HomeMy WebLinkAboutBack Pay for City Workers-1995 Winter Springs
told to give city City officials The federal probe began last
spring after several city employees
complained to the federal agency.
workers back pay to consider The results of the study were re-
leased late in a Monday night corn-
By order won meeting that stretched into
B Will Wellons Tuesday morning'
9 Commissioners questioned the
Or TIESENaNEL STAR WAGES from C-1 call for back pay in the police de-
partment because the police time
WINTER SPRINGS — The federal gov- 3ti0 b per, owed in the _ sheets showed no problems.
ernment wants the city to pay $184,358 in depart Police officers signed time sheets
back pay to 65 current and former police
ment accounted for $146,000 of the that they worked eight hours a day,
and recreation department employees. charges. but in personal interviews with a
However, Hankins told the corn- wage-and-hour investigator they
A federal investigation found that during mission, the recreation department said they worked more hours be-
the past two years the city did not pay po- actions were blatant. In addition to cause they were required to come in
lice officers for all of the hours they managers falsifying time sheets, 15 minutes before each shift. Also,
worked.It also discovered that former man- Hankins said someone purged corn- some stayed after their shifts to
agers in the recreation department told puler records to cover up the error. write reports.to falsify time sheets in an attempt Time was not being recorded, "Even if it is voluntary, it has to
to avoid overtime. overtime was not being paid,"Han- be reported;it has to be The U.S.Department of Labor settlement kins said of the recreation depart- Hankins said.
would require the city to issue checks rang- ment. Police Detective Eric Fawn h to
ing from$22.26 to$5,653. Last year, after a city investiga- be paid $4,265. He said the money
City commissioners have set a special tion uncovered the pay problems in would be a windfall that will help
meeting for Monday to decide if they will the recreation department,the man- with bills,but he considers working
accept the settlement or fight in court. ager resigned and a top assistant extra time part of police work.
Commissioner David McLeod questioned was fired. "Do I feel like Pm owed this?Not.
the need. "What is the point of the special LI really,"Faron said.
meeting?" he asked. "We are going to ap- City Manager Govomhk,
prove this." former police chief,John has maintained the
Investigator Cliff Hankins said problems that the city did nothing wrong. He
found in the police departments were unin- Do I feel like I'm owed said police officers are not supposed
tentional and not unusual. If he investigat-
ed other police departments, Hankins pre- -fill$? Not reall y' to stick around the building after
their replacement arrives.
dieted he would find similar problems. —Police Detective Eric Peron Hankins complimented police
managers for their cooperation dur-
Please see WAGES, C4 ing the probe and said they are en-
forcing the schedule to keep officers
from working too many hours.
cf5o1 11
Winter Springs told
to make back pay
award of $ 184,000
By Darrell Johnson Originally the plan westo put a modem
downtown district behind City Hall, but
Next Monday the Winter Springs City the construction of Winter Springstligh
Commission will meet at 8 p.m. to decide School foiled that.There is no commercial
whether to pay over$184,000 in back pay property Anywhere on Orange Avenue.
to 65 city employees. Ms.Joyce is asking for intensive devel-
It was almost a year ago that a group of opment in a restricted area,said Mi.Swai-
police officers and recreation employees low,who lives on that northern section of
complained to the U.S.Depanment of La- Tuskawilla Road. The only exit from the
bor about missing pay, area is through Tuskawilla Road.
A federal investigation discovered that "More paving will result in more runoff
police officers were not always paid for the into nearby Lake Jesup. Please don't do
number of hours they worked.Time sheets something to enrich one person while de-
routinely recorded eight hours a day when, straying a community,"she urged commis-
according to testimony given to investiga- sioners.
tors,personnel often had to remain late to That's not entirely true, said
finish paperwork or to work on active cases. Reischmann.There is no plan to add more
The recreation department's transgres- buildings,just to convert the existing one
sions were much more blatant.Employees to accommodate more residents.The new
reportedly were told to falsify time sheets owner will still have to present land use
and not report overtime.In addition some- plans and site plans.
one attempted to alter computer files to Commissioners will consider the issue
cover iq the incidents, again after the principals complete nego-
The discovery of the altered records tiations.
prompted the resignation ofthe recreation Cypress Club is drowning...
manager and the firing of an assistant. • Charles McGinnis presented an update
Next Monday's meeting will be an open Continued on Page 3
session to decide whether to pay the back
wages or to appeal the decision.
Group home decision delayed...
The Winter Springs Commission held
off on a decision involving eight acres of
land between the CSX Railroad track and
Orange AvenueMonday night.The owner
has a contract to sell the property if a
zoning change is made allowing the buyer
to convert the existing building intoa group
home.
Current owner Clara Joyce has been
vague on exactly what will become of her
large facility if the purchase goes through.
The building is spacious enough to house q 5 0/ I
a large number of residents,but her attor-
ney, Bill Reischmann, said it will not be
used as a nursing home. -
Members of the South Lake Jesup
Homeowners Association are not in favor
of more peopleliving in theirarea,whether
they are in one building or a number of
individual homes.The environment back
there is precarious enough,they said,with-
out more traffic on Orange Avenue and
Tuskawilla Road(formerly Brantley Av-
enue)north of SR 434.
Winter Springs are not aware that,in the case
ofan interruption of cable
Continued from Page 1 service,customers can file a
on the situation at Cypress Club,a claim for the value ofthe time
community afabout 75 homes to the system wasnot operating.
the Highlands which seems to be Commissioner Larry Conniff
floating away. added,"Once I see a utility told commissioners rate increase ty get a
last monththat the complex,which ease.I very rarely see a
backs up onto WinterSprings later
Club,isbuilton graded sand.When was The request by Time Warner
Tropical Storm Gordon was dened.
than two months ago the struck more
a ravine eroded severely,creating
a dangerous drop-off and threat-
ening the foundations of homes.
According to McGinnis, the
damage is worse now. While the
builder has attempted to shore up
the embankment,residents say it
is too little too late.
"Before the flooding there was
a steep drop-off, and dirt fell
down," McGinnis said. So the
builder added stakes along the
bank."Now there's a steep drop-
off,and dirt and stakes fall down."
Commissioners asked City
ManagerJohn Govoruhk to check
into the situation in December.
Following extensive research,the
city and the residents are now ready
to meet with the builder,probably
within the next week.
If violations continue and no
relief is provided the city could
ask thatall applicable permitsand
Certificates of Occupancy be re-
voked.
Television franchise changes,,.
CommissionerJohnFerring led
the effort to deny Time Warner
Entertainment Company a rate in-
crease on cable services in Winter
Springs.
The 51.26 per month rate hike
was part of a service revision pro-
posed �� �'A i
by the company. "Before
we approve any changes we should
get them (Time Warner) in here
and renegotiate the contract.Give
them a chance for accountability,"
Ferring said.
He also said that most people
City aims
to settle
pay issue L'• Commissioners are upset over
having to dig into the city treasury
❑The Winter Springs City to pay the back wages.But most say
Commission will decide • they are leaning toward settling.
City Manager and former police
whether to pay back wages Chief John Govoruhk said there
or fight the bill in court were problems in the Recreation
Department. But he maintains po-
lice policy did not cheat workers.
By Will Wellons Mayor John Bush is demanding
L£THE S .FL STAFF aCaccountability.eo
"The taxpayers deserve an expla-
nation,"he said.
WINTER SPRINGS — Faced Commissioner Cindy Gennell
with a bill for $184,358 in back pay
for city employees, the City Corn- geed. "I would not want to open
mission will decide tonight whether my checkbook and pay $185,000
without knowing what went on." -
to pay up or fight the issue in court.
Commissioners are expected to Commissioner John Ferring
decide at 8 pm at City Hall if they wants to hear legal options."Pm not
want to compensate police officers convinced the city did anything
and Recreation Department work- wrong—at least with the police De'
ers, who the federal government Department," he said. Police officers
says were shorted, or fight the would get$146,000 of the amount.
charges and possibly spend even Federal investigator Cliff Hankins
more tax dollars. told city leaders last week that po-
If the city defends its pay prac- lice officers came in early and regC-
tices in court,it could face a double- larly stayed late without compensa.
or-nothing gamble, said city attor- lion. All of the officers interviewed
ney Frank Kruppenbacher. If the by Hankins said they worked home
city loses in court, it would have to without pay,he said.
pay at least double the suggested Commissioner David McLeod
settlement plus legal fees,he said. wants to make sure the city doe$
An investigation by the U.S. De- not get stung with a future bill.
partment of labor found that the "How do we safeguard this from
city did not pay police officers for all happening again?"
the hours worked during the past
two years. The investigation also
found that former recreation man-
agers told workers to falsify time Q//
sheets to avoid overtime.
The government says Winter
Springs owes 65 former and current
employees amounts ranging from-
$22.26 to$5,653.
City OKs
back wages
for some Kficher warned that if the
city fights ghts the Labor payment in
court and loses,the payment would
employees se me t.ar double the proposed
settlement. He said the city also
would have to pay the federal gov-
ernment's attorneys'fees.
By Will Wellona The commission voted 3-2 to di-
OF THE SENTINEL STAFF vide the case. Commissioner Mc-
Leod, Cindy Gennell and Larry
WINTER SPRINGS — City corn- maCob n workers if paying ederal ren
gcw-
missioners agreed grudgingly Mon- eminent would agree day night to pay 23 current and for- portion of the claim. to drop that
mer recreation workers $38,178 in Commissioners John Fazing and
lark wages that federal labor inves- John Lan ellotti were adamant
tigators say the city mores. against making any payments to
But they want to negotiate further employees because they had been
concerning 91 former and current paid for all time marked on their
police officers who claim they are time sheets.
owed$146,180 in back pay. In a related matter,Govmuhk an-
Commissioners were upset that a nounced Monday that he wants the
proposed settlement with the U.S. Seminole-Brevard state attorney's
Department of Labor involved pay- office or an independent police
ing some officers with desk jobs agency to investigate whether corn
who had no reason to work over- puter pay records in the recreation
time. City Manager John
the former police chief,Wd corn- review y department were destroyed to avoid
missioners that$40,000 would go to An a wage and hour a alle-
police officers who he believed did gatio Aa er review ngdtthe alle-
police
work any overtime. patios after reviewing the coin-
not
David McLeod plaints of recreation workers.
called the proposed payment of
money to some officers not fair at
all to the taxpayers."
The U.S. Department of Labor
found that from April 1992 to April
1999, former managers in the rec-
reation department told workers to
falsify time sheets in an attempt to
avoid paying overtime.
Investigators also said police offi-
cers had been asked to start their
shifts 15 minutes early and were not
paid for the time. Under the pro-
posed settlement,each police officer
would receive an extra four hours'
worth of pay for each week during
that two-year period.
City Attorney Frank Kruppen-
bather told commissioners it would
be tough to defend charges concern-
ing the recreation department be-
muse he had no witnesses to dis-
pute the government's claims. 9 .50/ / 7
He also said he doubted he could
win the police case.But he thought
further negotiation on wages was
possible.
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L
Winter Springs
back pay costs
less than feared
By Will Welton
OF THE SENI1NEL STAFF
WINTER SPRINGS — The final cost of a federal
wage and hour investigation will be less than half
what the city feared.
City commissioners have approved spending up to
$106,000 to settle an investigation that began nearly
a year ago.The payment for back wages includes the
city's cost for federal payroll taxes and Social Securi-
ty.
Earlier this year,federal investigator Cliff Hankins
told city commissioners the city would have to pay
$186,000 to 64 former and current employees in the
recreation and police departments. With taxes and
Social Security, the payment was expected to be
more than$225,000.
Commissioners balked at the payments to the po-
lice department after City Manager John Govoruhk,
a longtime police chief, said there was no way that
some officers with desk jobs were entitled to back
wages of up to$5,600.
City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher said the city 7: WINTER SPRINGS
presented evidence that the back wages were too
high in the police department and investigators low- Thefts/break-Ins
ered their demands. Hankins could not be reached • Laurel Oaks Drive, between 920
for comment. p.m.March 18 and 10:30 am.Marsh 19.
Kruppenbacher declined to release information in- Someone stole a Mg valued at $350
eluding how many workers will receive back pay, from•house.
saying the issues are still under negotiation. ■ Lenexa Lane,1 W block between
Kruppenbacher did say at a special meeting last 8 Someone broke tan apartment March 13.into
week that the payments to 23 former and current rec- aParanent erM
took S61rt idg coins.
reT o Those workers will r not change. • 17.Someone Circle, 100 Mock;8 p.a-
Those people will parive•an of Labor $38,178 n that March at$200 from the e ya a dirt bike e.
back wages. The Department of Iabor Pound that tied at 52,500 from the yetl of a house.
from April 1992 to April 1994 former managers told
employees to falsify time sheets in an attempt not to
pay overtime.
As many as 41 police officers will receive more
than$45,000 in back wages for working longer shifts
than documented and making court appearances.
Mayor John Bush applauded Govoruhk and Krup-
penbacher for their negotiating.
But after the meeting, Commissioner Cindy Gen-
nell called the whole probe"a shame."
"I don't feel good that our employees felt they had (� r n 3
to go to the federal government to get what they /
thought they deserved."