Crossville council approves policy making hiring previous retirees more difficult.

Crossville city council approved a policy concerning the rehiring of previously retired city employees based on several meetings of discussion and input and recommendations from new city manager Greg Wood.

Mayor James Mayberry moved to approve the policy presented at the council previous meeting. Action on that policy was delayed pending additional information. A second to the motion came from councilman Scot Shanks.

The recommendation from Mr. Wood is that as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

City manager Greg Wood and members of the city council

discuss policy on rehiring previous retirees.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with

employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.

With no additional discussion, Mayberry called for a vote. Councilman J. H. Graham voted in favor reiterating that extraordinary circumstances could bring a decision back to the council. Councilman Danny Wyatt voted no saying he did not want to tie the city manager's hands. Councilwoman Pamala Harris also voted yes saying she felt as Mr. Graham did. Mr. Shanks and Mr Mayberry voted yes.

The motion was approved with a four to one vote.  

Council discusses rehiring retirees but delays action to special called meeting March 21 at 5 PM.

Crossville city council put off action on a policy on rehiring previous city retirees, including those who took an early retirement buyout some two years ago.

The matter will come back up again at a special called meeting set for Tuesday March 21 that will be followed by a work session on the city's capital improvement plan. The special called meeting is set for 5 PM and will be immediately followed by the work session.

Greg Wood wrote a memo of his take on the issue during his first week on the job, “It would be my recommendation as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA (International City/Co Management Association) when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived, but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.”

“This is a rather sticky wicket for 2 reasons,” said Wood at the start of the discussion during council's regular March meeting. The first thing is people who participated in the buyout program and addressing that issue and possible payback if they come back to work as the program was designed to reduce payroll and now they are coming back. The other issue is coming back into the TCRS (Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System) and the difference between 5 percent expense to current employees and the TCRS expense of 18 percent.

Wood added that these were policy questions for the council to address.

Council member J. H. Graham said he did not want to discriminate against those who took the buyout saying, “if they are good employees and the manager wants them back, I think we should give him a policy that will let him do that.” Graham suggested a formula that the city manager could work from such as an agreement that any buyout employees would agree to not have a cost of living increase for at least 3 years and they would not receive the usual 5 percent increase after 6 months for a period of 2 years.

Graham moved to use his suggestion and as calculations were thrown out Mayor James Mayberry said he would like to have the calculations on paper and the motion was withdrawn to be moved to March 21 at a special called meeting.

Other items on the work session include third reading on the updated public records ordinance along with second reading of an ordinance on excavation and cuts in public right of ways that disallows masonry structures taller then 6 inches on public right of way and second reading of the ordinance on telecommunications.   

Shooting Sports Park, hiring retirees and masonry mailbox holders and more to be discussed at city council

The proposed Shooting Sports Park on Albert Frye Road returns to the Crossville city council's agenda for Tuesday evening after complaints came from residents near the proposed site at last weeks council work session.

The project, brought to the city council some 18 months ago by Cumberland Co. Mayor Kenneth Carey will be built using over $2 million from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on land the city is selling to the non-profit corporation that will operate the facility. At last months meeting the council agreed to the sale of the property under what city attorney Will Ridley described as a binding contract. The sale is to take place by April 1 under that contract.

During city council's work session last week, discussion on the

proposed Shooting Sports Park came up as neighbors expressed

concern for noise and property values.  City Engineer Time Begley

explained a diagram of the property to council. 

Several property owners in the area of the old city landfill property are now opposing the project due to noise and property value concerns. It is unclear what action the council can take at the March meeting.

The council's evening starts with the monthly audit committee meeting at 5:30 PM and the regular council meeting gets underway at 6:00 PM.

Council will also discuss and consider action on the matter of rehiring previous city retirees. Such rehiring will be more costly then the other hires as they would have to be place back under the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS). New city manager Gary Wood has given his recommendation on such hirings in the future.

Wrote Wood, “It would be my recommendation as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA (International City/Co Management Association) when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived, but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.”

Wood spoke during the work session and said that the city had hiried back the former city police chief David Beaty and that people seemed happy about that. Wood added that he felt the city needed guidance from the council for future decisions.

Wood also wrote about the bridge insurance that was offered to those who took early retirement and that it was less of a problem but still needed a ruling by the council.

Another somewhat controversial discussion was an ordinance that would not allow masonry structures to be built on the city's right of way that were higher then 6 inches. This would create a problem for the anyone who wanted to construct a stone or concrete mailbox enclosure. City engineer Tim Begley said there were several potential problems with those including traffic hazards, blocking the city ability to access their water and sewer lines.

Any such structures that currently exist would be grandfathered but new ones would not be allowed. They would have to be built on the owners property with a way for the mailman to access them.

The city is working on an ordinance to help control new cell phone and other communication towers as new technology changes. The city staff is requesting the council approve a temporary moratorium on such new construction and begin the process of approving a new ordinance.

Council will also consider adding a new full time position at the Palace Theatre. Currently there is one full time and 3 part-time positions. One of the part time positions would become a full time position due to the very busy schedule at the theatre and the need for additional help.

Work continues on the city's solid waste contract renewal. The matter was discussed at the council's work session with much of that on the difference between residential and commercial waste pickup. The matter has been discussed by council before without a resolution. It is something that needs to be addressed before the city continues toward a decision on taking back over waste collections or putting out a contract bid.  

Crossville council holds special called meeting and work session Tuesday evening

The Crossville city council will meet in a brief special called meeting followed by the monthly March work session Tuesday March 7 in the third floor conference room.

The special called meeting to handle Centennial Park concessions bids will be held at 5:00 PM. The city has received two bids for the operation of the concessions operations at Centennial Park, the Duer Soccer Complex and Garrison Park. Proposals were received from Nick's Italian Ice and W6 concessions.

A committee was appointed by the interim city manager to study the proposals and make a recommendation to the council. Quick action is needed to be ready for a tournament scheduled for March 17-19.

Immediately following the called meeting the council will meet in work session to discuss a number of items expected to be on the regular meeting agenda March 14. Subjects on the work session include rehiring of previously retired employees, the city's annual capital improvement plan and a discussion of the solid waste collection contract.

Previous discussion on the subject of rehiring previously retired city employees has revealed that rules by the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) mean that such actions are more expensive then hiring those who were not previous retirees. Those rehires must be returned to the TCRS retirement program that costs the city some 18 percent of the employee's salary each year versus a retirement cost of between 5 and 8 percent for the program the city uses for new hires similar to a 401K program.

The city Human Resources department is requesting the council to approve a policy on the conditions of any such rehiring. According to the agenda information the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) surveyed some Tennessee cities and of the 14 responses only 2 advised they would rehire a previous retiree in a full time capacity.

The council will be presented with a rough draft of the annual capital improvement plan prepared by finance director Fred Houston. Council will review the document and determine if a work session is necessary to review the plan in more detail and get more information.

As the city gets closer to the deadline for notifying their contractor Cumberland Waste Disposal of the decision on whether to rebid the city's solid waste collection contract or to take the work back in house to be done by city employees. Street department supervisor Kevin Music will be addressing the issues that need addressed as the city moves forward to make that decision.

Also on the council work session are discussion of a telecommunications facility ordinance and a moratorium on new facilities until the city can complete work on the ordinance. The ordinance would govern towers, antennas for cell service, broadband internet and other communications technologies. The ordinance is being developed by a committee of several departments involved and still has finishing touches needed before final approval.

The city is looking at a system to provide city sewer to developed areas out side of the city limits because the new rules on annexations. The city has received requests for sewer service and has been looking at ways they can provide the needed service in a fair way. The policy is being developed and will be presented to council with a request for some decisions for moving forward with the program.    

Council asked to clarify personnel issues over rehiring retirees and retirement costs

Rehiring a previously retired city employee has turned into much more of a problem then the city initially believed and also more costly.

Crossville Human Resources manager Leah Crockett explained part of the problems to the city council during a work session Tuesday saying that the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) has ruled that because of the way the city is now doing retirement, any rehired employees must be put back on the more expensive TCRS program.

In 2013 the city opted to leave the TCRS program and all new employees after July 1, 2013 went onto a program similar to a 401k that requires an employee put in at least 5 percent of their salary that is matched by the city. An employee can put in more and the city will match up to a maximum of 8 percent of the salary. Previous employees are able to stay on the TCRS program that requires no contribution from the employee and the city deposits 18 percent of the employee's salary toward the TCRS retirement program.

Crossville city council members discuss questions raised by HR Director

Leah Crockett over retirement complications of hiring previous retirees.

After some initial confusion, the TCRS has finally determined that rehiring a previous retiree means that employee must stop collecting any retirement payments if they had started them and they must go back on the TCRS program increasing the city's costs.

Crockett told the council that she needed some direction from council as currently there was no policy on the hiring of a previous retiree in the personnel policy. “There has been a little bit of miscommunication that has gone on between the city and TCRS,” explained Crockett. Initially last year TCRS had given guidance on a retired employee returning to work and receiving retirement pay but the information turned out to be incorrect and TCRS is working to straighten out the information. Crockett said she was waiting on written information from TCRS on their ruling.

Ms. Crockett explained that TCRS had a special session just about the situation at Crossville and they have told Crossville that any employees returning to work must be returned to the TCRS program at the more costly contribution rate. The initial information last year was that a rehire would instead go on the new retirement program through the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

“Normally entities don't rehire” a retiree to return full time explained Crockett. She added that as she understands what TCRS is saying, if a rehired retiree stays 3 years or longer then their service and benefit is recalculated and it could cost the city even more money. “There's nothing in the handbook, policy or charter or anything that indicates how we are going to handle this,” added Crockett.

Crockett said the policy needs to speak to if an employee retires from our service are we going to hire them back with no questions or if we have stipulations such as a waiting time before rehiring, or an employee could only return in a part-time capacity.

Councilman Danny Wyatt said, “I believe TCRS has set our policy for us, hadn't it?

Crockett also said that even without a buyout, a city retiree is paid a retirement incentive after a number of years of between $2000 and $3500. Should the city pay that bonus again if a retiree retires a second time with more years of service based on the TCRS standard after being rehired?

Wyatt added that now that the city knows this it would be up to the HR department and the new city manager to work this out. “You bring a retired employee back, there's a pretty good reason why you did, he was good at his job,” said Wyatt.

Crockett said, “Council has to set the policy and approve the handbook. For there to be a policy, council has to approve that.”

Further issues could crop up if an employee goes to another job and then after a few years were to come back to a job with Crossville it appears the city would again have to put them back on the more expensive TCRS program.

Council discussed delaying any immediate action until the new city manager starts and they plan to take up the matter at a future meeting.

The current problem has come out of the recent rehiring of former police chief David Beaty who retired 2 years ago as well as the previous hiring of Steve Hill as the interim city manager. Hill has since been removed from that position.

Busy Tuesday for city council includes rehiring retirees, hiring new city manager, public records policy and more.

The Crossville city council has a very busy Tuesday night with a work session, a special called beer board and a special called meeting to discuss hiring a new city manager.

The meetings get underway February 7 at 5 PM with the work session and at 6 PM the special called beer board will deal with allegations of underage sales by three Crossville beer licensees and the special called council meeting to possibly move forward with hiring a new city manager after interviews that took place January 30 and 31.  The meetings will take place a city hall.

Other items on the work session agenda include the rehiring on a previous retiree and the effect on insurance and retirement benefits. Some questions have cropped up with the rehiring of David Beaty as regular police chief after he took the early retirement buyout from the position 2 years ago. The agenda item is listed as “discussion on rehire of retired employees in a full time status and the effects on the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System."  Beaty, along with a number of other city employees received a lump sum payment of 6 months of salary and continued health insurance at the time they left. It was not expected any of those employees would return to work for the city at the time they left.

Crossville Police Chief David Beaty

One question relates to the healthcare benefits received by the retirees that included a city paid insurance benefit until age 65 and Medicare eligibility. A 2015 spread sheet from the finance department shows that Beaty had been recieving medical, dental and vision insurance at a total cost of $521.11 a month.

 City attorney Will Ridley gave an opinion at the request of former interim city manager Steve Hill that rehired retirees would be eligible to receive the insurance benefit after they left the city's employment after being rehired. Ridley's opinion states that by adopting the retirement plan the city created a contractual obligation to provide the benefit. Ridley wrote, “It is my opinion that Mr. David Beaty will be entitled to continue to receive the bridge insurance at the time of his next separation from the city employment or until he becomes Medicare eligible.”

According to Human Resources Manager Leah Crockett, no other employee hired at the current time would be eligible to continue health insurance after separation. It is also unclear if a rehired retiree employee would keep the bridge insurance if they were fired for cause.

Council will discuss the proposed sale of part of the city's Chestnut Hill landfill property to a non-profit group for use as the proposed Shooting Sports Park. Should the sale of the property be approved by council at their February regular meeting, the sale would have to be advertised for 30 days under a provision of the city Charter. The project has been in the works for almost two years and a large part of the funding will come from TWRA.

Detailed story on Shooting Sports Park.

With changes approved by the Tennessee General Assembly last year on public records law, the council will consider an update to the related ordinance and a new model policy for access to public records. According to the agenda information the new policy is not substantially different from the city's current policy and ordinance. The new policy requires a report annually to the Council regarding compliance and it requires review every two years. Other small changes including allowing for the use of a requestor provided storage device for electronic records, eliminating any charges that total less than $5.00, and changes in the form for requesting records.

Link to new public records policy (Link downloads a PDF file)

Operation of the city's new corporate hanger at Crossville Memorial Airport will also be up for discussion on the work session agenda including a fee schedule, utilities and other operational items. A final change order will also be discussed returning some $13,000 to the city. The hanger has now been turned over to the city's control.

Other items for discussion include:

• geotechnical studies to be preformed on the proposed location to be used for the site development grant to construct a ready for construction pad;
• outside city limits sewer connections;
• appointment of council member Pamala Harris to the Lake Commission;
• and a training for council members on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  

Could Crossville employees who took early retirement return to work after taking buyout? Answer appears to be yes.

After some 19 long-time Crossville city employees took early retirement last year, talk that some of those employees are seeking to be employees again has raised some questions.

We got some answers from former Crossville city manager David Rutherford who originally proposed the early retirement buyout and we got some financial information from city finance director Fred Houston.

City council approved the plan in September 2014 offering eligible employees a lump sum payment of 50 percent of their annual salary and a bridge insurance program that would have provided health insurance until the employee was medicare eligible. If the employee was already medicare eligible they would receive a monthly payment to cover additional parts of medicare coverage for two years.

Nineteen city employees took advantage of the program.

The question has been raised whether employees who took the early retirement could come back at a later date to again work for the city. According to Rutherford, the program as approved by the council did not include a prohibition or any agreement that an employee would stay retired. All employees who took the early buyout had to leave employment by the end of January 2015.

“We didn't think anyone would want to come back,” explained Rutherford. All the retirees who participated in the Tennessee Comprehensive Retirement System (TCRS) could receive full retirement benefits at age 60 with 5 years at the city, after 30 years of service, or at age 55 with 25 years of service they could receive a reduced monthly payment.

One recent change by the city has made coming back to work for the city easier for those retirees. Since the city has dropped the more expensive TCRS retirement system and opted for a match retirement savings plan, similar to a 401k, employees who return can work now and keep receiving their retirement payment while they work. If the city was still with TCRS, the employee would have to suspend their retirement pay to return to work under the TRCS plan.

The employees who took early retirement received a total payout of $465,250 for their half year's salary. At the September 2014 council meeting where the plan was approved by council, it was estimated some 10 employees would take the buyout and according to Rutherford at that meeting the savings to the city would come when all those who left were not replaced.

Insurance costs expected for the retirees totals $543,252.49 but any retirees who return to work would be switched over to regular employee insurance benefit. Interim city manager Steve Hill took the early retirement and received a lump sum payment of $34,374 plus insurance until 2022.

Another retiree that has been mentioned as possibly wanting to return to work is former police officer Darrell Sherrill who sought to apply for the regular Crossville police chief's position earlier this year at the time the city was requesting internal applications only. It was ruled that as a retiree, Sherrill could not apply as a current employee.

With the city now seeking applications for a full time chief, another possible hire that previously took early retirement could be former police chief David Beaty.  Between Hill, Sherrill and Beaty the three received a total cash buy out of $101,688.