City of Dallas Employees

<body> <p align="center"><font size="6"><b><img height="235" src="CityOfDallas/wHeader.jpg" width="786" border="0"></b></font></p> <blockquote> <div> <font face="Arial" size="4"> <p align="center"><strong>North Texas Association of Public Employees</strong></p> <p align="center"><strong>Steel Workers Local 9479</strong></p> <p class="MsoHeading9" align="center"><font face="Arial"><b>Ntape - Steelworkers Local 9479</b><o:p> </o:p> </font></p> <address align="center"><font face="Arial">500 South Ervay<o:p> </o:p> </font></address> <address align="center"><font face="Arial">Suite 112A<o:p> </o:p> </font></address> <address align="center"><font face="Arial">Dallas, Texas 75201<o:p> </o:p> </font></address> <address align="center"><font face="Arial">(214) 760-7422 <o:p>   </font></address> <p align="center"><font face="Arial"><b>NEW!! <a TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://code217.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=general">Message Board</a></b></font></p> <p align="center"></font><font face="Arial"><b><font face="Arial" size="4">Association Newsletters  <a href="News0104.htm">Jan 2004</a>   <a href="News1203.htm">Dec 2003 </a>  <a href="News1103.htm">Nov 2003 </a>   <a href="news1003.htm">Oct 2003 </a>   <a href="News0903.htm">Sept 2003</a></font></b></font>   <font face="Arial" size="4"><b><font face="Arial"><a href="News0703.htm">July 2003</a>   <a href="News0503.htm">May 2003 </a>   <a href="News0403.htm">April 2003 </a></font></b></p> <p align="center"><a href="codeschedule.htm"><font face="Arial"><b>Meeting Schedule</b></font></a><b>   </b><a href="codeposterweb.htm"><font face="Arial"><b>Posters</b></font></a><b>   </b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FF0000"><b>UPDATED </b></font><a href="codeletters.htm"><font face="Arial"><b>Council Contact</b></font></a><b>   </b><a href="codeletters.htm"><font face="Arial"><b>Letter Writing tips</b></font></a><b>   </b><a href="codePayroll.htm"><font face="Arial"><b>Payroll Contact Info</b></font></a><b>   </b><font face="Arial"><b><a href="coderetirement.htm">Retirement Fund News</a>   </b></font><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FF0000"><b>UPDATED </b></font><font face="Arial"><b><a href="codelinks.htm">Links</a>   <a href="codeMap.htm">Location Map</a>   </b></font><a href="http://www.ntape.com/images/NTAPECard4X.pdf"><font face="Arial"><b>Association Sign up Card</b></font></a><b>   </b><font face="Arial"><b><a href="CodeFAQDuesInfo.htm">FAQ and Dues Info</a></b></font></p> <p align="center"><strong><a href="http://www.cityofdallasemployees.com/newsletter/citynewletter011004.pdf">Printable PDF Format of entire January 2004 Newsletter</a></strong></p> </font> </div> <blockquote> <p align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Why was Short-Term disability Axed? Who benefits from this?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As we all know, nothing is more terrifying that getting injured and not only having to worry about your health, but also your families financial survival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>But, this is exactly what happened to us this year. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The more I ask around about this change, the less sense this benefit cut makes. Human Resources argued against changing it, I don’t recall any big debates about it in council, yet, there it was come budget time. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Do you realize that this benefit cost less than $40.00 per year per civilian employee? In fact with the police and fire employees included this number comes down even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Do you know how much it costs to replace this benefit? Easily $120.00 per year for a young healthy employee and between $700.00 to $800.00 per year for older employees with pre-existing conditions. That is $700.00 to $800.00 a year….if they can use it. And this is a big if, since there is a one year ‘waiting period’ for pre-existing conditions …and wait for it… If they can keep it, another big if, since apparently at least one older employee has already received a policy cancellation letter.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As Ms. De La Garza of Human Resources pointed out to council, due to the requirement that a person use eighty percent of their sick time and have a 30 day waiting period we had an extremely low incident of use for this benefit. Only one hundred and eleven people used this benefit in 2002. So the question becomes, why make all of us buy it from a private company? How did this really<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>profit the city? Who profits from this except a private insurance company? </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Do you realize that just for the civilian employees at the lowest rate of $20.00 a month, this coverage would cost us 1.6 million dollars to replace? Over a million and a half in passed on expenses to save the city only $281,199.00. Or worse, since many people cannot afford this coverage with the three years of decreased wages, they are running bare with no disability coverage. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Why? If the money was that significant to the budget, why could they not just offer us the continued coverage for $40.00 a year? We would be covered, they would have the good press of keeping a needed benefit and the $281,000.00 that was so important to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">the budget</b> would have been recovered. Heck they could have asked for it upfront and been ahead for the year. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I think these are questions all of us need to be asking the city as they prepare for next years budget. I would like to see this important safety net reinstated. I would also like to see the employees get a bit more input into benefit changes that affect them. We have had our salary and benefits reduced for going on four years now, and I feel that we deserve some consideration for this sacrifice. Me? I would like several things in exchange, but I think a big consideration is more employee input into these constant benefit changes. I would also like less last minute changes. But what about the rest of you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>What do you want? - M. R. Frey<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Human Resource’s report to council – See line 17 </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><a href="http://www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/eng/ppt/BenefitsMatrix.xls"><span style="COLOR: windowtext">http://www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/eng/ppt/BenefitsMatrix.xls</span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P> </O:P> </span></b></p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><font size="4"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Pension Fund Review Committee News</span></b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman"><O:P>  </span></span></font><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Rather than stick to its previous agree-ment with the employees, where we increased our pension contributions in exchange for the city agreeing to put the 1999 funding solution to a citizen vote, another Pension Review Committee has been formed. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Pension board members Randy Stalnaker and Carla Brewer are on the committee representing the employees and Retiree Morris Bishop, a former chairman of the Fund’s board of trustees, is representing the retirees. Ms. Miller has appointed Bill Quinn of A&R Invest-ments, Rusty Rose an investor, Brenda L. Jackson an Executive vice president of Oncor and Tim Handley to represent the city. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The newly appointed committee met on January 14<sup>th</sup> and 15<sup>th.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span></sup>Apparently most of those two meetings were spent bringing the city appointees up to speed on the history of the plans under funding, benefits distributed and how the pension ties into our overall benefit package.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Including what has been recently slashed and what we are not allowed to do since we are a municipality. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Apparently all went smoothly except for a few things said by Mr. Benavides and his staff which were challenged and corrected by the retirees. (Ed. Note: Hey Ted, you gotta watch those feisty old people. They can be a tad testy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </span>;D ) On January 27<sup>th<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span></sup>they were scheduled to look over investments.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">According to reports, so far the committee members seem to be on track and have not exhibited any signs of having a particular agenda. They did examine the Texas Municipal Retirement System, which has a smaller payout that our current plan does. One of the board members, Tim Hanley noted that this plan is geared mainly towards smaller municipalities without the resources available to larger cities such as </span><ST1:CITY> <ST1:PLACE> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dallas</span></ST1:PLACE> </ST1:CITY> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"></O:P> </font></p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt" align="center"><font size="4"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Job Exportation DOES affect you</span></b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P>  </span></span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I have heard a lot of employees’ say that job exportation to foreign countries does not affect them because they work for a municipality, and those jobs <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">can’t</b> be exported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>This is so completely untrue. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The unemployed people left behind will eventually find much lower paying jobs. Less money, less spending, less tax dollars for the city. Also, this lowers the average salary and benefits paid in the private sector, and we know how closely the mayor watches that. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Also these people then become ‘under-employed’ getting jobs for less money, which makes their labor cheaper than our own. They are hired by vendors, who then pressure the city to outsource our city jobs to ‘save tax payers’ dollars. Which as you know, is when the hidden costs come out, but it is too late then, the jobs are lost to us. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Consider also, Ted Benavides even said at a news conference that the only way the city was getting away with treating the city employees as bad as they do right now, was that the tight labor market gave us no other options. Therefore the city did not have to worry about us leaving for better jobs and did not have to increase our wages.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 4.5pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lastly, just because job exportation does not directly affect you, it does affect your family. We have several employees who’s kids are not able to find decent jobs in this tight economy or worse…. Had decent jobs and then got laid off, so their jobs could be shipped to </span><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> <ST1:PLACE> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">India</span></ST1:PLACE> </ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">or </span><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> <ST1:PLACE> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Pakistan</span></ST1:PLACE> </ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Think about that this November.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Problems Payroll Problems</b><b style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman"> </b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Payroll</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Amazingly enough the city is messing up our dues deductions process. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Go figure, what are the odds hey? We have had several run ins with the city over this, and unfortunately we are going to have to do it again. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">What is happening is that members are being dropped off our list in error or never added no matter how many times we submit their cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>While this is not unusual, I mean they mess up our oaychecks on a regular basis, however, this is getting ridiculous. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">If you are a member who is not getting your dues properly deducted call, write or email us. We are going to ‘chat’ with payroll, so we get this taken care of again.</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> </span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Arial" size="3"></O:P> </font></p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <h1 align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The Code Enforcement Shuffle</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P>  </O:P> </span></h1> <p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Scott Newland sent a letter out to all of the papers and news services at the beginning of the month. Since Scott retired from Code Enforcement, he is pretty familiar with their problems. He pointed out to the media that the problems lie deeper than a few field inspectors or one manager.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">He pointed out that no one is overjoyed to see a Code Enforcement inspector on their doorstep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>If an inspector is at your house, it is 99% certain he or she has bad news for the owner/occupant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Paint the house, mow the yard, get rid of the inoperable vehicle, remove all of the items stored in the back yard, on and on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>These employees enforce over 900 ordinances in the course of their job description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>For the most part they are verbally abused and sometimes physically threatened, robbed, shot, and dog bit as they do their jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>As bad as it may sound, it is not entirely thankless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>There are neighborhood associations that appreciate what Code Enforcement inspectors do, and there is the self-satisfaction of seeing the improvements take place. Code Enforcement plays a key part in the preservation of neighborhoods, especially those with historic designations.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">He also noted that Code Enforcement recently enacted a mandatory quota of achieving 400 “actions” per month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The truth of the situation is that this is a very realistic number if it is defined properly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>He feels that this quota is responsible, in part, for the recent accusations and promises of termination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It is his understanding from various Code Enforcement inspectors that no one in Code Enforcement administration has defined what an “action” is and until recently no two managers were following the same system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>In fact just recently, every manager in Code Enforcement was issued a letter of counseling regarding the quota and now they may be more uniform in their actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In some instances employees turned in their monthly report and were short of the<O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">of the required 400 actions and were told to find more numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>(Managers would look bad by having an employee who did not perform adequately)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Some employees did just that, * found * numbers and turned them in a few minutes later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>(Very bad idea) So the problem is more than a few harassed field inspectors, it also includes the managers who pressured them to ‘fix’ it and then forwarded the incorrect work logs.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <h1 align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Code Enforcement Update…</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P>  </O:P> </span></h1> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lots of interesting stuff going on in Code enforcement due to this incident this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Assistant Director, Cheritta Johnson has been transferred to the Sanitation Dept. effective </span><ST1:DATE Month="2" Day="4" Year="2004"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Feb 4<sup>th</sup> 2004</span></ST1:DATE> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The grapevine tags either Faye Williams or Ron Robinson as interim to replace her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We will wait and see.<O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Gary Middleton has returned to Code Enforcement to manage the Walker Consent sector.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Our Association Representatives<O:P> </O:P> </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><V:SHAPETYPE id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"> <V:STROKE joinstyle="miter" /> <V:FORMULAS> <V:F eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 1 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum 0 0 @1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @2 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 0 1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @6 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="sum @8 21600 0" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @10 21600 0" /> </V:FORMULAS> <V:PATH o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f" /> <O:LOCK aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit" /> </V:SHAPETYPE> <V:SHAPE id=_x0000_i1025 style="WIDTH: 201pt; HEIGHT: 177.75pt" fillcolor="window" o:ole="" type="#_x0000_t75"> <V:IMAGEDATA o:title="" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\MICHEA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.wmz" /> </V:SHAPE> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><V:SHAPETYPE id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"> <V:STROKE joinstyle="miter" /> <V:FORMULAS> <V:F eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 1 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum 0 0 @1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @2 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 0 1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @6 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="sum @8 21600 0" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @10 21600 0" /> </V:FORMULAS> <V:PATH o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f" /> <O:LOCK aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit" /> </V:SHAPETYPE> <V:SHAPE id=_x0000_i1025 style="WIDTH: 201pt; HEIGHT: 177.75pt" fillcolor="window" o:ole="" type="#_x0000_t75"> <V:IMAGEDATA o:title="" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\MICHEA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.wmz" /> </V:SHAPE> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P> </O:P> </O:P> <img height="221" src="images/Joe_and_Scott_Jan_2004.png" width="251" border="0"></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Please welcome Joe Paul Fletcher to our local. Joe will be assisting Scott Newland in handling grievance and general office duties needed to assist our membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Whereas Scott knows the city, Joe knows the unions. He comes to us from Steelworkers Local 6580 where he was a member for 40 years. He spent the last 20 years as president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We look forward to teaching Joe about the city while he keeps us on the straight and narrow as far how unions work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Joe is currently working on Scott’s schedule so he can pick up tips on how the city works, as soon as he gets up to speed ‘city wise’ Scott and he will split shifts so that we can double our coverage. <O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In addition to Scott and Joe we also have Ms. Liz Barlett who does ‘pick up’ work for us doing the taxes and making sure we stay straight with the state and federal government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><O:P>  </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Ms. Barlett lives in Rockdale </span><ST1:STATE> <ST1:PLACE> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Texas</span></ST1:PLACE> </ST1:STATE> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">and is the local expert on union funding records. She often holds classes for District 12 Unions on book keeping and records retention. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <hr width="90%" SIZE="4"> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Something Interesting in the paper….</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></b><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman"></O:P> </span></font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This letter was in the Dallas Morning News Letters page last month. <O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">How about city workers?</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In yesterday's editorial, "Changing a City – Philanthropist believes in building bridges," you rightly recognize Margaret McDermott for her $8 million contribution to the city. <O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">How about throwing out kudos to thousands of city of </span><ST1:CITY> <ST1:PLACE> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dallas</span></ST1:PLACE> </ST1:CITY> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">employees, who, due to huge increases in insurance deductibles <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">and</i> premiums, are effectively contributing thousands of dollars per year <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">per employee </i>to city coffers? - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Thomas Prentice, Dallas</i> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Great letter huh? It inspired this design…<O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><V:SHAPETYPE id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"> <V:STROKE joinstyle="miter" /> <V:FORMULAS> <V:F eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 1 0" /> <V:F eqn="sum 0 0 @1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @2 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @0 0 1" /> <V:F eqn="prod @6 1 2" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth" /> <V:F eqn="sum @8 21600 0" /> <V:F eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight" /> <V:F eqn="sum @10 21600 0" /> </V:FORMULAS> <V:PATH o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f" /> <O:LOCK aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit" /> </V:SHAPETYPE> <V:SHAPE id=_x0000_i1025 style="WIDTH: 180pt; HEIGHT: 180pt" fillcolor="window" type="#_x0000_t75" alt=""> <V:IMAGEDATA src="images/codema1.jpg" o:href="http://prodtn.cafepress.com/nocache/8/8737828_F_tn.jpg" /> </V:SHAPE> <img height="240" src="images/codema1.jpg" width="240" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="COLOR: windowtext"><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="COLOR: windowtext"><V:SHAPE id=_x0000_i1026 style="WIDTH: 153pt; HEIGHT: 198.75pt" fillcolor="window" type="#_x0000_t75"> <V:IMAGEDATA o:title="ParksOpen2" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\MICHEA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image002.png" /> </V:SHAPE> <img height="255" src="images/codema2.jpg" width="255" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026"><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="COLOR: windowtext"><a href="http://www.cafeshops.com/magicondemand/147133">http://www.employeeblues.com</a><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="COLOR: windowtext">Shirts, mugs, clocks, mouse pads… gear for the ‘gruntled employee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span></span><span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-hansi-font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-no-proof: yes">J</span><span style="COLOR: windowtext"><O:P> </O:P> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://code217.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=general">WHAT’S YOUR OPINION? </a></font></p> </blockquote> <p align="left"> </p> <p align="center"><b><a href="mailto:comments@ntape.com?subject= newsletter comments"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000" size="4">comments@ntape.com</font></a></b></p> </blockquote> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="4">Welcome to the Unofficial City of Dallas Employees, this page is by a City of Dallas employee for the use and benefit of civilian City of Dallas employees. It is in no way an Official publication of the City of Dallas. </font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" color="#c0c0c0"><b>"City of Dallas Employees"</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" color="#c0c0c0"><b>"North Texas Association of Public Employees"</b></font></p> <p> </p> </body>