Crestwood Civil Service Board meeting, 6:30 PM 12/21/11 PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE AGENDA.)
Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a meeting tonight of the Civil Service Board at 6:30 PM in the BOA chambers. The schedule is posted above (click on the header.)
I find this interesting as at the last BOA meeting our City Administrator was told to have an ordnance drafted for the purpose of a vote by the Board Of Alderman reference the "bonus" plan that Ms. Eastman wishes to implement (there is opposition to this by the way as were sort of short on cash as I am told, and so she also stated in the paper.)
I do not believe there will be anything for the Civil Service board to vote on or implement as the BOA has yet to see ANY ordnance much less voted on it.
The other very interesting item on the agenda is the question of moving the Information Technology manager from a salaried position to an hourly one. I see nothing but extra overtime expenses in this as an IT person is "on call," and understands that when they take the job.
Now if our manager goes to "hourly" we will surly pay out a lot more that we do now as holidays and weekends will be considered time and a half or double time wages, and thus really increase our costs in that department.
I think Ms. Eastman should start to take a long look at why we hired her in the first place, that being to control cost's no escalate them.
Tom Ford
NO. 971
I find this interesting as at the last BOA meeting our City Administrator was told to have an ordnance drafted for the purpose of a vote by the Board Of Alderman reference the "bonus" plan that Ms. Eastman wishes to implement (there is opposition to this by the way as were sort of short on cash as I am told, and so she also stated in the paper.)
I do not believe there will be anything for the Civil Service board to vote on or implement as the BOA has yet to see ANY ordnance much less voted on it.
The other very interesting item on the agenda is the question of moving the Information Technology manager from a salaried position to an hourly one. I see nothing but extra overtime expenses in this as an IT person is "on call," and understands that when they take the job.
Now if our manager goes to "hourly" we will surly pay out a lot more that we do now as holidays and weekends will be considered time and a half or double time wages, and thus really increase our costs in that department.
I think Ms. Eastman should start to take a long look at why we hired her in the first place, that being to control cost's no escalate them.
Tom Ford
NO. 971
posted by Crestwood Independent at 15:16
16 Comments:
Hopefully they meet to talk about the mess coming the city's way after the firing of Officer Kuhn.
3;49 PM Blogger: I doubt that will be the topic as well, but we shall see.
Tom Ford
When was officer Kuhn fired?
Last week
I was the one who wanted to email you a few weeks ago in regards to "poor customer service" we received from the Crestwood police dept. My family and I were victims of a horrible crime (non-violent, thank god), and when we had to go up to the police station, the serg. on duty had the audacity to ask my husband if his company was hiring cause "he really hated working for Crestwood". I was sick to my stomach knowing that as a taxpaying resident of Crestwood that this unprofessional hack would be handeling our case. Is this kind of attitude par for the course in Crestwood? -mk
10:28 PM Blogger: "MK," Well I for one am truly sorry to hear of your less than professional contact with the police Department, and I will make the Chief aware of it.
Like anyone, or anywhere else we will always have "disgruntled" employees with us and like bad weather to sailors they are never what we want to see. You can take heart in the knowledge that the detective bureau will Handel your case, and they ARE very professional.
You asked if this was "par for the course" in Crestwood and I can tell you it is not by a long shot. We have some of the best Police officers, Firemen, and Para-medics in the nation on call for us every day, so please don't let one bad experience change your perception of our town.
Tom Ford
City administrator Eastman is shot down by the Civil Service Board by a vote of three to zero.
May we now hope that she will start to realize that we in Crestwood do things a bit differently, and we like it that way?
Tom Ford
The holidays are a perfect time to express wishes and good will to those who have made known their comments on this thread both negative and positive.
Therefore, I wish to take this moment to thank the bloggers, as well as Martha and Tom for their contributions to the Crestwood Independent and "Happy Holidays".
We all may not always agree with each other, but I am happy we have the freedom in this Country to express our opinions and views without surpression.
We live in a great community and apparently from what we have read, others seem to feel we have a community worthy of praise.
I was reading the Times Newspaper today and I am hoping that those on the board of aldermen, the mayor and city administrator can do something to compensate the good employees who work hard every day.
It would be nice if there is some type of agreement that could be reached on this issue However, I understand exactly what some of the aldermen are stating and they have made good points. But I also understand that the next several years are going to be real tough on everyone. Therefore, if we wait for a time when civil service type classification systems are in place to give employees a pay raise - our employees may have to wait another two years or longer before it is approved and ready. By then, the good ones will be gone.
The Civil Service Board is great but it is going to take hard work to bring it "back from the dead". In 2003 it wasn't worth the paper it was written on and nobody cared enough to keep it in tact.
I do agree with Alderman Duchild that giving every employee a salary adjustment would not be based on merit. And also, stated in the Times, I am not surprised that Alderman Miquel is less "enthusiastic" about a short term fix. He is has never been willing to do anything for the employees. His vote is always negative whether we had 10 million dollars in the city coffers! He is the most negative person but I will say, he is consistent. He shreds every issue to death.
But I have confidence that something good will happen to give our employees "something"! They deserve it. They have spouses, mortgages, children to put through school and it is official by Bloomberg... that we have a great place to raise our children. I just hope we don't wait too long to reward them - especially our police and fire.
Merry Christmas, Sandy!
The Civil Service Board heard a presentation regarding the bonuses from City Administrator Eastman, and then they heard from the citizens (who foot the bill for the employees' salaries).
The lack of attention to a pay plan is clearly to blame for the salary issues. As former alderman Steve Nieder pointed out at the meeting, this is not the BOA's or taxpayers' fault, nor is it their responsibility. When I left the Civil Service Board 3 years ago, we told the administration that they needed to implement a pay plan, and we had begun that effort (through the city's CSB liaison) by asking employees to create accurate job descriptions. In the three years since, Mr. Ekrich presented a plan to the CSB and told them it wasn't affordable.
He had every opportunity to set aside money in each budget for raises, and did nothing. The Ways and Means committee this year even opened the door for Mr. Eckrich and Ms. Eastman to include options for 1, 2, or 3% raises for employees, and neither one of them did anything about it.
If the pay plan is a priority, which the alderman believe and which the residents at the CSB meeting believed, then the Personnel Dept. of the city (which by code consists of the CSB and the city administrator) will put in the necessary time to get it done. It most definitely should take less than a year, and the 2012budget could be adjusted if necessary.
As I explained to the members of the CSB, the BOA does indeed care about the employees. Those who are opposed to the bonuses realize that true appreciation comes in the form of permanent, sustainable raises, not a one-time band-aid that carries with it a huge risk of creating opposition to any future tax increase proposals.
Martha Duchild
Thanks Martha for your input - your comments are noteworthy. They make good sense and I am happy you answered me.
As you so stated, I sure hope that something can be done in less than a year as I have always been very happy and satisfied with our Civil Service Pay Plan.
In my humble opinion, it was the wrong move to make Jim E. a city administrator - not even for one day. Jim is an engineer and that is his forte. Being a C.A. is poles apart from engineering. To me that was really misguided and totally unfair not only to the city employees but not fair to Jim as well. All that move did was waste more time. If a person goes to college to get his degree in engineering, how in God's name does that equate to Public Administration??? I cannot wrap my "brain" around that at all!!!!
I am happy that you are on the Civil Service Board, Martha, because it really does does work and gives "structure" to city employees. It worked very well for many years. It gave employees a sense of importance and a reason to work hard. But unfortunately, in order to keep it strong, it needs good people and most definitely the cooperation of all department heads and the city administrator.
It was pushed off, and left high and dry and nobody cared enough to keep it going especially those in charge. If that isn't in place, I can tell you from experience, Civil Service rules and regulations and pay plans will fall by the wayside again.
I thank you, the members of the board of aldermen, Mayor Jeff and the department heads for all of your hard work and efforts to keep Crestwood a great city.
I hope that we can keep it one of the best and safest places to raise children along with the Lindbergh School District.
That Bloomberg Report was one of the biggest "shots of adrenaline" we have had in years!!!! I hope that we can keep all these good things going. Thank you again for your comments. They are very much appreciated.
Hi Sandy,
To clear up any confusion, I am no longer on the Civil Service Board. My three-year term on the board ended three years ago; however, after having served on the board, I am still very interested as a resident in what comes before that board.
Hope you enjoy your holidays!
Martha Duchild
According to Facebook - Tom Ford had surgery on his legs a few days ago (or so?) and is recovering nicely. So Tom, I hope you are relaxing and watching your "Steelers" play the "Rams" today. Listen to your doctor's orders and I hope you have a great holiday. I will pray for you tonight at Mass.
2;00 PM Blogger: Sandy, I did indeed have surgery to correct the flow of blood in BOTH legs over the past two weeks, Friday was the last one.
This is a brand new technique and involves laser's, casing tubes, and a cauterizing rod (or something like that,) and was not available not all that long ago. This has been a problem since my Navy days when I cut my leg on an active coral reef while swimming in the South China Sea.
So far so good, and I am told within six months I will be able to dance with the Chippendale's, so thank God for the wisdom and skill of Dr. Vito Mantese, and the Lord's guidance that put the two together.
Thank you for your kind thoughts and words, I appreciate it more that you know.
Tom Ford
The South County Times wrote an article regarding Officer Kuhn's termination. http://www.southcountytimes.com/Articles-In-Crestwood-i-2011-12-23-178376.114137-Supporters-Rally-Behind-Fired-Crestwood-Police-Officer.html
AHHH Tom, Chippendales?
That make me reevaluate my being a shipmate of yours on Lake Erie.
LOL, hope you were well enough to enjoy your family at Christmas.
12:54 PM Blogger: Mr. Tim, the Chippendale's are the male dancers at 'ladies night.'
Your safe as the "Village people" will be nowhere to be found (thank goodness.)
Tom Ford
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