Guemes Island Ferry Committee Meeting
Friday, June 6, 2003
Meeting Summary
Michael opened the meeting at 2:13 p.m. and presented an overview of the agenda. Discussion to include:
· General Ferry Issues – Old Business
· General Ferry Issues – New Business
· Revenue Control/Fourth Crew Member Issue
· Task Force Coordination and Information Sharing
Michael asked if there was any information not on the agenda that the Ferry Committee would like to discuss? The Ferry Committee would like to know the status of the Guemes Island Ferry Parking Lot and on the union contract. Steve Flude will give an update on these later in the meeting.
Steve Cox gave ferry haul out update. Everything is all set up with Foss Maritime to do the haul out, the ferry will go down on the night of July 7th and work to start on July 8th and hopefully be back in service late on July 19th.
Glen Veal inquired about the noise getting louder in the passenger cabin. Steve Cox stated a sound audit had just been done and once the Ferry returns to service they will do another sound audit to see if there is improvement since some insulation is going to be installed along with other improvements.
Steve stated that during the haul out process installation of non-skid will be put on aprons on both sides. We have two companies interested right now they are Dunkin & Bush out of Bellingham and a company in Burlington. They will do one apron at a time so riders can still access the aprons.
There was concern with during the haul out process the availability for parking at the ferry with the construction on Kiwanis Park. Steve Flude and Steve Cox have met with the City of Anacortes to discuss this. It was stated that the City has to do what they need to do for construction and just let Skagit County know the work schedule. Some riders may have to park where the building is located; the parking in the Kiwanis lot will probably not be available with the construction going on. The last time it was discussed, the contractor has a 90-day contract to complete the work, no exact starting date but they do have to complete the project by 45 days after the start date and by the expiration date of the contract. The City is aware of the potential traffic problems if their construction is going on during the ferry haul out. Steve Cox stated the parking lot will be mowed and sprayed to prevent weeds from getting into vehicles.
There was a question concerning the abandoned vehicles parked at the lots. We
can inform the Sheriff’s Department of the vehicles but it is up to them
when/how they are going to remove those, since the fee comes out of their
budget and due to budget restraints these vehicles are not removed when
requested. Steve Flude pointed out that there are two issues with the
right-of-way there are abandoned autos and carcasses with the problem being no
one wants to take responsibility of getting these things off the right-of-way.
Glen Veal asked wouldn’t there be anyway of looking up the license plate number of the vehicle and contacting the registered owner with an ultimatum about getting the vehicle removed, has this option been reviewed?
Steve Cox stated that this is essentially what the sheriff department does.
Steve Flude gave an update on the Guemes Ferry Parking Lot we have received all of our approvals except one, that is the revision to the variance with building the brick retaining wall, City of Anacortes has to approve this and once approved we can tear down the building and begin construction of the parking lot. We are also looking into removing the building prior to the actual construction of the parking lot, the removal consists of literally taking it down brick by brick only about 50% of the bricks are salvageable.
Steve Flude gave an update on the IBU contract, nothing really new to report, we have our proposal ready. There has been some speculation that the Union hasn’t agreed internally on what they want their proposal to be. To date our attorney and their attorney have not set up that first meeting. The only time constraint is, state law allows that if we don’t have an agreement after 12 months then the owner, the County can implement anything they want. Probably how the Union reviews this is the deadline is December 31st of this year.
Steve Cox stated the additional direction given to Purser/Deckhands is that they must stay busy as possible and they won’t be busy 100% of the time, for example like at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night.
Carl Cady asked about the job duties of that 4th crewmember?
Steve Flude replied that the status is after discussion with Steve and Chal and ultimately we decided that we did not want to put any additional job duties in writing and this is the reason when you start changing job duties and we put them down it becomes part of their job description and once we do that we have to bargain the affects with the Union.
Discussion was held in reference to having Ferry staff meetings. In the past these meetings have been held but with poor attendance. There was a question concerning couldn’t you include this is the Union contract that these meetings are mandatory? You could but the problem being you can’t schedule a meeting and have everyone there due to the ferry running schedule, another problem is you do not get 100% attendance even if you offer to pay an employee to come in on their day off for this meeting, most will not come in. We will continue to try and work on this with other options.
Glen Veal asked for an explanation of the 3-½ hour evening shift why is it overtime pay?
Steve Flude replied that there is a provision in the contract that says the shift begins ½ hour before the first scheduled run on that shift and ½ hour after the last scheduled run anytime after this is overtime.
The hours of work are constrained by the schedule so if we have workers that work until 9:00 p.m. every night they would receive 2 ½ hours overtime based on how the contract reads, and we do not know why the contract reads this way.
Steve Cox contacted the ADA Technology Center and they are going to send a person out on June 18th to look at what we have and what the scope would be for the passenger only ferry. Tentatively Carla will be back on July 2nd to provide the crewmembers with training in how to handle these issues on the passenger only ferry. Steve has also contacted Jon Waters of Elliot Bay design group to discuss where we would put an ADA enclosure or whatever is needed to meet whatever rules would come out of the Access Board of Washington. The Access Board is controlled by the offices under the Department of Justice but it also has people from organizations from outside the government such as the Passenger Vessel Owners Association providing input into this group.
Steve Cox and Rick Kiesser are working on issues about the safety at the facility for the passengers and employees, any updates will be added to the Policy/Procedures Manual.
Michael moved the meeting onto new business.
Steve Flude presented May 2003 Crew Schedules to the Ferry Committee showing how the schedule looks and also indicated that 176 – 182 hours is for full-time employees. The monthly schedule shall be designated to rotate fulltime employees from weekdays to weekends, day shift to night shift and this is a huge constraint in making out the schedule. All nonoperating time shall be scheduled on weekdays exclusive of holidays. All regular full time employees shall receive no less than minimum monthly work hours inclusive of vacation, sick leave, other leaves, and overtime. Regular part-time employees shall be guaranteed a schedule of an average of 90 hours a month. We have on-call part-time employees because we don’t have to pay them any benefits and any on-call employee does not have to work when they do not want to. Another constraint is an employee shall normally be entitled to a 40-minute lunch period and two 15-minute breaks. The monthly schedule will be available for the employees to review 10 days prior to the month that it is for. All regular full-time employees shall have the minimum of 3 consecutive days off per month. The Ferry Manager will make a good faith effort to schedule one full or partial weekend off per month for each full-time employee.
Ron Panzero explained how he fills out the monthly schedule. He starts with Pat first due to she is full-time and has seniority, then himself, and then Gary. These are filled out first so they can make sure they have a captain on each day for each run. Pat gets her full schedule, Ron & Gary split the remaining shifts, then if there are any other days left over they go to Kate. Some areas where he has a constraint is that he needs to make sure all full-time employees have a weekend off and have at least 3 consecutive days off, make sure the hours that are divided up equal 176-182 hours, try not to work anyone more than 5 days in a row, anytime you work the night shift we try and give you 2 days off. There is no seniority for on-call employees. Once the schedule is signed by Steve Cox, any vacation, sick leave, and other leave requests that come up – those extra hours to on a rotation basis for the part-time on-call employees.
Discussion was held about the crew training. Ron explained when a new employee is hired, they first go to Steve Cox and fill out appropriate paperwork for Human Resources, then they go to Ron and he provides them with the manual. In the manual there are check off lists, this reviews all the vessel systems and facility systems. The first two days on the boat they do nothing but learn the vessel, by the third day they start going through the system usually starting with the firefighting equipment and lifesaving equipment. Typically Ron tries to schedule the new employees with full-time experienced employees so they can get broad experience about the vessel. Bob will usually show them the fuel piping, fuel shut-off valve and other areas. Usually there is 40-60 hours of training on deck loading and all hands on training. When this is complete they will proceed to Purser training which can require another 40 hours. Ron decides when the employee is ready to move on and if he/she passes the test. Any Supervisor can check off on the employees check off list but Ron still reviews these and verifies okay.
Steve Flude pointed out that Rick Kiesser is helping put together an operations manual for the ferry and every crewmember is required to go through BUCK’s training, which is provided by the County Auditor/Treasurer. This training is for anyone handling cash and they must attend this training.
Steve Cox gave an update on the changes to the tickets. The cash fare tickets now are going to have the fare amount on them and will be punched when used as of June 9th.
Steve Flude handed out example of form that the Transfer Station uses for non-paying customers for the Ferry Committee to review and make any suggestions. There was discussion with this form on how it would work, what fare would it be. It was pointed out this was for the Ferry Committee to review and make suggestions at a later meeting.
Steve Flude mentioned that him and Steve Cox would be attending the Maritime Workers Compensation Seminar on June 27th.
Michael Hodgins moved onto the Revenue Control/Fourth Crew Member Issue. Discussion was held in reference to the proposed work scope: Analysis of Guemes Island Ferry Revenue Control Requirements – State Auditor Findings and Options to address findings. This document once produced by Berk & Associates forwarded to Steve Flude, he made any adjustments then Bonnie Berk & Steve Flude had a conference call to complete this draft so it could be presented to the Ferry Committee for any comments/suggestions.
There were some issues brought up concerning the current contract with Berk & Associates in reference to the amount of money being spent and with what the scope of work actually covers.
Dixon Elder brought up concerns with not wanting to present information to the Task Force if can’t come to an agreement on different items and wonders if anything can be produced without knowing what the new contract will be proposed of.
Carl Cady indicated that the Ferry Committee wanted a scope showing how the work could be done with 3 crewmembers instead of 4 and by looking at this proposed work scope it does not have this information on it. Marilee stated that what the Ferry Committee wanted was Berk & Associates to look at what the State Auditor is requesting and look into how that could possibly be done with only 3 crewmembers. There was agreement that some tasks on this work scope would still apply but what the Committee wants to know is how the Ferry can be ran efficiently, more cost effectively, and still comply with the State Auditors findings. There was a long discussion concerning the State Auditor findings and whether the County really tried every option with only 3 crewmembers before adding a 4th crewmember. The Ferry Committee asked if we could look for technical assistance from the State Auditor to offer any guidance with their findings. Steve Flude said the State Auditor consistently replies we don’t offer help, we only comment on the system inputs. Michael Hodgins said why not focus on tasks 1-5, 11, and 12 and we will take out the remaining since that mainly focuses on the 4th crewmember. Trisha Logue told the Ferry Committee that the Auditors would not give us any direction but that if we have a written solution and present it to them they would review it. There was continued discussion that the Ferry Committee believes the County has not given good faith in trying to run the ferry with 3 people and comply with the State Auditor findings, Steve Flude stated we had tried it with 3 people for a couple of years and has not been successful.
There was a question concerning the distribution of funds, Steve Flude responded per RCW 46.68.124 –Distribution of Amount to County – Distribution of amount to counties -- Population, road cost, money need, computed -- Allocation percentage adjustment.
The money need factor for each county shall be the county's total annual road cost less the following four amounts:
(a) One-half the sum of the actual county road tax levied upon the valuation of all taxable property within the county road districts pursuant to RCW 36.82.040, including any amount of such tax diverted under chapter 39.89 RCW, for the two calendar years next preceding the year of computation of the allocation amounts as certified by the department of revenue;
(b) One-half the sum of all funds received by the county road fund from the federal forest reserve fund pursuant to RCW 28A.520.010 and 28A.520.020 during the two calendar years next preceding the year of computation of the allocation amounts as certified by the state treasurer;
(c) One-half the sum of timber excise taxes received by the county road fund pursuant to chapter 84.33 RCW in the two calendar years next preceding the year of computation of the allocation amounts as certified by the state treasurer;
(d) One-half the sum of motor vehicle license fees and motor vehicle and special fuel taxes refunded to the county, pursuant to RCW 46.68.080 during the two calendar years next preceding the year of computation of the allocation amounts as certified by the state treasurer.
Our road mileage every year is reported to the County Road Administration Board and WSDOT gets that information from them, we could possibly give the information for federal forest reserve fund, timber excise taxes, and motor vehicle license, motor vehicle, and special fuel taxes, but how the State puts this information together and decides how much will be given to the County is something we do not know. Steve Flude stated that the County Road Fund Tax kind of stays stable, the federal forest reserve fund fluctuates, the timber excise tax fluctuates, and would assume the vehicle license fees doesn’t reflect much. Discussion continued on how this process is done. Michael Hogdin went on to explain the theory of what the model is figuring.
Meeting moved onto about extending the Task Force meetings to 3 or 3 ½ hours, the Ferry Committee agreed to present this to the Task Force to get a decision from them.
Steve Flude went over the documents that will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners on June 17th to give them an update on the Task Force. Any of the Ferry Committee can be present.
Discussion was held when the next Ferry Committee meetings will be held, it was agreed that the next meetings will be July 11th & August 8th.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.