The Vancouver City Council on Monday approved two employee union contracts and a professional services agreement with five private companies for on-call construction management and inspection.
Under the 2015-16 labor agreement between the city and the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees, employees will receive a 2 percent salary hike in 2016. This year, new market-relevant pay ranges will be implemented, based on a market study the city conducted in 2014, Human Resources Director Suzi Schwabe said Monday.
The union represents about 170 city of Vancouver employees, mostly in Public Works, with a few in Parks and Recreation and the legal department.
The Joint Labor Coalition’s 2015-16 labor agreement with the city also implements new market-relevant pay ranges this year and a 2 percent pay increase next year. In addition, AFSCME and the Joint Labor Coalition will switch to the Paid Time Off program starting Oct. 1, as opposed to having separate banks of vacation and sick time. Both groups’ previous contracts expired Dec. 31, 2014.
The Joint Labor Coalition represents 45 workers in its three unions, which bargain one contract together.
The city council also authorized a professional services agreement with Vancouver companies HDJ Design Group, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis, MacKay Sposito and Wallis Engineering, as well as with Exeltech of Lacey. Under the agreement, the companies will provide specialized project construction management and inspection services on an as-needed basis for three years, with the total value of each contract not to exceed $750,000. The contract may be extended up to two years and renegotiated at the city’s discretion.
In April, the city issued a request for proposals and received responses from 13 companies.
According to city documents, the advantage of on-call contracting is that the city doesn’t have to hire full-time employees to manage construction projects that last a limited time. With the contract in place, the city can order specific tasks in a short time frame.
The city has successfully used on-call professional services agreements for several years, but all of them have expired, city documents say.
