WEBVTT 1 00:08:13.406 --> 00:08:14.464 Good afternoon. 2 00:08:14.512 --> 00:08:15.939 I am calling back to order. 3 00:08:16.052 --> 00:08:18.115 This recessed meeting of the Portland City Council. 4 00:08:18.228 --> 00:08:21.338 It is 2:03 on Thursday, October 22nd. 5 00:08:21.757 --> 00:08:22.709 Keelan, can we please call the roll? 6 00:08:23.064 --> 00:08:23.677 Good afternoon. 7 00:08:24.112 --> 00:08:24.273 Clerk? 8 00:08:25.225 --> 00:08:25.338 Here. 9 00:08:26.451 --> 00:08:26.661 Green? 10 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:27.113 Here. 11 00:08:27.824 --> 00:08:28.242 Zimmerman? 12 00:08:29.744 --> 00:08:30.228 Absent. 13 00:08:30.389 --> 00:08:30.697 Avalos? 14 00:08:30.889 --> 00:08:31.197 Present. 15 00:08:31.875 --> 00:08:32.230 Smith? 16 00:08:32.568 --> 00:08:32.697 Here. 17 00:08:33.796 --> 00:08:35.350 Kanal? 18 00:08:36.288 --> 00:08:36.578 Absent. 19 00:08:36.628 --> 00:08:37.081 Pirtle-Guiney? 20 00:08:37.986 --> 00:08:38.115 Here. 21 00:08:38.796 --> 00:08:39.023 Ryan? 22 00:08:41.303 --> 00:08:41.610 Absent. 23 00:08:41.707 --> 00:08:42.177 Koyama-Lane? 24 00:08:44.024 --> 00:08:44.138 Here. 25 00:08:45.028 --> 00:08:46.469 Morillo? 26 00:08:47.489 --> 00:08:47.812 Absent. 27 00:08:48.072 --> 00:08:48.217 Here. 28 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:48.687 Dunphy? 29 00:08:49.028 --> 00:08:49.287 Here. 30 00:08:50.160 --> 00:08:52.054 And could we please read the rules of decorum for the chamber? 31 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:54.996 Thank you, Council President. 32 00:08:55.221 --> 00:08:56.380 Welcome to the Portland City Council. 33 00:08:56.687 --> 00:09:02.304 To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda. 34 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:09.748 Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage. 35 00:09:10.457 --> 00:09:14.336 Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise. 36 00:09:15.073 --> 00:09:17.092 Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. 37 00:09:17.734 --> 00:09:19.657 The presiding officer preserves the order. 38 00:09:19.994 --> 00:09:27.750 Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed. 39 00:09:28.552 --> 00:09:30.763 If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. 40 00:09:31.340 --> 00:09:33.327 Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. 41 00:09:34.065 --> 00:09:36.932 Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. 42 00:09:37.542 --> 00:09:40.538 Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. 43 00:09:41.197 --> 00:09:43.719 Your testimony should address the matter being considered. 44 00:09:44.328 --> 00:09:46.640 When testifying, state your name for the record. 45 00:09:47.058 --> 00:09:48.649 Your address is not necessary. 46 00:09:49.226 --> 00:09:52.471 If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. 47 00:09:52.775 --> 00:09:56.179 Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name. 48 00:09:56.533 --> 00:09:56.806 Thank you. 49 00:09:57.416 --> 00:09:58.123 Thank you very much. 50 00:09:58.541 --> 00:10:02.217 Uh, colleagues, we got 3 items on our agenda and we're going to call the first 2 together. 51 00:10:02.394 --> 00:10:04.546 Could we please call items 11 and 12 together? 52 00:10:04.802 --> 00:10:07.999 Item 11, document 2026-366. 53 00:10:08.673 --> 00:10:15.702 Adopt the FY 2026-27 fall supplemental budget and make other budget-related changes. 54 00:10:16.216 --> 00:10:31.721 Item 12, document 2026-368, add budget and financial procedures code to create and direct the use of a subfund within the general reserve fund specific to the city's business license tax revenue at code chapter 5.90. 55 00:10:32.668 --> 00:10:33.309 Thank you very much. 56 00:10:33.375 --> 00:10:43.044 You know, colleagues, we've already had a work session on this and a committee of the whole meeting about this, but our budget director, Ruth Levine is here as well as our chief financial officer Jonas Biery. 57 00:10:43.221 --> 00:10:45.538 I don't know if we have further presentation. 58 00:10:45.956 --> 00:10:49.711 Oh, and also our city treasurer is here as well. 59 00:10:54.035 --> 00:10:55.460 Are we doing a presentation on this? 60 00:10:55.897 --> 00:10:56.057 No. 61 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:56.884 Okay, great. 62 00:10:56.980 --> 00:11:01.187 So we're going to jump into where we left the conversation off at the Committee of the Whole, colleagues. 63 00:11:02.530 --> 00:11:09.609 And I'm going to go ahead and put myself in the queue first because where we left off last time, we had a couple of amendments that I was trying to—. 64 00:11:09.609 --> 00:11:09.918 That we were discussing. 65 00:11:12.363 --> 00:11:13.250 I'd like to work on that now. 66 00:11:13.347 --> 00:11:19.434 So I'd like to move Dunphy 1, which is related to merit pay for council ops. 67 00:11:19.789 --> 00:11:25.846 So I'm following discussion in committee and some additional work that got done on the back end. 68 00:11:26.538 --> 00:11:30.850 I have redrafted Dunphy 1 and pre-filed it with a final legal approval. 69 00:11:31.225 --> 00:11:40.264 I appreciate the conversation that the amendment triggered last week about governance of council operations and the scope of the council president the president's power over that office. 70 00:11:41.082 --> 00:11:50.126 As Councilor Pirtle-Guiney and I can both attest, the question of what exactly is council ops is wildly underdefined in our code, our rules, and our practices. 71 00:11:50.222 --> 00:11:53.847 And another part of the plane that we've been building while we fly. 72 00:11:54.249 --> 00:12:02.235 Just for fun, just to unpack it a little bit, we appropriated money for council ops in the budget, and that budget has a program description. 73 00:12:02.892 --> 00:12:07.575 The council operations manager is hired by contract executed by the council president. 74 00:12:07.702 --> 00:12:20.850 And in code, All that we are working with is 3.02.040, which states, I quote, the president is the presiding officer and will promote efficient council operations. 75 00:12:22.049 --> 00:12:22.852 That's it. 76 00:12:23.703 --> 00:12:33.191 So let's just be clear and say this is an area that needs tightening up, and I will likely bring— be bringing a proposal before the end of the year that would do some of that basic definition of governance. 77 00:12:33.884 --> 00:12:44.644 As for the amendment before us today, operations is clearly part of the legislative branch and not subject to the executive branch the manager should be empowered to manage her staff within the authorized appropriations. 78 00:12:44.758 --> 00:12:50.856 The most straightforward way to do this and still have elected oversight is to have the president be the final sign-off. 79 00:12:51.724 --> 00:12:56.844 So we should sign— we should pass this amendment today, and we should also come back to this topic sooner than later. 80 00:12:56.893 --> 00:13:01.210 So I would like to formally move Dunphy 1, and I would welcome a second. 81 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:01.820 Second. 82 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.827 I think Councilor Avalos was just slightly above that, so thank you, Councilor. 83 00:13:08.256 --> 00:13:08.850 Thank you, colleagues. 84 00:13:08.914 --> 00:13:11.836 We, uh, we are now in discussion of Dunphy 1. 85 00:13:11.902 --> 00:13:14.068 Is there any discussion or debate? 86 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:16.380 Yes, Councilor Kanal. 87 00:13:16.701 --> 00:13:18.596 Just a clarifying question, Council President. 88 00:13:18.854 --> 00:13:27.508 Um, because this is an amendment to the, um, the fall technical adjustment, um, would it just take effect— it's only for this year, right? 89 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:31.330 Like, we'd still have to navigate this for future fiscal years, right? 90 00:13:31.715 --> 00:13:37.427 There is still certainly a lot of work to for the— but this is specific to the appropriations currently within Council Ops. 91 00:13:37.605 --> 00:13:49.351 This is like allow— giving a specific authority to this year only for the Council Operations Manager to use their budget as they, uh, in line with other guidance. 92 00:13:49.448 --> 00:13:50.092 So this is the—. 93 00:13:50.092 --> 00:13:52.153 Yes, it's a long way of saying yes. 94 00:13:52.604 --> 00:13:52.908 Thank you. 95 00:13:53.808 --> 00:13:54.854 Thank you, Councilor Kanal. 96 00:13:55.495 --> 00:13:56.187 Councilor Pirtle-Guiney. 97 00:13:57.745 --> 00:13:58.710 Thank you, Council President. 98 00:13:58.774 --> 00:14:03.903 And Councilor Kanal asked my first question, so I will just ask 2 quick questions. 99 00:14:05.058 --> 00:14:26.297 Are there changes in this language from what you brought to us last week, or is it just that we have been able to have further conversations about separating the current immediate need to be able to pay folks well who work for us from the longer-term need to have a conversation about the, the operations of council operations? 100 00:14:26.826 --> 00:14:30.278 Yeah, substantively there should not be anything different than what we had discussed. 101 00:14:30.326 --> 00:14:38.804 However, we did do some tightening of the language, but great. 102 00:14:39.077 --> 00:14:43.287 And does this meet the needs of our Council Operations Director? 103 00:14:43.431 --> 00:14:48.875 I'm not in the room, but if you can solicit a nod or a thumbs up or thumbs down and let me know, that would be great. 104 00:14:49.133 --> 00:14:50.788 We have a thumbs up from the back of the room. 105 00:14:51.702 --> 00:14:52.956 Okay, thank you very much. 106 00:14:53.374 --> 00:14:54.160 Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney. 107 00:14:54.354 --> 00:14:54.820 Councilor Smith. 108 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:57.035 Thank you, Council President. 109 00:14:57.083 --> 00:14:58.835 Could I have the Council Ops Director come up? 110 00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:04.900 And somebody from legal counsel or HR. 111 00:15:08.994 --> 00:15:10.253 We have our answer in the box. 112 00:15:10.769 --> 00:15:13.158 Yeah, so thank you for bringing this forward. 113 00:15:13.272 --> 00:15:23.932 I just, you know, adding this, this seems so, um, I don't know, I, I don't want to say that, but this is something that should be discussed on its own. 114 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.798 Adding this to the TAO has nothing to do with the TAO. 115 00:15:28.761 --> 00:15:31.413 I mean, it really literally has nothing to do with the TAO. 116 00:15:32.601 --> 00:15:36.008 And from what I was told— thank you, thank you for coming up, Director. 117 00:15:36.859 --> 00:16:05.014 Um, what I was told that— and this is the second request that I've had in the last month from Council Operations to change how people were being paid, their classifications, and now because the council president and the council operations directors believe that they want to give people raises, that they want to change who can give a— who they can give a raise to. 118 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.216 So there's been all sorts of things that have happened. 119 00:16:10.503 --> 00:16:17.389 And the first one, council operations and elected staffers have elected to be organized. 120 00:16:19.354 --> 00:16:25.386 They will come up with a contract, a binding contract, probably within the next 2 years. 121 00:16:25.451 --> 00:16:26.301 They're working on it. 122 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.477 And Council Ops cannot wait for that time to give someone a raise. 123 00:16:33.697 --> 00:16:51.898 I believe, and I want to ask you this question, Director, when you hire people right now in this form, do you tell them that We are going to organize and that they're under organization and that they may not be able to get a raise for 2 years. 124 00:16:52.797 --> 00:16:53.567 Do you do that? 125 00:16:54.482 --> 00:17:02.335 Council President and Councilor Smith, when we have hired new employees in the recent past, we have indicated that they will be part of a union. 126 00:17:03.330 --> 00:17:09.077 We don't indicate— I have not indicated whether or not they should or should not expect any sort of pay increases. 127 00:17:09.689 --> 00:17:14.827 So they don't know that they have the ability to get a merit raise, because this is what this is about. 128 00:17:15.294 --> 00:17:18.634 This is about giving you the ability to give a merit raise. 129 00:17:19.068 --> 00:17:23.982 They already get COLAs, and that's— they've done that for the last 2 years. 130 00:17:24.368 --> 00:17:35.386 But you want to be able to give merit raises and, and raise people's salary against the other administrative folks, because when we got here, these folks were already hired. 131 00:17:36.718 --> 00:17:40.936 And we didn't have any, um, we didn't have any say in who we got. 132 00:17:42.090 --> 00:17:43.920 And that was done by design by Michael Jordan. 133 00:17:45.138 --> 00:17:46.566 And so he designed this whole thing. 134 00:17:47.800 --> 00:17:59.509 And my issue is, and that's why council operations would need a union, so that if you came in at this level— but basically all of these folks came in at about $85,000 a year. 135 00:18:00.471 --> 00:18:04.449 And then some folks who were admits, they came in at $100,000. 136 00:18:04.497 --> 00:18:04.608 Yes. 137 00:18:05.210 --> 00:18:05.809 $110,000. 138 00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:05.809 $110,000. 139 00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:12.380 So it was just a— it was just whoever they felt like giving a raise or, or a larger salary. 140 00:18:12.490 --> 00:18:28.259 So now you have a discrepancy, and I understand your dilemma that some people who are doing the same job and they're admin, they're sitting at the front desk answering telephones, doing our schedules, some of those folks are making $20,000 more and you want to make them whole. 141 00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:39.383 And I get that, but but the way that looks, because those folks who are admins, some of those folks were making more than my staff members. 142 00:18:40.625 --> 00:18:43.337 And they knew what they were gonna make when they accepted the job. 143 00:18:43.386 --> 00:18:45.034 And that's why I asked you that question. 144 00:18:46.277 --> 00:18:47.858 They knew what they were gonna be making. 145 00:18:50.868 --> 00:18:58.387 It is really uncomfortable right now because we are in such a deficit that we're gonna be in. 146 00:18:58.452 --> 00:18:58.534 Yes. 147 00:18:59.678 --> 00:19:06.721 And the mayor, he's not giving any merit, any merit to any of the executive side. 148 00:19:07.250 --> 00:19:15.223 So it's just, it seems kind of off balance and it seems not placed correctly. 149 00:19:15.415 --> 00:19:17.662 We should not be doing this in the TAO. 150 00:19:17.982 --> 00:19:32.781 We should have had a conversation about this in the Committee of the Whole to talk about how we do that, because what we're doing is we're, we're actually giving folks things that should be bargained in the labor process. 151 00:19:33.849 --> 00:19:38.984 Merit raises and when you get them and who gets them and how much you get them, all that stuff should be bargained. 152 00:19:39.683 --> 00:19:43.405 And now we keep taking— we just gave Shuli a $20,000 raise. 153 00:19:45.288 --> 00:19:46.933 We changed it as a council. 154 00:19:47.546 --> 00:19:50.914 And so we as a council can't be subverting the labor process. 155 00:19:50.994 --> 00:19:52.751 And I feel like this is what we're doing. 156 00:19:53.106 --> 00:19:55.069 We're subverting the labor process. 157 00:19:55.526 --> 00:19:58.096 You get to decide who gets the— who gets a raise and how much. 158 00:19:58.144 --> 00:19:58.438 Councilor Smith. 159 00:19:58.789 --> 00:20:02.539 You don't ask me about it, and I supervise those folks every single day. 160 00:20:02.539 --> 00:20:03.440 You don't. 161 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.519 But you decide how much money they get. 162 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:07.000 I don't. 163 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:09.799 So I'm feeling really uncomfortable about it. 164 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:14.778 But if that's what the council president says he wants to do and he has the votes for it, then he can. 165 00:20:14.778 --> 00:20:24.740 But I'm just telling you, there are folks who are going to file a labor relations complaint against this because we are not waiting to have all of these things bargained. 166 00:20:24.740 --> 00:20:26.720 That's why they got into a union. 167 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:28.839 And I know some of the people who you're hiring, they, they did not vote for it. 168 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:29.019 Councilwoman Smith, I'm sorry, I'm going to interrupt you. 169 00:20:30.652 --> 00:20:30.827 It. 170 00:20:31.933 --> 00:20:33.038 But they have to understand. 171 00:20:33.118 --> 00:20:40.315 And I— and, and if you're not telling people as you're hiring people, you need to tell them so that there's no expectation that they're going to get a merit raise. 172 00:20:40.651 --> 00:20:43.278 They don't even know that they have the ability to get a merit raise. 173 00:20:43.695 --> 00:20:50.843 I haven't even had a COLA for the last 2 cycles, and baking costs just as much for me as it do my staff, and I'm tired of it. 174 00:20:52.028 --> 00:20:54.127 So I'm not mad at you, Dana. 175 00:20:54.593 --> 00:21:04.188 I am just saying this is the second thing that you've brought forward in the last month that has something to do with— that has to be bargained. 176 00:21:04.852 --> 00:21:09.015 And I don't feel— I don't, I don't want to go outside the process because we're going to get sued. 177 00:21:09.515 --> 00:21:14.743 And this council has— we don't care about being sued. 178 00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:17.557 That's why we're being sued about the mask bill. 179 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.550 Our legal counsel told us not to do it, and we did it anyway. 180 00:21:21.615 --> 00:21:21.857 Councilor Smith. 181 00:21:22.573 --> 00:21:32.407 So my thing is, if we get sued on this, you all are going to have this on your back, not mine, because I don't think we need to be doing this right now. 182 00:21:32.472 --> 00:21:38.190 And I think people are making a decent living, and you have a different pay scale than we have already. 183 00:21:38.757 --> 00:21:44.887 So I'm not sure why this need to, to give people a raise, a merit raise, at this point is so important. 184 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.378 And Councilor, just to be clear, uh, Dana is not able to file legislation. 185 00:21:49.428 --> 00:21:51.415 I have brought— this is the second item that I have brought as Councilor. 186 00:21:51.464 --> 00:21:51.938 Because she asked you for it. 187 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.250 I work closely with all folks who report directly to me, and I am proud to sponsor this amendment. 188 00:21:57.347 --> 00:21:59.275 I'm glad, I'm glad she, she got you to do it. 189 00:21:59.324 --> 00:21:59.615 Thank you. 190 00:22:01.569 --> 00:22:01.775 Uh, thank you. 191 00:22:01.861 --> 00:22:02.392 I don't like it. 192 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:04.173 Thank you. 193 00:22:04.820 --> 00:22:05.597 Thank you, Councilor Smith. 194 00:22:05.694 --> 00:22:06.277 Councilor Green. 195 00:22:08.121 --> 00:22:09.269 Uh, thank you, Council President. 196 00:22:09.414 --> 00:22:13.038 Um, this is a perfectly appropriate place to file an amendment. 197 00:22:13.134 --> 00:22:16.307 This is an appropriations ordinance. 198 00:22:16.550 --> 00:22:18.234 This is the mid-year budget adjustment. 199 00:22:18.521 --> 00:22:29.290 This is where we say here's how we spend our money, and when we do that, we put directives in there to provide clarity on how we can spend our money. 200 00:22:29.371 --> 00:22:32.355 So there's no other place more appropriate than in the TAO. 201 00:22:33.270 --> 00:22:46.003 Um, I will also note that, uh, you can give your staff merit raises right now, so you can just check the rules and just get up to speed on what the rules are. 202 00:22:46.375 --> 00:22:48.067 They're in the middle of negotiating a contract. 203 00:22:48.115 --> 00:22:49.550 That doesn't mean you wait forever on that. 204 00:22:50.690 --> 00:22:58.932 Um, so it's really appropriate that we give a director the ability to manage their salaries like we do everyone else. 205 00:22:58.997 --> 00:23:00.718 So I'm going to support this. 206 00:23:01.557 --> 00:23:16.178 Um, I don't, I don't think it's appropriate to come up here and, and name individual people's salaries too and talk about what, whether they got a raise here and there and speculate on whether or not, um, They're going to sue on baseless speculation. 207 00:23:17.859 --> 00:23:19.455 That's, that's my thoughts on that. 208 00:23:20.375 --> 00:23:21.005 Thank you, Councilor Green. 209 00:23:21.520 --> 00:23:22.214 Councilor Pirtle-Guiney. 210 00:23:23.778 --> 00:23:24.053 Thanks. 211 00:23:24.117 --> 00:23:25.472 I'm sorry to get back in the queue. 212 00:23:25.617 --> 00:23:27.714 I thought we were just on technical questions previously. 213 00:23:29.884 --> 00:23:36.175 You know, we just heard a lot about raises and who should get them and who shouldn't. 214 00:23:37.911 --> 00:23:43.596 When folks don't have a union, They don't always have step increases. 215 00:23:43.854 --> 00:23:52.878 And generally there are 2 types of raises folks in a union, in a public sector environment get, those COLAs and step increases. 216 00:23:53.623 --> 00:24:00.115 And our staff within council, both our personal staff and council operations, don't have defined steps right now. 217 00:24:00.922 --> 00:24:10.181 So a, a raise like this is the only way To acknowledge increased experience and good work. 218 00:24:11.128 --> 00:24:12.622 Unionized staff have the steps. 219 00:24:13.038 --> 00:24:13.761 These folks don't. 220 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:17.550 We have the ability to give these same raises to our personal staff. 221 00:24:18.113 --> 00:24:29.160 I believe we actually got permission from the union that our folks are working, working with to form their own staff union to continue to give those raises until the contract is signed. 222 00:24:29.834 --> 00:24:39.612 It's a really important step during Uh, the bargaining of a first contract to get that permission so that you don't get an unfair labor practice filed against you. 223 00:24:39.772 --> 00:24:45.617 And I personally asked if we had that permission or not as I was looking at some changes on my team. 224 00:24:45.713 --> 00:24:47.463 I was told that we did have that permission. 225 00:24:48.219 --> 00:24:57.145 So we are in the clear with our union, and we are not doing anything different from the equivalent of what we can do. 226 00:25:01.963 --> 00:25:17.880 I know that some of the council ops positions are tricky because our director is their boss, our council operations director is their boss, but we, meaning councilors and our chiefs, assign some of the work, the daily work, direct some of what they do day to day. 227 00:25:19.410 --> 00:25:23.083 But there are other members of council operations who are solely supervised by the city manager. 228 00:25:23.147 --> 00:25:23.278 Thank you. 229 00:25:24.346 --> 00:25:45.711 I think that it's critical that we give a director the ability to provide raises, just like we have with our own personal staff, and just like or equivalent to, frankly, how these folks will ultimately be treated once we have bargained that first contract moving forward. 230 00:25:47.874 --> 00:25:52.877 This move doesn't guarantee that anybody gets anything, but it means that these workers are treated as equivalently as possible. 231 00:25:52.943 --> 00:25:53.156 Thank you. 232 00:25:55.516 --> 00:26:00.603 To other folks within the city and within our own personal offices. 233 00:26:01.106 --> 00:26:01.366 Thank you. 234 00:26:01.512 --> 00:26:03.034 Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney. 235 00:26:03.243 --> 00:26:03.838 Councilor Kanal. 236 00:26:05.481 --> 00:26:07.542 Thank you, uh, Council President. 237 00:26:08.444 --> 00:26:15.604 You know, I really appreciate you pointing out the flaw in the, the code, um, that council operations isn't defined, and, and I think you mentioned 3.02.040. 238 00:26:19.031 --> 00:26:30.384 Um, I'll also just I just continue to point out that B1B6 also requires the council president to ensure councilors confine themselves to the question under debate and refrain from personal criticism. 239 00:26:30.463 --> 00:26:41.305 And I would love to see that equally enforced in this chamber because I don't think it's fair to criticize folks who are not the ones putting up something for what they have not put up. 240 00:26:41.913 --> 00:26:50.156 I appreciate you being here as a subject matter expert on this particular thing, Dana, and I really appreciate the work you do in general as well, of course. 241 00:26:50.863 --> 00:26:51.134 Thank you. 242 00:26:53.130 --> 00:26:59.648 With relation to— Actually, before I get into the merit of this, I just need to correct a gross misstatement of fact here. 243 00:27:01.088 --> 00:27:12.820 While some may have different levels of risk tolerance to being sued, it is not true to say that we were told by lawyers not to do the mask conversation. 244 00:27:13.256 --> 00:27:20.903 We all have memos in our inboxes, and we can hide behind the fact that they're attorney-client privileged and just categorically lie about them. 245 00:27:21.526 --> 00:27:22.410 Or we can read them. 246 00:27:22.810 --> 00:27:27.181 And I'd encourage everyone to go look back at the email from March 16th with the first version of it. 247 00:27:27.260 --> 00:27:38.778 I don't have the date for the second version of it after the revisions were made, but please read the memos once again from our attorneys before categorizing or miscategorizing that particular piece of legislation. 248 00:27:39.356 --> 00:27:44.529 More broadly, of course, I don't believe we should comply in advance with an out-of-control federal government, and I still don't believe that. 249 00:27:44.835 --> 00:27:54.334 Getting back to this amendment, I think the— my main I think concern remained, was addressed by the question I asked earlier. 250 00:27:54.767 --> 00:28:11.838 I do think that not only does that mean that it is appropriate to put into the fall technical adjustment ordinance if we so choose to do it, but also that it allows for us to have a broader conversation about this council operations team and what the powers of the director are, as well as the council president. 251 00:28:12.256 --> 00:28:23.866 I will say that, you know, what it says in the text, and I appreciate you and your team, council president, writing this in here, is that it still remains as an amount as determined appropriate by the Council Operations Manager. 252 00:28:24.204 --> 00:28:26.661 And so it's still discretion being applied to it. 253 00:28:27.078 --> 00:28:33.919 And I think I share some of what Councilor Smith was sharing in terms of concern around how the team was originally made up. 254 00:28:34.464 --> 00:28:35.894 I've expressed that several times. 255 00:28:35.942 --> 00:28:49.935 I don't need to remention it, but also around not being 100% sure last year in particular how much direct oversight exposure leadership had to the folks that are embedded. 256 00:28:50.752 --> 00:28:55.496 And again, we're very fortunate in D2 that we have someone who's very great. 257 00:28:56.297 --> 00:29:01.265 But I also just, in terms of a systemic process, just wanting to understand that piece. 258 00:29:01.586 --> 00:29:11.648 But I think the way that you've written it in here ensures that there is someone who's responsible for doing that and that that person remains the council operations manager because I don't actually supervise our District 2 admin. 259 00:29:11.696 --> 00:29:11.744 Okay. 260 00:29:13.431 --> 00:29:20.833 And so it would be, you know, I think that's a relevant thing, especially as we're talking about how we treat our employees in here, in this building. 261 00:29:21.333 --> 00:29:31.063 I deal with my own staff, and I'm very grateful to be served by a very good District 2 admin, of course. 262 00:29:31.192 --> 00:29:35.226 But I think that you've kind of addressed the structural problem, and I appreciate that. 263 00:29:35.306 --> 00:29:40.644 So I'm less uncomfortable with it than I was when it was described verbally and now able to be supportive. 264 00:29:40.757 --> 00:29:41.077 Thanks. 265 00:29:41.382 --> 00:29:42.248 Thank you, Councilor Kanal. 266 00:29:42.601 --> 00:29:43.739 Colleagues, I put myself in the queue. 267 00:29:44.364 --> 00:29:52.907 I will just affirm that, uh, what much of what has been said, that we work directly with the attorneys to verify that, uh, this is legally allowable. 268 00:29:53.019 --> 00:30:02.141 We have, uh, had conversations on this dais about the pay spectrum and the pay range that we give to our, uh, member— our individual staff. 269 00:30:02.622 --> 00:30:13.001 Um, I want to make sure that my staff are as well paid as, uh, they need to be for the job that they are providing, and that gives me my discretion to be able to do that, and I am deeply appreciative. 270 00:30:13.114 --> 00:30:19.441 There have been other councilors on this dais who have been vehement about their ability to pay less than the pay scale that is made available to them. 271 00:30:20.246 --> 00:30:24.981 As a councilor, certainly anybody's individual right to determine how to spend their budget. 272 00:30:25.416 --> 00:30:41.588 Within this current structure, with the vagueness that I have already laid out about the role of council operations and the authority there, this feels like an affirmative step forward in the right direction to reward good work from really highly qualified professionals, both at our front desks. 273 00:30:42.696 --> 00:30:45.474 Deeply appreciate my District 1 admin. 274 00:30:46.053 --> 00:30:51.576 David's doing a great job, but also our council committee staff who are doing phenomenal job going above and beyond. 275 00:30:51.624 --> 00:30:56.987 So I am— this is the— and lastly, this is a technical adjustment. 276 00:30:57.628 --> 00:31:06.438 This is a technical adjustment to pre-appro— to already appropriated levels of this is the exact right place for this conversation. 277 00:31:06.890 --> 00:31:08.811 So, Councilor Ryan. 278 00:31:11.027 --> 00:31:12.078 Thank you, Council President. 279 00:31:13.438 --> 00:31:21.626 I would describe this item so far as awkward, and I didn't expect it to be, but that's what happened. 280 00:31:23.130 --> 00:31:27.304 I don't like to hear people talk about how someone's doing on the job. 281 00:31:28.608 --> 00:31:32.766 Council Chambers meeting, so it started to feel like a different type of meeting. 282 00:31:33.344 --> 00:31:49.183 Um, I believe you that you worked with legal, but it would be helpful to have legal say something, um, because I thought Councilor Smith brought up some really good points about what almost feel like we're shoehorning something in that, that is part of a bigger system. 283 00:31:49.744 --> 00:31:59.192 I think all of us at the tip of our tongue want to talk about how we're building Council operations, and I think we have the right people here to do that. 284 00:31:59.468 --> 00:32:04.808 But I would like to hear from legal, um, out loud in this meeting since it's been brought up. 285 00:32:05.917 --> 00:32:08.954 Uh, City Attorney Porter, do we know if, uh, Heidi Brown is available? 286 00:32:09.211 --> 00:32:10.288 Have we heard if she's—. 287 00:32:11.541 --> 00:32:13.835 I've reached out to her and I'm waiting to hear back. 288 00:32:13.898 --> 00:32:14.984 I'm following up right now. 289 00:32:16.346 --> 00:32:22.373 Okay, well, I think that is a reasonable request to have our attorney come? 290 00:32:22.469 --> 00:32:23.238 Well, I'd want to go there. 291 00:32:23.351 --> 00:32:27.086 I was just going with the flow until I listened to the conversation. 292 00:32:27.518 --> 00:32:34.250 So, okay, well, uh, and I don't want to talk about personally about anyone that's on Council Operations right now. 293 00:32:34.346 --> 00:32:40.631 I just want to hear something, someone to validate that, because I got into a place of confusion and doubt. 294 00:32:40.934 --> 00:32:42.602 Okay, I think that's absolutely reasonable. 295 00:32:43.146 --> 00:32:45.311 Um, can we just table until we hear from—. 296 00:32:45.311 --> 00:32:49.943 I think what we will do is go on a brief recess until a city attorney is able to be here. 297 00:32:50.025 --> 00:32:52.215 And so I'm going to give us a 5-minute recess. 298 00:32:52.459 --> 00:32:52.702 Thanks. 299 00:32:53.416 --> 00:32:53.611 Thank you. 300 00:39:09.443 --> 00:39:11.626 All right, welcome back everybody. 301 00:39:11.773 --> 00:39:20.755 Thank you all for your patience as we, uh, frantically got our amazing city attorneys folks to come down and interrupt whatever important thing they were doing. 302 00:39:21.436 --> 00:39:22.253 Heidi Brown, welcome. 303 00:39:23.135 --> 00:39:26.295 We have a specific question from Councilor Ryan, but more—. 304 00:39:26.726 --> 00:39:27.416 He's good for doing it. 305 00:39:27.690 --> 00:39:28.394 I'm happy to answer it. 306 00:39:28.507 --> 00:39:29.838 Yeah, I'll have to ask the question specifically. 307 00:39:30.496 --> 00:39:41.735 Are we legally allowed to give merit increases to our staff in this current moment, knowing that there is a pending organization effort by some of our staff? 308 00:39:43.163 --> 00:39:43.724 Oh yes. 309 00:39:43.965 --> 00:39:46.193 So good afternoon, Council President, Councilors. 310 00:39:46.289 --> 00:39:48.759 Heidi Brown, Chief Deputy City Attorney. 311 00:39:50.541 --> 00:39:50.719 Yes. 312 00:39:50.782 --> 00:40:01.789 So if the question is about are you allowed to give merit increases despite the fact that staff is currently unionized, the answer is yes, because we are in status quo. 313 00:40:02.643 --> 00:40:14.755 And right now, status quo is that council sets the amount of merit that you provide to council staff. 314 00:40:18.923 --> 00:40:46.440 So, yeah, so you had— so just to be clear, so you— council had previously, while they were, while they were in their organizing process, you had already authorized merit, um, for, for all non-reps, which at that point council staff were considered within that bucket under the status quo provision of being in the unionization effort, but without a collective bargaining agreement yet. 315 00:40:47.130 --> 00:40:55.030 And so then you authorized merit of 2% up to $100,000. 316 00:40:55.398 --> 00:40:58.347 So this would— so that's already been allowed. 317 00:40:58.827 --> 00:41:01.007 And similarly, this would be allowed. 318 00:41:01.054 --> 00:41:19.695 This would remove that cap, in other words, and allow the council ops manager to set with approval from the council president to set that merit increase at whatever amount is deemed appropriate within their budget appropriations that currently exist. 319 00:41:19.838 --> 00:41:20.690 Thank you, Heidi. 320 00:41:21.523 --> 00:41:23.530 Councilor Ryan, do you have any further follow-up? 321 00:41:24.333 --> 00:41:26.259 No, and thank you, council president, for setting this up. 322 00:41:26.355 --> 00:41:29.597 I thought this needed to be on the public record based on what we were discussing. 323 00:41:30.094 --> 00:41:30.641 Thank you very much. 324 00:41:31.780 --> 00:41:32.246 Councilor Smith. 325 00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:33.978 Thank you, council president. 326 00:41:34.605 --> 00:41:34.989 Thank you. 327 00:41:35.038 --> 00:41:36.594 So now we're getting to the meat of this. 328 00:41:37.005 --> 00:41:38.063 I see what this is. 329 00:41:40.219 --> 00:41:49.322 Council Operations has the ability to give a merit increase that we already pre-gave in the budget to 2%. 330 00:41:49.969 --> 00:41:54.293 What they're asking for is to go above and beyond the 2%. 331 00:41:54.568 --> 00:41:56.778 That's what this is about. 332 00:41:56.987 --> 00:41:58.326 That wasn't explained properly. 333 00:41:59.083 --> 00:42:05.610 Well, this would just— you already approved it up to 2% for $100,000, up to $100,000 for 2%. 334 00:42:06.061 --> 00:42:06.541 Correct. 335 00:42:07.023 --> 00:42:18.798 This would just allow, if the council ops manager, in collaboration with approval of the council president, would allow that merit, um, to be above that. 336 00:42:19.280 --> 00:42:22.788 Because this was what I said, they want to give more than the 2%. 337 00:42:23.204 --> 00:42:28.748 They already have permission to give 2%, which they should give, and they should wait. 338 00:42:28.811 --> 00:42:33.586 So let me ask you this question: is this going to cause us to have some issues? 339 00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:36.793 Because I'm seeing a pattern here with um, with Council Ops. 340 00:42:37.708 --> 00:42:49.954 They keep coming back asking for individual upgrades so that individual people can get, um, additional merit, additional classifications that's giving them $20,000 raises. 341 00:42:50.452 --> 00:42:54.480 And I'm telling you, I'm not with that. 342 00:42:54.641 --> 00:42:57.722 So if we're going to put something forward, we need to tell the real story. 343 00:42:57.769 --> 00:43:04.920 So the real story is they do have the ability to give a 2% increase plus their additional 3.5% COLA. 344 00:43:05.708 --> 00:43:10.952 So where are they getting all this extra money from to give all these merit raises beyond 2%? 345 00:43:11.755 --> 00:43:14.409 They only had enough money to give up to 2%. 346 00:43:14.795 --> 00:43:16.228 So where are they getting the extra money from? 347 00:43:18.615 --> 00:43:28.228 My understanding is that any money beyond— and just to be clear, it's, it's the— they were subject to the caps that all of us non-reps were subject to. 348 00:43:28.309 --> 00:43:33.889 So it was COLA Uh, full COLA but up to $100,000, right? 349 00:43:33.889 --> 00:43:43.489 Anything that— if you had an employee who earned more than $100,000, they wouldn't get that COLA above $100,000. 350 00:43:43.489 --> 00:43:52.510 Similarly, you offered, uh, you allowed for and authorized previously the merit of 2% up to that $100,000. 351 00:43:52.510 --> 00:43:54.769 So it's only the 2% that goes—. 352 00:43:54.769 --> 00:43:54.929 That would go—. 353 00:43:54.929 --> 00:44:05.659 So they want to be able to give the people who make who already make over $100,000 an additional 2% for the rest of their money, and no one else in the city is getting that as well? 354 00:44:05.771 --> 00:44:07.233 How can you justify that? 355 00:44:07.958 --> 00:44:14.978 Well, that part I can't answer, but I would— in it, you did ask another question before about how would they afford it, and—. 356 00:44:15.172 --> 00:44:15.637 Right, but—. 357 00:44:15.831 --> 00:44:17.791 This would be within their current budget appropriations. 358 00:44:17.838 --> 00:44:20.860 This is a bait— it's not you, um, Attorney Heidi. 359 00:44:21.695 --> 00:44:23.028 This is a bait and switch. 360 00:44:23.768 --> 00:44:27.606 It was billed as, oh, we can't give our people a merit raise. 361 00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:37.916 It wasn't like, oh, we give— we can only give a 2% merit, but we want to give more than the 2% merit, more than what the moratorium is, and everybody else is not getting it. 362 00:44:38.639 --> 00:44:46.429 And so, and I get that, that we're in the legislative— we are in the legislative piece, and then the executive piece, the bureaus can do that. 363 00:44:47.135 --> 00:44:57.025 But I have a real problem because I'm glad you explained that, because the last conversation me and you had, You told us that we could not raise our, um, our, our staff salary. 364 00:44:57.748 --> 00:44:58.664 That's what you told me. 365 00:44:59.659 --> 00:45:04.250 That was before we had the union, um, figured out. 366 00:45:04.411 --> 00:45:04.635 Yeah. 367 00:45:04.795 --> 00:45:12.485 And then once we had the union figured out, you all were free within your own budgets to give your own staff merit increases. 368 00:45:12.661 --> 00:45:17.476 And you don't have that cap, um, because you use your individual budgets. 369 00:45:17.557 --> 00:45:19.869 Council Ops is in a different situation, right? 370 00:45:20.224 --> 00:45:24.257 In that you all authorize as a council in its entirety. 371 00:45:24.338 --> 00:45:25.402 As a council operation. 372 00:45:25.467 --> 00:45:25.726 Right. 373 00:45:25.936 --> 00:45:32.112 And it would've been great if we could have had another— I don't remember executive session telling us that we can do that. 374 00:45:32.304 --> 00:45:42.976 And I heard Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney say that we got something from CWA that said it's okay for us to give raises. 375 00:45:44.710 --> 00:45:45.782 Did they send that to you? 376 00:45:47.097 --> 00:45:47.914 I haven't seen it. 377 00:45:49.179 --> 00:45:53.025 Councilor, I'll make sure you get whatever that— yes, and this is important between them. 378 00:45:53.106 --> 00:45:53.875 You should have gotten that. 379 00:45:54.083 --> 00:45:54.931 This is important. 380 00:45:55.108 --> 00:46:02.688 I don't know that I didn't get it, but I don't remember it, and it should have been put a part of the exhibit if that's what was going to happen. 381 00:46:03.297 --> 00:46:07.815 But, you know, this happens every single time, um, Heidi, and it's, it's not fair. 382 00:46:08.487 --> 00:46:15.251 You, you do something at the, at the dais a week ago and say, oh, I want to do this, Because they need a raise. 383 00:46:15.315 --> 00:46:19.230 Well, they already have the ability to get a 2% raise, and they've been getting a COLA. 384 00:46:19.648 --> 00:46:21.509 So folks is not starving around here. 385 00:46:22.197 --> 00:46:27.780 And I just want to know how we are paying for these things that we're not budgeted for. 386 00:46:28.391 --> 00:46:30.331 They're not budgeted for past 2%. 387 00:46:30.780 --> 00:46:31.438 So I don't know. 388 00:46:31.518 --> 00:46:35.835 That's a, that's a whole nother issue that the council president— he's the presiding officer. 389 00:46:35.914 --> 00:46:38.224 He has to make sure that they're within their budget, I guess. 390 00:46:38.882 --> 00:46:41.338 But, um, I, I am just concerned. 391 00:46:41.452 --> 00:46:49.818 I didn't want to break any labor rules, and I'm glad you were able to come up here and kind of explain what it was that they're trying to do. 392 00:46:51.007 --> 00:46:51.425 Thank you. 393 00:46:51.666 --> 00:46:52.452 Thank you, Councilor. 394 00:46:53.112 --> 00:46:53.963 Thank you, Councilor Smith. 395 00:46:54.139 --> 00:46:54.670 Councilor Kanal. 396 00:46:55.440 --> 00:46:55.697 Thank you. 397 00:46:55.762 --> 00:47:01.592 It's my understanding that there's vacancy savings in council operations because we have not every position filled. 398 00:47:01.688 --> 00:47:04.884 We budgeted for every position that exists, and those—. 399 00:47:04.980 --> 00:47:06.264 Council President, did you follow him? 400 00:47:06.617 --> 00:47:06.842 I did. 401 00:47:07.164 --> 00:47:10.293