Commissioners OK Agreement with Employee Group

The  approved a tentative agreement with Pro-Tech (Professional & Technical Employees Association) at its meeting Monday night.

Commissioner Patricia Capello was the only member to vote against the Pro-Tech agreement. While praising the association for working with the city, Capello said she wished she had more time to review the entire contract before voting.

Professional and technical personnel covered under the agreement that ended in 2010 were: Purchasing Agent, Planner I, II and III, Housing Assistance Program Supervisor, Coordinator of Senior Citizen Activities, Civil Engineer I, II and III, Appraiser I and II, Accountant I and II, Telecommunications Specialist, Web Administrator,  Engineering Assistant I, II, III, and IV, Engineering Drafter, Senior Citizen Program Technician and Solid Waste Recycling Coordinator, Secretary I & II, Legal Secretary, Human Resource Specialist, Police Records Supervisor, Data Base Administrator, Network Administrator, Library Technology Specialist and PC Specialist.

The tentative agreement include a 2.5 percent salary reduction, health insurance changes, reducing the pension multiplier from 2.50 percent to 2.25 percent and resuming a 40-hour work week.

Pro-Tech employees currently work four nine-hour days each week.

City attorney David Gillam said the present 36-hour work week, while saving the city money, resulted in a reduced level of service and is the reason for a return to a 40-hour week.

Medical marijuana update

Gillam also updated commissioners on the status of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. Gillam said the city has been involved in three related to the act and pointed out courts have ruled that a state's medical marijuana laws do not supersede federal drug laws. 

Commissioners were concerned that former Ferndale mayor Craig Covey invoked the Fifth Amendment in order not to incriminate himself during a medical marijuana entrapment hearing in Oakland County Circuit Court last Thursday. Commissioner Charles Semchena asked Gillam if government officials had any risks of criminal liability for medical marijuana acts.

Commissioner Jim Rasor, the defense attorney in the case in which Covey testified, stated that Michigan law allows the use of medical marijuana and added . He said he believes commissioners have legislation immunity.