The Evesham Town Council met via Zoom session on May 19, 2020.
The agenda for the meeting can be found here and the video record of the Zoom can be found here.
The evening began with a lengthy report from Chief Christopher Chew of the Evesham Police Department, documenting 2019 Annual Report for the police department. He highlighted the many events the police held to interact with the community throughout the year, the new initiatives begun during the year, and ended the report with statistics about crime and police work for 2019. The full report will be available on the police website under 'Annual Reports', though it hasn't been posted yet as of this writing.
All items on the agenda were passed by a 5-0 vote without much comment.
There was talk throughout the evening on the financial state of Evesham due to the state shutdown and other factors and concern over possible layoffs or furloughs of township employees.
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Several comments from council and others at the meeting made it appear they are still hopeful a deal can be reached. In addition, an article in the Burlington County Times released several hours before the meeting stated "Both union and township officials said they would come back to the table, however both sides would still be looking for a compromise." Hopefully a mutually beneficial solution can still be reached.
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The agenda for the meeting can be found here and the video record of the Zoom can be found here.
The evening began with a lengthy report from Chief Christopher Chew of the Evesham Police Department, documenting 2019 Annual Report for the police department. He highlighted the many events the police held to interact with the community throughout the year, the new initiatives begun during the year, and ended the report with statistics about crime and police work for 2019. The full report will be available on the police website under 'Annual Reports', though it hasn't been posted yet as of this writing.
All items on the agenda were passed by a 5-0 vote without much comment.
There was talk throughout the evening on the financial state of Evesham due to the state shutdown and other factors and concern over possible layoffs or furloughs of township employees.
- Tax collection for the 1st quarter was 'good', as all the major mortgage companies made their payments as expected. As mentioned at previous town council meetings, about 75% of taxpayers pay their property taxes through a mortgage company. These payments do not appear to have been affected, though there is concern for future quarters as unemployment makes it difficult for homeowners to pay their insurance companies.
- Revenue through April 30th is down about $500,000 in the current fund and $120,000 at the golf course according to CFO Liz Peddicord.
- There is concern about the current fund not regenerating as it has in previous years due to recession
- Several members of council asked the CFO to document a Surplus Use Policy
- The golf course was having an above average year prior to the pandemic, with increased revenue in January through early March. The golf course has reopened at reduced capacity, though the capacity should increase shortly as 4-somes will soon be allowed to golf.
Nick Repici, the Township Labor Counsel, was invited to speak to detail the ongoing negotiations with the union representing township employees. If you watch the video, he begins at about the 2:26:00 mark.
Mr Repici gave the following timeline of events:
On April 24th, the township let the union know of the possibility of furloughs. [Note: While it was not stated, it would seem these discussions beginning on April 24th were for a furlough plan beyond the 5 days allowed for in the collective bargaining agreement, therefore union agreement on any furlough plan would be needed.]
On April 24th, the township let the union know of the possibility of furloughs. [Note: While it was not stated, it would seem these discussions beginning on April 24th were for a furlough plan beyond the 5 days allowed for in the collective bargaining agreement, therefore union agreement on any furlough plan would be needed.]
The town was "seeking to implement a furlough plan in lieu of any layoffs because it was advantageous to both parties in that it would keep all employees on the township payroll. It would allow all employees to continue to receive some form of a paycheck, albeit a reduced one, nevertheless, for the reduction in hours they would have faced, they would have been able to collect benefits through the state under the regular unemployment... in addition, they would have been able to collect the $600 federal pandemic employment assistance payment. It would have made the substantial majority of employees...whole from a financial standpoint."
Mr Repici had 10-12 meetings with union leadership from the end of April to the beginning of May and the union seemed receptive initially. On May 5, the township verbally presented the finalized furlough plan and on May 7, it was given in writing.
On May 8th, the union asked for a guarantee that there would be no additional furloughs for the calendar year 2020 and the township agreed. That provision, along with another provision allowing employees to roll over some vacation time into 2021, was added to the plan and resubmitted to the union that same day. The union then asked for 'substantial healthcare relief'.
On May 11, the township advised they could not provide the healthcare relief as it would offset the cost savings from the furlough plan. The township offered an incentive of 2 additional personal days for the employees which was rejected by the union. The union stated the only way they could agree to a furlough plan was with additional healthcare savings or a cost of living increase.
The township determined that it was not economically feasible to implement the furlough program with the requested additional items requested by the union. After an exchange of emails with no further movement from either side, negotiations ended there.
Unable to reach an agreement on a furlough plan, the township began preparing for the possibility of layoffs, sending out the layoff notices that were received by the township employees.
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The above is my summary of the presentation Mr Repici gave at the town council meeting, his summary of union negotiations. Obviously I was not present at the negotiations, so I can only summarize his version of the events. If I have misrepresented what Mr Repici said, please let me know.
Several comments from council and others at the meeting made it appear they are still hopeful a deal can be reached. In addition, an article in the Burlington County Times released several hours before the meeting stated "Both union and township officials said they would come back to the table, however both sides would still be looking for a compromise." Hopefully a mutually beneficial solution can still be reached.
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