Res 2023-121R/Approving a meet and confer agreement between the San Marcos professiona Firefighters association local #3963 and the city of San Marcos.

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2023-2026 Meet and Confer Agreement Between the San Marcos Professional Firefighters Association and the City of San Marcos, Texas ARTICLE 14 ASSOCIATION BUSINESS LEAVE Section 1. Time Off for Association Business An Association business leave time pool (the Pool) shall be created for the purpose of conducting Association business. Association business is defined as time spent in Meet and Confer negotiations, adjusting grievances or in dispute resolution process, attending the annual State and International Firefighters' conference, TSAFF/IAFF Service Training, the Association's Executive Board meetings, and regular Association business meetings. It is specifically understood and agreed that Association pool time shall not be utilized for legislative and/or political activities. No Association pool time shall be utilized for activities prohibited by Section 143.086 of Chapter 143 or by the Texas Ethics Commission. Nothing contained in this Subsection is intended to limit the use of the individual firefighter's remaining vacation time by the firefighter for legislative and/or political activities. Section 2. Establishment of Association Leave Time Pool The Pool shall be funded by a reduction of annual vacation leave accumulation in the amount of three (3) hours per Firefighter, during the first pay period of the calendar year. In the first pay period of the first calendar year of this agreement, the Cityshall fund the Association Leave Pool in an amount equal to three (3) hours multiplied bythe number of employees in the bargaining unit on that date. Any bargaining unit member who does not wish to contribute their three (3) hours in any calendar year must provide notice in writing to the City Human Resource Department at least thirty days (30) days prior to the beginning of the calendar year. A bargaining unit member may elect to donate more than three (3) hours, but not more than twenty-four (24) hours, to the Association Leave Pool by filing a written signed consent to voluntarily donate extra vacation hours at least thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of the calendar year. Donations in the first year will be for all three years of the agreement. For example, a minimum of 3 hours for 3 years will be a minimum of 9 hours, and a maximum of 24 hours, which will be 72 hours. The City will track contributions to and deductions from the Pool. Once a contribution has been made to the Pool, there shall be no transfer of the time back into any individual firefighter's leave time account, and there will be no cash payout for any remaining time in the Pool. Any hours not used in one (1) year will remain in the Pool to be utilized the following year. Such pool hours shall never have any cash or surrender value. Section 3. Use of Association Business Leave Time Pool All Association business leave will be requested in writing to the Association President, and submitted in advance for approval by the Chief, including a determination that the occurrence for which Pool time is requested meets the requirements established in Section 1. The Chief may waive the requirement that the request and approval be in writing. Requests for use of Pool time shall be made as far in advance as is practicable. There shall be no entitlement for overtime pay for any hours worked on Association business. Any Firefighter may at any time be required to return to duty in any emergency as determined by the Chief which action shall not be reviewable by any administrative orjudicial body or subject to grievance. Section 4. Indemnification The ASSOCIATION shall jointly defend the provisions of this article on behalf of both parties, and shall indemnify the CITY and any Department of the CITY and hold it harmless against any and all claims, demands, suits or other forms of liability that may arise out of, or by reason of, any actions taken by the CITY or any Department of the CITY for any purpose of complying with provisions of this article. The Association shall be entitled to select and direct counsel for such defense, but shall reasonably cooperate with counsel designated by the City Attorney to participate. Page 24