By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Hays city commissioner Lance Jones has one major concern he’d like to see addressed before his term ends. He wants the city to opt out of the Public Employer-Employee Relations Act (PEERA).

Jones believes the Wage and Benefits Committee along with the Human Resources Department, should be responsible for all salary discussions.

“It’s just one big group of people. I never have liked that we negotiate with just certain groups and not the whole employee group.”

“It’s the set of statutes that govern the relationship between employee organizations and state and local governmental units,” Todd Powell, Asst. Hays City Attorney told commissioners last week. “The state is automatically part of it in terms of the statute but other local governing bodies such as cities and counties can elect to come under it.”

The city of Hays has been under PEERA since 1972.

“The city is required to negotiate, to ‘meet and confer’ (called collective bargaining at the federal level) with your public employee organizations over terms and conditions of employment, such as salaries and hours,” Powell said. “It also contains prohibited practices of both the city and the union employees, and has a scheme for resolving impasse during negotiations.”

According to Powell, there was no impasse for the 2017 employment contract. “Last year there was an impasse, but it did not go to fact-finding.  Fact-finding did occur the year before.”

Powell pointed out “the governing body does have the final decision” on employment wages and benefits.

“The city’s Wage aind Benefits Committee already represents all employees,” Jones said. “They give staff general direction on what employees want to see regarding wages and benefits, which is primarily what the unions are seeking.”

Asst. City Manager Jacob Wood said it costs the city about $20,000 a year “to bargain with three separate units. That includes all the meetings, staff time, and city attorney time.” When the city and unions are at an impasse, “there are more meetings and the more it costs the city” to hire an agreed-upon mediator or another third-party fact finder, if necessary.

“I believe the city and commissioners value all employees and should not be negotiating with certain groups when it comes to wages and benefits. We should be doing what’s best for all employees,”  Jones emphasized. “We have to compete with other organizations for employees. A lot of Hays employees choose to work for the city because we are a good employer.”

There are 61 employees in three unions representing some of the police, firefighters,  and service employees, about one-third of all Hays city employees.

There are currently 178 city employees. Of those, 113  are eligible to become union members and 61 have joined.

All 18 eligible firefighters are members of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF); 62.79% of eligible law enforcement employees are members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP); and 30.77% of other eligible employees are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Out of 534 cities in Kansas, Hays is one of just 12 using PEERA.

“I think we have a pretty good relationship with the employees,” Mayor Shaun Musil said. “I don’t know what this would do.”

Commissioner Sandy Jones agreed. “It’s difficult for me to understand why we want the unions.”

“I’m extremely proud of the great benefit and wages packages we have for employees and that’s proven by the long-term employees we have in place. Only a third of our employees choose to work with the unions. I don’t think that’s bad, but I think we take care of everybody.”

Powell told commissioners the governing body can choose to opt out of PEERA with a majority vote.

Vice-Mayor James Meier had no comment about the issue. Commissioner Henry Schwaller was absent from the Nov. 16 work session.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to opt out of PEERA.

The complete agenda can be seen here. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.