Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Cities, County badly need Inspector General, Ombuds --- HCN Reveals Vacation and Sick Pay Cash-outs "Without Limit"

County Commissioners rightly pounced on County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK's "without limit" language on sick and vacation day payout to him in retirement. They excised the provision. But thanks to Michael Gold and Historic City News blog, we now know that every single employee in the City of St. Augustine is up for the same retirement present.

As Shakespeare wrote, "The fault, my dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves." Won't you join me in attending St. Augustine City Commission meetings, asking questions, demanding answers, requesting data and expecting democracy? It is up to us -- we need an Inspector General and Ombuds, covering all of our local governments.

City policy allowed $100,000 sick and vacation payout

January 30, 2017 Government
Save
With pay and termination benefits under the microscope last week for St Johns County Administrator Michael Wanchick, Historic City News found poorly worded employment policies at City Hall that allowed a recent retiree to collect over $100,000 as a cash payout for unused sick leave and vacation pay.
City and county governments all have limits on the amount of severance compensation that can be paid to an employee for unused sick leave and vacation pay — except the City of St Augustine.
As highlighted in a January 3rd memo to county commissioners from Stacey Stanish, Director of Administrative and Support Services, although Wanchick has accrued 997.54 hours of vacation as of December 17, 2016, he would be held to a “maximum of 320 hours upon separation”, consistent with senior management vacation limits. In accordance with the St Johns County Administrative Code, accrued vacation leave may be paid upon separation of employment, but shall not exceed 320 hours.
That policy, and 320-hour limit, are consistent with neighboring cities and counties, after checking Flagler and Putnam counties as well as the City of Palm Coast and the City of Palatka.
In contrast, at the City of St Augustine, under the current HR Policies obtained by Historic City News, inconsistent use of terms like “maximum” and conflicting terms like “maximum plus” make any full-time employee of the City able to accrue an unlimited amount of sick leave and vacation time credit and redeem it for cash when they leave.
Per Donna Hayes, the City’s Human Resources Director, the confusion appears to be between the understanding that she and her staff have about how separation benefits “have always been paid”, the way that they are accounted for in MUNIS, the accounting software used by her department, and wording in the policies which has been “patched” over the years and now is subject to interpretation.
For example, under the most liberal interpretation of City employment policy, when Loran Lueders separated on November 30, 2016, the Human Resources Department ordered that he be paid for 615.6 hours of accumulated vacation time (plus an additional 12.3 hours of accrued vacation) in addition to a whopping 1,257.8 hours of accumulated sick leave (plus an additional 6.2 hours of accrued sick leave). After adjustments, he was paid for just over 1,885 hours.
Using a $53.24 per hour base rate, Lueders received a lump sum payout of $100,402.33 for his unused vacation and sick leave benefits. Retiring as chief of police, a position he held since November 8, 2004 when former chief, David Shoar, was elected sheriff, Lueders earned $110,746.79 annually as a salary — plus executive level benefits.
  • But at the county, as clarified during last Tuesday’s commission meeting, Wanchick’s accrued vacation balance of 971.694 hours (as of December 31) had a value of $99,958.16 — but only if taken as time. Stanish explained that because of the 320-hour maximum provided under County policy, Wanchick could only be paid a maximum of $32,918.40.
  • Likewise, Stanish explained, Wanchick’s accrued sick leave balance of 752.694 hours (as of December 31) had a monetary value of $77,437.14 — but, again, only if taken as time. Being more restrictive than vacation time, the County limits cash payouts of sick leave to one-fourth of the current balance up to a maximum of 300-hours, or $19,359.20 in Wanchick’s case.
Finally, despite being a management employee (excluded from the labor agreement that governs regular police officers) and being a “salaried” employee (excluded from “overtime”), Lueders was also paid $5,032 in overtime based on the city manager’s declaration of a “state of emergency” during Hurricane Matthew.
CITY EMPLOYEES WHO CURRENTLY HAVE 300-HOURS OR MORE SICK LEAVE:
Last nameFirst nameDepartmentTypeAvailable
HARRINGTONMARKGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE1026.80
MCCAULLEYPATRICKPOLICE SICK LEAVE1024.80
PARTINJOHNPUBLIC WRK SICK LEAVE990.80
LANGFORDSHARONVIC SICK LEAVE948.80
LAWBRETTFIRE SICK LEAVE868.17
STEPHENSLEEFIRE SICK LEAVE835.24
PROTAMIWILLIAMPOLICE SICK LEAVE817.10
HENNESSEYJOSHUAFIRE SICK LEAVE814.67
TRUNCELLITOJEFFREYPOLICE SICK LEAVE771.90
HALEYLESTERUTILITIES SICK LEAVE753.30
GRAHAMSCOTTFBM SICK LEAVE747.50
SCHUYLER-VETTERSUZANNAPOLICE SICK LEAVE734.30
STARKKEVINFIRE SICK LEAVE695.17
BETTSJOHNFIRE SICK LEAVE685.23
VON BRETZELJAMESFIRE SICK LEAVE679.80
PUTZCHARLENEPUBLIC WRK SICK LEAVE673.80
MASCHIMICHAELGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE625.30
NIEDERRITERJOHNPOLICE SICK LEAVE592.90
TROUTMANLAURIEPOLICE SICK LEAVE573.80
BOJKOJOANVIC SICK LEAVE567.20
MOSCOSOANDRESFIRE SICK LEAVE550.17
GRAHAMMARTHAUTILITIES SICK LEAVE529.20
PAGANOMICHAELUTILITIES SICK LEAVE522.00
WRIGHTSTEVEPUBLIC WRK SICK LEAVE520.40
JACOBSDIANNEGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE518.60
KELLERGREGORYFIRE SICK LEAVE503.07
LITZINGERMARKFBM SICK LEAVE494.80
FOXBARRYPOLICE SICK LEAVE493.80
CUSHMANCHARLESGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE483.80
MICHAUXJENNIFERPOLICE SICK LEAVE482.30
SKIPPGLABRAUTILITIES SICK LEAVE474.50
SNIDERRUTHVIC SICK LEAVE467.20
BOLESCURTISPLAN/BLDG SICK LEAVE451.40
OBERHOLZERHARDUSFIRE SICK LEAVE430.86
FOREMANDIANEPOLICE SICK LEAVE427.70
BROWNBRETTUTILITIES SICK LEAVE399.30
MCKENZIEJOSHUAFIRE SICK LEAVE393.56
MANGELSCHARLESPUBLIC WRK SICK LEAVE389.55
FRASCABRIANPOLICE SICK LEAVE385.30
SHIELDSTIMOTHYGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE383.80
FOUNTAINERACITY MGR SICK LEAVE370.60
HINESMICHAELFIRE SICK LEAVE359.30
SEYMOURBRANDONFIRE SICK LEAVE358.75
FERRELLWAYNEPOLICE SICK LEAVE350.30
LINSKYMICHAELPOLICE SICK LEAVE347.50
CYRDAVIDUTILITIES SICK LEAVE337.30
HAYESDONNAGEN SERVCS SICK LEAVE334.90
LEVERETTJASONFIRE SICK LEAVE333.82
CARROLLKEVINPOLICE SICK LEAVE333.80
SHORECODYFIRE SICK LEAVE328.15
MARSHALLROBINPOLICE SICK LEAVE326.90
WEILANDPETERFIRE SICK LEAVE319.06
PURTILLEDWARDFIRE SICK LEAVE316.80
BURCHFIELDTIMOTHYCITY MGR SICK LEAVE313.30
LUIDANIELPOLICE SICK LEAVE312.30
SHIRSHIKOVAALINAPOLICE SICK LEAVE308.50
CABRERARICHARDFBM SICK LEAVE300.80
CITY EMPLOYEES WHO CURRENTLY HAVE 320-HOURS OR MORE VACATION TIME:
Last nameFirst nameDepartmentTypeAvailable
HENNESSEYJOSHUAFIREVACATION902.40
LAWBRETTFIREVACATION863.32
STEPHENSLEEFIREVACATION843.06
STARKKEVINFIREVACATION772.25
BETTSJOHNFIREVACATION696.18
LEVERETTJASONFIREVACATION683.33
FITTIPALDIMICHAELFIREVACATION650.82
BURCHFIELDTIMOTHYCITY MGRVACATION596.31
MILLERCHRISPOLICEVACATION592.00
PURTILLEDWARDFIREVACATION580.90
REGANJOHNCITY MGRVACATION560.00
TRUNCELLITOJEFFREYPOLICEVACATION557.89
HALEYLESTERUTILITIESVACATION556.00
MASTERSCARLGEN SERVCSVACATION549.75
BIRCHIMDAVIDPLAN/BLDGVACATION546.15
HARRINGTONMARKGEN SERVCSVACATION544.85
MCKENZIEJOSHUAFIREVACATION541.86
LANGFORDSHARONVICVACATION541.69
CYRDAVIDUTILITIESVACATION537.00
FOREMANDIANEPOLICEVACATION532.23
NIEDERRITERJOHNPOLICEVACATION520.96
KELLERGREGORYFIREVACATION517.11
MIERSTEVENUTILITIESVACATION515.39
VON BRETZELJAMESFIREVACATION514.33
FOXBARRYPOLICEVACATION513.32
DAVISONPAULUTILITIESVACATION512.62
MCCAULLEYPATRICKPOLICEVACATION507.40
HALEGORDONUTILITIESVACATION505.21
CARTERJAMESUTILITIESVACATION504.00
PAGANOMICHAELUTILITIESVACATION500.92
CUSHMANCHARLESGEN SERVCSVACATION497.54
MASCHIMICHAELGEN SERVCSVACATION495.15
BERUBEJAMESGEN SERVCSVACATION494.83
HALBIRTCARLPLAN/BLDGVACATION493.92
CASTAINGMICHAELPOLICEVACATION493.50
MOSCOSOANDRESFIREVACATION489.41
BOLESCURTISPLAN/BLDGVACATION488.00
HILLLENAFBMVACATION485.35
SHIELDSTIMOTHYGEN SERVCSVACATION471.69
BOJKOJOANVICVACATION470.16
SCHUYLER-VETTERSUZANNAPOLICEVACATION464.31
SPEEDTHADDEUSUTILITIESVACATION460.46
BROOKINSRICHARDPUBLIC WRKVACATION448.46
KINGARTHURPUBLIC WRKVACATION440.22
LUIDANIELPOLICEVACATION438.70
HILLLENAVICVACATION434.94
MOREHEADDAVIDGEN SERVCSVACATION424.62
ALBINKARENUTILITIESVACATION424.05
EVANSNATHANFIREVACATION423.36
MARSHALLROBINPOLICEVACATION420.49
VALAROMICHAELUTILITIESVACATION419.55
AVILESCARLOSFIREVACATION417.35
CLARKTODDFBMVACATION411.74
SANTONWILLIAMUTILITIESVACATION410.52
MANGELSCHARLESPUBLIC WRKVACATION410.28
LA POINTEJAMESUTILITIESVACATION406.28
REAMESTERRYUTILITIESVACATION405.92
BROWNJO LINDAFIREVACATION405.17
TROUTMANLAURIEPOLICEVACATION404.05
NEASERONALDGEN SERVCSVACATION401.55
LITZINGERMARKFBMVACATION393.54
SARGENTTEDGEN SERVCSVACATION389.43
EMBREYDARRICKPOLICEVACATION387.95
MICHAUXJENNIFERPOLICEVACATION386.24
LEMKEROBERTPUBLIC WRKVACATION383.48
SHORECODYFIREVACATION378.23
TIMMONSZACHARYFIREVACATION376.80
MCCALLRONALDPUBLIC WRKVACATION363.21
SPARROWLORENZOGEN SERVCSVACATION357.40
GRIFFINJONATHANPUBLIC WRKVACATION356.55
BRADLEYGUERRYFIREVACATION346.90
TAYLORABIGAILFIREVACATION343.51
DELANEYRICHARDPUBLIC WRKVACATION333.63
MAYMAEVICVACATION332.46
ADUKIEWICZSAMUELGEN SERVCSVACATION325.78
SMITHWILLIAMPUBLIC WRKVACATION324.01
MARTINEVANPOLICEVACATION323.08
OBERHOLZERHARDUSFIREVACATION322.05
at

No comments:

Post a Comment