HomeMy WebLinkAbout1972-06-06 Min - Board June 6, 1972
The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility
District was called to order by President Nelson Stone, at 7:30 in the conference
room.
ROLL CALL: R. Waters, present; R. Anderson, present; D. Anderson, present;
H. Loehr, present; N. Stone, present.
EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Cattan, Paulus, Grow, Silva, Craig, Lopez, Pine, Hutchinson.
GUESTS PRESENT: Mr. John Stralla
MINUTES OF MAY 16, 19 72
The minutes were brought up for the approval of the Board. It was moved by H. Loehr
and seconded by R. Waters that the minutes be approved as read. All aye, motion
carried.
BILLS FOR THE BOARD'S APPROVAL
The bills were presented for the approval of the Board. Director R. Waters asked about
the advertising costs and Mr. Paulus explained that it was for the bid notices that had
been placed in various papers. One of the directors asked about the bill from Sierra
Pacific for meter testing R. Anderson asked why the testing could not be done by
this company. Tom told them that there were so few meter checks done that it was
almost prohibitive to do the work within the company. He said that since he has been
with the District_ . there has never been a defective meter checked. It was moved by
H. Loehr and seconded by R. Waters that the bills be paid. Roll Call: R. Waters, aye;
R. Anderson, aye; D. Anderson, aye; H. Loehr, aye; N. Stone, aye.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
,... Mr. Stralla said that he would like to go over the whole union package for the benefit
of Director R. Anderson who was not present at the last meeting.
Title 4
Mr. Stralla said that at the last meeting the matter of stand-by had been tabled due
to lack of agreement. He said that during the past weeks, the employees have decided
that in the interest of community safety, it would be best to leave the stand by
program as it is. He said that without stand by, there is no guarantee that there
will be some one to cover the emergencies. He sdid' -that employees were asking for two
additional hours of stand by per weekend. Mr. Stralla explained that the employees
had to stand by for 63 hours and at the present time they were being paid for 8 hours.
A motion was made by H. Loehr that the Board award the two additional hours to the
employees. Director D. Anderson -saidthat he would like to see a total percentage
figure before the Board votes on any of the benefits.
The President instructed Tom Paulus to compute the increase on the benefits and present
the figure to the Board toward the end of the meeting. The Board agreed.
Title 5
Mr. Stralla said that he and Tom had re-written the section on overtime rest period
to read:
P-m 5.5 (b) If the PUD requires the employee to continue to work into his regular work
period the employee shall be paid at two (2) times the standard rate of pay for
all hours worked intil he is given a rest period of eight (8) consecutive hours.
5.5 (c) If the employee becomes eligible for a rest period and is called back to
work during his eigth (8) hours rest period, the employee shall be paid at two (2)
times the standard rate of pay for all hours worked until he had been relieved from
duty for at least eight (8) consecutive hours.
Mr. Stralla explained that if an employee worked 16 hours of overtime, he would be
paid at two times his normal rate of pay for the additional hours. Mr. Cattan said that
he would never allow an employee to work for 16 hours without a rest period. He said
that it is far too dangerous. Mr. Stralla indicated that he hoped on one would ever
have to work over 16 hours, but in a bad storm it might be necessary.
page 223
UNION NEGOTIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . .continued
Title 6
Mr. Stralla said that the District had asked that the following section be added
to the contract.
6.2 If an employee takes off any days observed by the company as Holidays and is
absent without a bona-fide reason on the work day either immediately preceeding or
following such day observed by the company as a Holiday, he shall not receive Holiday
pay.
Title 19
Mr. Stralla read the new section on Inclement Weather Practices. Tom said he wasn't
sure that the whole section was necessary. He felt that 19.2 should read:
"The PUD management shall be responsible for determining weather conditions."
Mr. Stralla said he felt that the whole section was needed. He also said that Pete
Silva, the line foreman, should be given the authority to notify the management when
f
he feels that the weather is too bad to work in.
j There was much discussion on this point. Most of the disagreement was regarding
delegating managerial duties to an employee. It was finally decided that the word
'Supervisor' should be changed to 'Management' . Thus indicating that Mr. Cattan and
Mr. Paulus have the resposibility to determine if the weather is suitable for out
1
side work. It is also their responsibility to rely on Pete, as line forman, to give
them a clear picture of the weather conditions at the job site.
i
Board President Stone recapped the union and management proposal thus far.
1. Stand by: Stand by will Temain as is. The union is asking for an additional 2
hours paid time.
E
.-.. 2. Over time rest period: The rest period was clarified and broken down into 2 para-
graphs, stating that an employee will be paid 2 times his normal rate of pay for
i
every hour worked in excess of 16 hours.
3. Holidays: This states that an employee must be present the. day preceeding and the
j day following the holiday in order to be paid for the holiday.
j 4. Inclement Weather: This point was resolved when the word 'Supervisor' was changed
to 'Management' .
Tom said that he had some comments on the vacation scheduling. There had been some
problems in the past and Tom said that he could foresee some in the future. The old
agreement says that vacations may be scheduled any time from the beginning of the year to
the end of the year. He said that since the construction season is approximately
six months long, the summer vacations had to be limited. He said that either the
scheduling of the vacations should be left entirely up to the management or the
vacations should be split, half the time in the summer and half the time in the winter.
Mr. Stralla said that the employees should have the right to take their vacations when
they want to. He said that many people like to take off when their chi 1 dren are out
of school. He said that the vacation had been earned by the employees and should not
be limited. There was much discussion on the matter of vacation and it was decided that
the existing policy on vacations should remain.
Mr. Stone asked Mr. Stralla if the union personnel would like to meet in Mr. Cattan's
"""' office while Tom compiles the benefit percentage figure.
The Board was re fered to the regular agenda.
BID FOR CABLE TRAILER
The bid for the cable trailer was opened by President Stone. The only bid received
was from Fab co for $3,39 7.
The bid was refered to the manager. M. Stone instructed Mr. Cattan to review the bid
and order the trailer. He noted that the trailer would have electric brakes and request-
ed Mr. Cattan to check with Utility Body, to make sure that the line truck that was
ordered could be fitted with connection for the electric breaking system.
It was moved by R. Waters and seconded by H. Loehr that the bid be refered to the
plate 224
BID FOR CABLE TRAILER. . . . . . . . . . . . . .continued
manager and awarded, when it was determined that all of the specifications had been
met. Roll Call: R. Waters, aye; R. Anderson, aye; D. Anderson, aye; H. Loehr,
aye; N. Stone, aye.
RESOLUTION 7214
Mr. Cattan said that the Truckee Saintary District had requested an easment to their
line at the Truckee Recreation and Park site. Resolution 7214 would grant them this
easement. The Board discussed the resolution and then decided that the easement
should be granted. It was moved by R. Waters and- seconded by R. Anderson that the
Board adopt Resolution 7214. Roll Call: R. Waters, aye; R. Anderson, aye; D. Anderson,
aye; H. Loehr, aye; N. Stone, aye.
MARTIS VALLEY ESTATES & MARTIS VALLEY ESTATES UNIT 2
Henry Loehr said that he was excusing himself from any discussion on this matter due
to a conflict of interest.
Mr. Cattan said that he had received a letter from Mr. Beavers requesting that the
electrical power lines for Martis Valley Estates be paid for in three payments.
The letter stated that the first payment would be paid when the maps were approved;
second after one year and the last payment after another year. Mr. Cattan said that this
arrangement had been made for water and he could see no reason for not granting this
request. Director D. Anderson asked what kind of assurance the District would have that
the second and third payment would be made. Tom Paulus said that a bond could be
drawn to protect the District.
It was moved by D. Anderson and seconded by R. Waters that the method of payment out
lined in the letter be approved, with the second and third payments to be bonded in
an amount equal to 125 0 of the total cost. Roll Call: R. Waters, aye; R. Anderson,
aye; D. Anderson, aye; H. Loehr, aye; N, Stone, aye.
ram. President Stone asked that the Board leave the regular agenda and get back to the union
negotiations.
Mr. Stone asked Tom what figure he had come up with on the benefits. Tom said that
considering the stand by, additional vacation and Long Term Disability Insurance ,
the benefits figured out to about 2.70.
Mr. Stone asked that the union negotiations resume and that the matter of wage increase
be discussed.
Mr. Stralla said that due to various factors the union was asking for a wage increase
of 7 a. He listed several companies who had approved the 7 o increase for their
employees. He also sited various reasons for the high cost of living in this area.
He said that the employees were not asking for anything that had not already been
approved by many other utility companies.
The Board discussed the wage increase with Mr. Stralla. Several aspects of the
increase were discussed. No agreement could be met on this issue, so President
Stone requested an executive session to last 25 minutes, during which time the
union personnel coy_ l L meet with Mr. Stra Lla.
The regular meeting resumed at 10:45. The Board President, Mr. Stone said that the
Board would offer a 5 o increase and no more. He said that the Board felt that it was
important to try to stick to some kind of guide line, such as the cost of living increase.
There was more discussion and finally the union personnel went to Mr. Cattan's office
for more discussion.
President Stoen again directed the Board to the regular agenda.
MART I S WOODS
The manager presented to the Board a draft of Resolution 7103, still pending and a
copy of the minutes of February 2, 1971 in which the previous Board agreed in principal
to the draft of the Resolution presented . The Board directed the Manager to notify
the subdivider that they are in favor of furnishing water outside of the presently
established boundaries, immediately adjacent to Sierra Medows and Ponderosa Palisades.
The Manager thought it advi.able to acquaint the two new Board members, R. Waters, and
D. Anderson, with the February 2, 1971 decision. The manager was going to check the
legality of serving water outside the District boundaries.
page 225
MORE UNION
Mr. Stralla brought the Board a counter proposal. He said that the employees would
_accept 6.5 o and there would be a split wage increase. The_ clerical employees would
receive 3 o increase and the phys i cal force would receive 6.5 0. Tom said that he
saw no reason why the girls in the office should be penalized. The other Directors
were also in agreement with Tom.
Mr. Stralla said that this was a proposal and that the union still felt that 5 o is not
enough of an increase. Mr. Stone said that the Board was holding fast with the offer
of 5 0. It was suggested by R. Waters that the union meet with their people and try
to come up with something.
Mr. Stralla said that there would be a union meeting and the employees would discuss
the increase and vote on i t.
MANAGER'S REPORT
Mr. Cattan said that Lakeworld had been in contact with him regarding the metering
of the Soma Sierra and Donner Trail tanks and that the District should pay for the
metering. It was suggested to him by Dan Cook that this metering be done. The
cost of the metering would be $3,500. It was finally agreed that Lakeworld will
bear the cost.
Mr. Cattan said that the trench had been excavated for the Martis Dam Recreation Area.
He said that they hoped to lay the underground cable next week.
There being no further business to come before the Board, it was moves by R. Anderson
and seconded by D. Anderson that the meeting be aj ourned. All aye, motion carried.
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, NELSON S. STONE
CORDING S CRETARY, CIr
IA J. HUTCHINSON
-page 226
June 6, 1972