01/25/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Hamel left the meeting. III. Discussion with Bill Morrisette Regarding His Proposal Resolution distributed to Council. . Manager said the request from Mr. Morrisette regarded a resolution to have Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County cooperate in an effort to reduce traffic congestion during the peak a.m. and p.m. rush hours by staggering work schedules for public and private employees. He continued the City does have a work-hour-staggering process for employees, and also the staff had preliminarily discussed implementation of a para-transit proposal for the entire community. This project would include such things as van use. He said staff hoped this implem~Qtation would occur within a few months, depending on funding. He felt these matters were of great concern to the City, and hoped more interest could be obtained on the part of Lane County and Springfield. However, it was also felt that the existing committees and T-2000 review process were already to some degree involved in this issue, and it was hoped that discussions would continue on a metro-wide basis, as this was a metropolitan problem. He said staff was reluctant to suggest promoting the formation of a separate committee to study this one aspect which was included in the T-2000 plan, as perhaps it would set a precedent of developing individual study groups on other details of the plan. Gary Long, Personnel Director, said the City had adopted a policy in 1975 of flexible working hours, a four-ten work schedule, and job sharing. He had taken a telephone survey of department heads, and said staff in ~ many of the larger departments come to work earlier than 8 a.m. However, .., administrative offices were pretty much held to the 8-to-5 schedule, but where feasible the work hours were staggered. He said in looking at the proposed resolution, he agreed with the purpose but felt the City already had two-to-three years' experience in the things that were being proposed. He felt it was not appropriate to initiate an individual study committee but perhaps more appropriate to endorse the concept. Mr. Lieuallen questioned to what extent the employees take advantage of the policies. Mr. Long replied that job sharing possibly included up to 20 persons; the flexible time option was much more widely used in Personnel, Finance, Court, and Planning. The four-ten work schedule is the least used option as City employees have to be available to the public at the expected 8-to-5 work hours. With small exceptions the entire Police and Fire Departments and the outside work forces of Public Works and Parks were not on 8-to-5 schedules. Mr. Lieuallen wondered what impact these policies might have and what impact they were having now. Mr. Long said he would prefer to answer that question after a more in-depth study rather than just a telephone study. Assistant Manager noted the Municipal Court is currently opening at 7:30 and closing at 5 to allow persons to conduct business there before going to their own jobs. He noted some departments were open 24 hours, such as the Police. - 1/25/78--6 51