Very good, good morning.

Thank you for coming today.

We have a short presentation.

We're gonna go through what like we have done before.

We'll do a recap of the union of your proposal, the cost of that, the estimated cost of the city proposals, and then we'll go over some specialty team data and some comparative analysis on the ERI to update with one of the new uh changes we made.

It's going to change how those look for the lieutenants and captains as well.

And then we'll pass it on to you.

So with that, we'll get started.

We'll go briefly through uh first couple of slides.

This first slide is uh your proposal from uh April 17th for for April 7th.

So the slide number 4 is uh your proposal from April 17th.

So this is your proposal from May 5th.

Uh so your new proposal core calls for a new section, comp time, creating a new section, establishing the criteria for the use of comp time uh to compensate employees for work performance beyond the their normal schedule, and then uh uh section 10 increase of maximum compensatory time accrual and payout uh limits upon separation uh from 240 to 480 hours.

Next slide is the OMB estimation of the total variance uh between current contract and uh uh your proposal from uh from April 7th.

Uh we are we are estimating the the variance for the uh increase of the compensatory time from 240 to 480.

And uh I just want to mention that uh uh the variance is 65.8 million dollars for the life of the contract.

The city proposal from uh April 17 was uh three percent from uh two percent cola for for four years, uh and adjustments to the entry levels of the of uh first steps.

Uh so we start from the step three.

Uh this will this is going to bring uh uh upfront increase of seven percent.

So the next slide is uh comparison between union proposal from 4.7 uh with uh with the city proposal for for 4.17.

It's 28 million dollars of difference.

We have a new proposal.

So our new proposal is uh increased cola to two and a half percent from the last from our last proposal for the uh period of four years, uh which means that the first and an adjustment of the steps will mean that uh the upfront decrease will be seven and a half percent.

Um two and a half percent uh is in uh relation to uh consumer price index, CPIU for the urbanized uh uh communities.

Uh right now uh it's 2.8 percent.

2.2 for Texas, 2.8 for uh United States.

And then uh I will just read increase entry salary for firefighter, which includes removing step two and uh start at step three or five percent increase, fire suppression technician combining FS2 and FS3, but island chief, deputy chief and assistant chief remove step six and seven and start at step eight, at new step eleven to provide a five percent increase for the firefighter, fire suppression technician, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, deputy chief, and assistant chief, uh flight medical paramedics assignment pay of five percent while working as a paramedic on an aircraft transport unit fire star.

And if I may, Sasha.

So it says add step eleven, it's really adding step 12, and you'll see that later in the pay scales.

Yes, so our proposal is to shift the steps because right now they will start from three, so to shift the steps uh earlier, just to make it uh more logical.

Okay, so the next uh slide is our estimation for our proposal.

Uh so it's calling for two and a half percent step uh cola increases and five percent step increases in total seven and a half percent increases uh between both steps and uh colo increases.

Uh first year we are estimating 10.5 million dollars of variance, uh and 40.1 million dollars for the for the life of the contract.

These are the pay scales.

So we are starting from 54.

Right now the FS1 starts from 50, 640.

So next year starting salary will be 54506, which is seven and a half percent increase.

So these are pay scales for 2028, and also 2029.

And the pay scales for 2030.

So this is slide for uh specialty teams.

Randy, yes, sir.

We can talk about these.

Good morning everyone, Randy Marker.

Uh this is our specialty teams.

The authorized team members are what we have now and are being paid in line with the CBA, and the actual team members are the difference, including the addition of the critical care and the peer support members.

So we would be adding the difference between 196 of what we currently have and 272 with the two changes.

Okay, good morning, Addisendigera with the city manager's office.

Once again, the ERI is what we utilize to obtain the data in the comparisons that we've been collecting for other cities, and we did upgrade update the rankings.

Um, sorry.

There we go.

Okay.

So the two um positions that did have a different ranking are the lieutenant and the captain.

The lieutenant went from five to four to four to three, and the captain went from five to four to five to three, and we had already previously presented this information, so I'll just go ahead and keep moving along to the new comparative analysis data for the lieutenant, and the other one is for the captain.

And again, that's information we saw, and that is the end of the presentation.

We'll take any questions if you have any at this time.

No, no questions at this time.

I'm sorry.

Back on the ERI study there, you had 2727 comparisons for certain cities, and you left us in that ranking for 2027, but you left out some cities.

So you arbitrarily ranked us a little higher than what we should be because you don't have complete data for 2027 for a few of those other cities.

Can you go to excuse me, I think the good example probably is the lieutenant.

I think that was because as you mentioned, they don't all in order for us to have apple to apple comparisons, they don't necessarily Phoenix and Corpus Christi, I believe don't have a comparative ranking to our lieutenant.

So they're not included in this one.

So, but um, what we did was is we took the information or what HR did.

Sorry, Monica is not able to be here today.

She would probably say it much more eloquently than I'm about to.

So, what my understanding is is since we only have the information that we're able to get from the cities regarding their current pay scales, while some of them, as you may know, have their agreement is set, but they don't actually publish their pay scales until the beginning of their fiscal year.

I think there's two cities that are in that category.

We're only able to update what we have as far as actuals, and so we're comparing, there are 26, you're correct, for this year to the information we do have for 27 and our proposed 27.

And so we do have the information if you'd like, and I kept it as part of this presentation, you'll see it in the back of the copy that was provided to you when we compare.

You want to hand me the clicker?

It's okay, just 26 to 26.

And so as we get additional information, uh, of course, if you all are in agreement, we would continue to update those rankings based on the information we do receive regarding the pay scales from those other cities.

But of course, we have to wait until they're able to provide it, or we have uh concrete information from them regarding those pay scales.

But here, if we do a comparison just of 26 to 26, um it to your point, maybe it doesn't, it's it's not apples to apples at that point because we're looking ahead to 27, but we don't want to project for other cities without knowing for sure.

And so we want to only provide information that we have been able to verify from those cities to you as those parts of the comparisons.

So, yeah, as long as we keep updating that as information comes available because it it does put us up a little higher than where we should be for 2027 without having all the other things.

Without the other cities, yes, ma'am.

Yes, sir.

Also, um, just for personal knowledge, besides police and fire contracts, what other positions within the city, like executive positions, things like that, is ERI used for?

To my knowledge, it's just for the we've primarily used it for police collective bargaining, and it's actually included in their agreement on how we'll use that as part of the comparisons.

And so ERI, as you see the source below, you're all welcome to look at their website.

I'm sure you already have, yes, and try to um you also can get your own license to do that comparison.

Um, and that's it's just a tool that we use to ensure that we're comparing apples to apples.

All right, good morning.

Uh, for the record, Captain J.

Nicholson Union President.

I'm gonna jump into the uh information that I presented you with, the uh administrative asks, and then we have a short PowerPoint.

So going directly to item number one, this is in reference to Article 5, Section 2, the city's right to command and direct the working forces and subcontract functions other than actual firefighting activities and emergency basic and advanced life support.

This is kind of long, so I'm gonna skip through that.

But what we're looking to do is add a new section that is concerning the use of FD personnel for functions outside of stated intent of Article 5, Section 2, and Article 6, uh sections 1, 3, and 4.

Uh moving to, unless there's questions there.

No, no, sir.

All right, moving to item two.

Uh as we discussed before, there's a lot of language cleanup contracts a little dated.

So this is an example of that in that uh the documents can be provided electronically to stations and individuals.

So this would reflect that ability.

Item number three is covering article 25.

And we are looking to amend that article to include categorization of repairs needed at fire stations based on severity of the issues and timelines.

Item four, also miscellaneous provisions.

We're looking to amend section seven to include language stating that personnel will not be obligated or expected to use personal electronic devices to conduct city business, including instances where city devices, networks, applications or other network connections are malfunctioning or not properly operating.

Item number five, looking to delete that entire section, there's no longer applicability of that one.

Number six, discuss and address 40 hour operations, former EMS text in the article.

This one also may no longer be applicable.

Number seven, in reference to Article 28, association dues.

We're looking to amend this section to include the text.

The city will electronically deduct from the pay of each employee who has executed an authorization slip, membership dues levied by the association in accordance with its constitution and bylaws.

Just language cleanup there as it currently reads, there's some gray.

Then lastly, for these item number eight, a new article in reference to labor and management relations.

This article will incorporate all existing and proposed labor management committees to include medical wellness advisory committee.

This will replace the current Health and Safety Committee.

Professional Development and Promotional Committee, this would also be a new committee.

Paramedic Advisory and Medical Review Committee, this one would be new as well.

Restructure of the Rules and Regulations Committee and a restructure of the fitness committees.

What's the restructure look like?

Primarily, we're looking to expand those committees to give more insight, more opportunity to participate in all of the processes that go on in the decision making of the fire department.

What's the current size of those committees?

Seven on those.

Again, we're looking to push those out to nine.

Okay.

Okay.

Any other questions on this part?

No, sir.

I don't have any questions.

Nope.

All right.

If I may have that PowerPoint, okay, so brief PowerPoint here, just primarily to highlight the asks that we have presented so far.

So what we've requested is 7.5 over the life of the every year over the life of the contract.

We've referenced the term has been used COLA, varying in multiple times throughout these proceedings.

What we're looking at is coming into par with the level of department that we are and how we compare with these other departments.

Here we're looking at the incentive pays current and incentive pays proposed.

As we can see here along that bottom row, there's a lot of zeros.

So there are a lot of things that the firefighters of El Paso are doing, and they're doing them for free.

Any questions there?

No.

All right.

On the insurance health and safety, as we discussed previously, there's a lot of text that needs to be cleaned up there to reflect current operations and just the day and age that we're in.

We need to also make sure that employees are not incurring out of pocket expenses for uniforms and things that are required in order to do their jobs.

We've already discussed the peer support team onto the list of recognized specialty teams.

And then looking forward, as we've discussed the healthcare trust somewhat in the last couple of meetings, big thing there is when you get right down to it, there's a large potential for cost savings on both sides of the table if we were to go that route.

As we've discussed, House Bill 4144 and House Bill 198 Weight Canon Act, there are requirements that are coming from state legislature that are unavoidable.

So in looking at and moving to a system such as a health care trust, there's again potential consideration for large savings on both sides, with vacation and sick leave on that proposal, again, just recapping what we've already gone over.

Um a change that I mean we're we're decades since the inception of this, and since any changes to this brings it more online with what's current, gives more time to lower lower ranking individuals, and then throughout your career, additionally, and again, one of those things that hasn't changed in forever.

We currently sit at an accrual of 75 days vacation and holiday, looking to increase that to 90.

As we've discussed, cleanup on the drug and alcohol policy and discipline on examinations and promotions, cleaning up that process.

I can't say, and I'm openly willing to say this on the record here.

I can't say that outside testing is the way to go because it's a very expensive endeavor, but as the system currently stands, there's something's broken.

So looking at that to figure out what it is and try to clean that up.

Over time and extra board, fixing the comp time, and then bringing comp time in line with FLSA.

So it if I could just make a quick statement.

It does comply with FISLA.

Yes, sir.

It does.

It says up to so we are in compliance.

Yes, sir.

Very good.

And then on admin, as we just went through language cleanup, getting rid of some uh things that are no longer applicable, that's really the goal there.

And then moving into, and this goes directly back to the averages and the comparisons.

When you look at this slide, this is just a snapshot, and I mean a very small snapshot of who we are and what we do.

So, for example, as an ISO class one department, that that classification indicates that we are a superior property and fire protection, and the highest possible top-tier ranking, it represents exceptional firefighting water supply dispatch systems and advanced training.

Typically, this results in lower insurance premiums throughout the community.

And for reference, only five hundred and four of the approximately 30,000 fire departments in the U.S.

are ISO class one.

We are also Center for Public Safety Excellence accredited.

CP uh CPSC accreditation is an internationally recognized seal of excellence.

There are only 337 accredited agencies worldwide.

Of those, only a hundred and twenty-eight are also ISO class one.

We also perform emergency medical service, and well over half of the annual calls run are AMS at varying levels, which our members confidently and competently handle on a daily basis.

So all of that to say, regardless of the situation, from lending a hand to another department, such as the pet scanning thing, to showing up for work and working sometimes up to 96 hours straight, then not knowing if you could go home, not knowing if you could go home, as with COVID, El Paso firefighters always answer the call.

And contrary to NFPA 1710, we get the job done with less staffing, less money, and we do a better job of it.

So far in these proceedings, there's been a lot of talk about averages and comparisons to other departments.

I want to be very clear.

Thank you, sir.

Any questions?

Next Thursday.

Next Thursday.

Okay.

We'll see what times we can come up with.

It's a busy week, city managers doing all the budget briefings with councils.

So that was our budget director and our CFO will be tied up, but we'll try and schedule something in for Thursday.

If not, I'll send some other dates next week.

Sounds good.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

Can I get a copy of that presentation?

Your slides?

Thank you.