AHPA Minutes May 2014
1. Call to Order
a. Pledge
b. Introductions
Jimmy Chavez- President, Kevin McNichols-Vice-President South (proxy for Vice President North, District 2, District 8, District 9, Civilian South, and Recording Secretary), Bob Gilbert – Executive Recording Secretary (proxy for Executive Officer), John P Smith - Treasurer, Dave Stopke District 1, Ken Bays – District 3, Eddie Simpson – District 4 (proxy District 12), Tim Kvochick – Metro Central/District 5, Neal Peden – District 7, Bert Cheney – District 11, Bill Rogers – District 13 Metro East, Eric Swanson –District 14 – Metro West, Jim Stanton – District 15 (proxy for Civilian North), Luis Canez – District 16, Robert Renner - Headquarters, Gregg Girard – proxy for Aviation and Retired North Zone, Ed Sharpensteen -CI Central II/GIITEM, Ken Nelson – Retired Central (Proxy for Retired South), Betty Gallery – Retired Civilian, Vickie Toll - Civilian Central 1, Patty Simpson –Civilian Central 2, Gary Keltz –Civilian Central 3, Shadena Colter – Civilian Central 4, Bev Fuller - Special Projects/benefits/charities, Colleen Girard - Executive Secretary, Dale Norris – Labor Counsel, Greg Robinson – Legal Counsel, Kelsey Lundy – Lobbyist, Jeff Munster – Financial Advisor, Robert Jagus – Insurance Advisor, Vian Gorgis – Member, Courtney McNichols – Guest.
c. LODD/Deaths/Illnesses
LODD – 42 LODD in 2014, 11 since last meeting. Four were killed by gunfire, Two were killed by vehicular assault. Two were struck by vehicles. Two succumbed to heart attacks. One was killed in an automobile collision.
Deaths:
Lt. George Elias #104 passed away on 4/23.
Sgt. Larry Kenyon #2068 passed away on 4/25.
The son of Bruce Campbell, David Campbell age 26 passed away expectantly.
d. Membership Update:
New Sworn Members (12)
Angel Rael #6541, Christopher Amick #7646, Luis Artea #7647, Simon Wade #7660, Steven Zickefoose #7661, Daniel Townsend #7659, Joshua Stockton #7658, Daniel Ruiz #7399, Jeffrey Rodecap #7655, Michael Negrete #7621, Chad Meier #7653, and Ashlyn McBride #7433.
Civilian Members (3)
Tania Silva #7718, Christian Snider #6706, Julie Holmes #7723
Retired Members: (3)
Dan Larimer #4948, Tony McDaniel #4293, Brian Wilcox #2797
Members who canceled:
Sworn: Jamie Contes#5768, Chris Drummond #4231, Mark Richardson #4407
Civilian: Charletia Pettis #7677
Members who left DPS:
Sworn: Shawn Darr #7560, Christopher Kisser #7036
New Associate Members
Dan O’Neill
- Cards/Flowers:
Cards: Shannin Reed-Manjarres - sick, Terry Johnson - retire, Ryan Young – retire. Flowers: George Elias, Larry Kenyon, Memorial Dedication for Bruce Harrolle, Mesa Police Officer Brandon Mendoza.
- Seat Proxies
A motion was made by Jim Stanton and 2nd by Ken Bays to “accept consent agenda and seat the proxies.”
2. Congressional Candidate, Ruben Gallego, Congressional District 7(CD7)
Ruben has always had an open door policy with the AHPA. He has worked well with Jimmy and Kelsey. AHPA is well respected at the Capitol. CD7 includes Central Phoenix, South Phoenix, Tolleson, and South Glendale. He served 6 years in USMC including a tour in Iraq. He lost friends due to bad equipment, poor armor and other issues. He recognizes the differences between military service and police but also recognizes the similarities between the two. He believes a gas tax increase will help to improve our roads and infrastructure. He will look at improving the infrastructure. He believes he has an understanding of some of the things that we are going through. He is looking for our support in running for Congress. He is running against Mary Rose Willcox. *Board Members should discuss whether or not the AHPA will endorse Mr. Gallego and bring their recommendations to the June Board Meeting
3. DPS Executive Staff, Lt. Col. McGuffin
There will be five new Majors promoted and assigned. Andy Vasquez will be promoted in place as Chief of Staff in CI. Ken Hunter will take over the Special Enforcement Bureau in Phoenix. Danny Lugo will be promoted within CID, Wayde Webb will be promoted in place as the Chief of Staff in the Directors Office, and Bill Beck will promote to the Metro Patrol Bureau. The Major promotions will take place on Saturday, May 24, 2014. Captain Smart will remain on the list in place as he chose not to make a move to Phoenix.
The Major promotion creates three new vacant Captains’ positions. HP has no Captain Vacancies, but HP expects to lose 2 Captains during transfers, CID has 4 openings and the Directors Office has one vacant Captains’ position in the Professional Standards Unit. This creates a total of 8 current Captains opening. The next set of discussions will take place in the next few weeks which will enable existing captains to determine if they want to move before new promotions take place.
With the promotions for the rank of Captain it will create a total of twenty potentially fillable sergeants’ vacancies. These include eight that will be vacant due to captains’ promotions, eight currently in Highway Patrol Division and four currently vacant in Criminal Investigations Division.
Lt. Col McGuffin stated existing Captains and Sergeants will have opportunity to move before new promotions are made from the repective promotional lists. All new Sergeants ideally should be assigned to HP but there may be exceptions based on unique skill sets.
One issue will be to be able to bring people in to backfill. 26 officers are currently in Advance Basic will graduate June 13. At ALEA in the senior class we have eight cadets and they should be joined in Advanced Basic by five or six laterals. The junior class at ALEA lost one cadet and currently has 17. In June the department has another 10 or 11 slots. We are hiring for a November Class and ALEA is looking at a December Class.
Lt. Col. commended AHPA for all the group did for the Huffman Family. The feedback from the Huffmans’ was they were overwhelmed by their every need being met.
Sgt Freeman and the 12 troops that worked with him in taking care of the Huffmans. He covered every detail including the transportation need.
4. Reports
a. Legal – Greg Robinson
Since the last meeting, discussion was held about getting a new CPA. Greg has provided the Eboard and new treasurer with names of potential CPAs available. Greg has been following up on an issue from two years where the IRS received our tax return late, although it was sent on time. Greg has been working with Bob Mitchell in getting the DPS Museum paperwork in order. Greg worked with Andy Swann on the Arizona Peace Officers Memorial 501.c.3. Non-Profit Account.
b. Labor – Dale Norris
Last month – LEMSC the board recommended the department have a terminated employee return to work. LEMSC reversed the decision because the employee had been terminated when another employee had been given 240 hours for the same first occurance of the issue. The fight will continue at AZPOST.
Regarding the Majors Process – There is another appeal in June. A
Members’ suspension is pending in July. A retired member passed away and had been married 17 months. The ruling is that a member has to be married two years before their spouse can receive a widows’ pension. The member had died from one of the cancers that are covered under the list of types of cancer. If you have an exposure, be sure to report it to a supervisor and complete an exposure report.
A retired member who has paid dues as an active member, who now works for another agency was given a reprimand. He was never told what the findings of the investigation were although he had been disciplined. Once a public records request was made by the attorney, the member was transferred across the state.
In the north, there was a critical incident and one of the LDF attorneys was able to take care of the member.
Dale will be out of town on vacation for a couple weeks and John will be covering for him during his time out of town.
- Public Relations – Stacey Dillon unable to attend but submitted the following information:
The DPS Memorial had lots of great coverage. The Yuma Memorial – all media and Fox 10 Phoenix used footage from KSWT Yuma. The Comfort Bear drive was covered by all local Phoenix media (except Spanish tv); mentions on Tucson TV and newspapers; and both Yuma TV stations. Stacey completed the eBlast for the memorial with the recap of all the memorials with pictures. All pictures from the memorials sent to magazine, board and up on social media sites and website. Stacey worked on the Membership updates and attended PSOB training while at National Police Week.
In the next month, you will see an eblast recapping comfort bear drive, with a photo opportunity with Papa Murphy’s (need day and time at Metro East to pull out bears and have board members there). Stacey will work on an announcement of scholarship applications being accepted, distracted driving law modifications (for AHPA board to consider taking up next legislative session). She is also working with the Huffman family as the trial becomes closer – August 18th, 2014 is projected.
LDF will be present at next meeting to offer updates on status of fund. They will be announced via eblast as well. Members should attend if they want an overview of the LDF fund. New artwork and raffle items should be ready to send to the printer as well.
- Treasurers Report – John Smith provided a list of account balances. A motion was made by John and 2nd by Burt that “The account in Heber will be closed and a new account will be opened at the credit union in Phoenix. This will keep everything at the same banking center.” The motion passed.
- Legislative Report – Kelsey Lundy
2014 Legislature passed a $9.32 Billion Budget passed. Included in the budget was a one-time 2% increase for DPS employees. Representative Justin Pierce and Andy Tobin both really pushed to get the DPS pay increase through in the budget.
The Blue Alert passed and was signed into law by Governor Brewer. All Anti-union bills were stopped during this past session.
Pension Reform in 2012 was a long process. Bill 1609 only affected PSPRS which was to get us to fully funded status by 2025. The excess earnings fund has prevented us from being able to catch up with the main account to get us to being fully funded. The Fields Decision was handed down which may affect the fund. There was an increase in employee contribution by ½% a year up to 11.65%. Another issue has been the continued increase in employer contributions by the agency to cover costs.
A solution will be a ballot issue to keep in the benefits (no diminished benefits) and change the COLA benefit. The proposal includes changing back and setting the countribution rate at7.65% while setting up a separate COLA account. There would be a three year COLA holiday while the new account is allowed to build. Up to 4% (in addition to the 7.65%) employee contribution would go into the COLA account. After three years, the COLA would be capped at 3% and would not exceed more than 25% of the COLA fund. This would help flatten out the employer contributions to keep funds from being diverted.
One of the provisions in 1609 was you couldn’t receive benefits until age 52. This will be removed. This 1609 clause did not having any significant impact the fund. Retirees would be able to receive a COLA after being retired for 7 years or at the age of 60. There would be a plan similar to DROP reinstated (Employee Inflation Self Protection Plan). The above fixes the Arizona Constitution Diminishment clause. In the Fields Decision, the ruling was the new COLA formula was a diminishment of benefits but they also referred to the Federal Employee Contract rules/clause/challenge. It is believed that if the employer contributed a 1% to the new COLA account then it would minimize challenges. In addition, the employer contribution to the main account would increase from 8% to 10%.
The term COLA is not a true Cost of Living Adjustment, it is a permanent retiree increase. The formula for how it is paid will not change. Kelsey and Tim Hill have been meeting with the legislature and Governors’ office.
Endorsements:
In Kelseys recommended endorsements she looks at have they been supportive of DPS Pay, where they stand on Anti-Union Issues and payroll issues, reachable by the AHPA and receptive to the AHPA:
- Financial Report – Jeff Munster
Portfolio is 83% in equities and 17% in Cash. In April, the Portfolio Account hit a new high. Economy grew at 1% but was expected to grow at 1.5%. The anticipation is the economy will grow by 3% for the year. The taxes from Obama Care and the cold have caused the economy to slow. The expectation is the market will be up 8-10% this year. As always, by low, sell higher.
- Insurance Report – Bob Jagus
A member had passed away and had a waiver from the 1980s. PFD is looking for the life insurance policy to see if they are eligible for the benefit.
- Scholarships – BEV
Total of 33 applications received for the scholarships. Twenty-eight were graded. Three were not graded as they were to out of state schools. One was turned in late. One the parent is no longer an AHPA member.
Community Service is one of the items that need to be placed into the essays. Although there are not additional points, involvement with the AHPA is nice to have documented.