-1 Center’s one part-time employee prior to offering overtime in order to reduce the extremely high overtime load on other employees. Director Rowlands stated that the union declined his request. He explained that the current collective bargaining agreement requires that qualified part-time personnel may work only after the overtime has been offered to and not taken by bargaining unit members.

He stated that a mandatory overtime sign-up procedure will be implemented beginning in August 2018 to spread the overtime burden equally among qualified full-time staff and further stated that Supervisors and the part-time employee will be utilized when possible, and in accordance with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, to reduce overtime and fill scheduling holes.

U.S. Supreme Court: Janus v. AFSCME – Fair Share Dues Deduction. Director Rowlands noted that the Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME prohibits the imposition and collection of fair share fees from public employees, regardless of whether the current Collective Bargaining Agreement requires it.

He stated that all City of Quincy employees with fa ir shares dues deductions for the June 29, 2018 paycheck had been credited back to employees on July 13, 2018 and that no further fair share dues will be deducted from future paychecks.

Ryan Niekamp asked how many fair share employees there were with 9-1-1.

Director Rowlands stated that the City of Quincy had five employees with fair share dues deduction for IAM Lodge 822 in total and that all five were with 9-1-1.

Director Rowlands explained that Quincy/Adams County 9-1-1 employees are City of Quincy employees and that even though the Joint ETSB controls the employees, as provided in the City of Quincy and Adams County Intergovernmental Agreement regarding the Joint ETSB, he felt that 9-1-1 needed to follow any policies the City of Quincy determines regarding fair share dues and employees impacted by the Supreme Court decision.

Director Rowlands stated that he had received a letter from IAM District 9 dated July 6, 2018 requesting a meeting to bargain over language concerning Agency fees and the content of any and all communications with the bargaining unit members regarding the union and/or their membership status.

Director Rowlands noted that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires April 30, 2019.

Chairman Mike Farha stated that he would recommend that the Board go into Executive Session later to discuss issue concerning union negotiations.

Status of VHF Simulcast Voting Receiver Radio System. Director Rowlands reported that the project is progressing. He stated that Letters of Agreement for most of the sites are in place and a final Letter of Agreement with the ADM site was still in progress.

Director Rowlands stated that antennas had been installed at many sites. The antenna tower at Adams Electric in Camp Point is going to be reinforced in August and antenna tower installation at the Courthouse is expected to begin the week of August 23, 2018. He noted that work on the Hollister Whitney site is expected the beginning of August as well.

Director Rowlands stated that the project may be complete and the system in operation by the end of the year and that there will be a period of transition from the current radio systems to the new radio system.

County Budget Process - 40% of 9-1-1 Expenses. Director Rowlands stated that the County budget process is underway and that his budget input is due to the County Finance Committee on August 10, 2018.

Director Rowlands explained that the 60%/40% budget expenses in the 202 Fund are now mostly consisting of personnel costs, less the Director’s salary. The only non-personnel expense sin the 60/40 budget are the QPD Starcom21 radio annual subscription fees and the cost for the QPD/ACSD Records Management System’s (RMS) annual software, licensing, repair and maintenance agreement costs. He explained that costs for QPD Starcom21 and RMS are paid from the 202 Fund (60/40) as these costs are ineligible for the 204 fund (ETSA Fund). Director Rowlands stated that the Director’s salary line items and all other operational costs are now in the 204 Fund.

Director Rowlands advised that he would have an update on the County budget status for the October 2018 meeting. He noted that the Adams County fiscal year is December 1, 2018 through November 30, 2019.

Old Business. There was no Old Business.

New Business. There was no New Business.

Executive Session. Jeff Bergman made a motion to hold an Executive Session to discuss matters pertaining to collective bargaining negotiations. The motion was seconded by Richie Reis. Motion carried. A roll call was made indicating members present. 8 members present: Farha, Niekamp, Bergman, Reis, Vonderhaar, Simon, Hester. 1 member absent: Copley

Director Rowlands, Assistant States Attorney Brett Jansen, 9-1-1 Assistant Director Jessica Douglas and City of Quincy Director of Administrative Services Skip Bright were invited to remain for the Executive Session.

The Joint ETSB went into Executive Session.

The Executive Session concluded. A motion was made to return to open session by Jeff Bergman. John Simon seconded the motion, the motion carried and the meeting resumed in open session.