Commission OKs $90,000 settlement

The City Commission unanimously approved a $90,000 settlement with a former city employee over employment issues during its Tuesday meeting.

Earlier in the afternoon, commissioners spent about an hour in closed session with the city attorney and outside counsel to discuss litigation strategies.

The settlement is with an employee whose position as a switchboard operator was terminated last year by the purchase of an automated telephone system. The employee was then hired in the Municipal Court department, but was terminated in March 2015 based on concerns with her work performance. She made complaints about the work environment and filed a claim with the Human Rights Bureau and a grievance under the Montana Public Employees Association collective bargaining agreement, according to the staff report.

An HRB investigator did not find cause to believe discrimination had occurred, but the bureau has not completed its investigation of the employee’s complaint of retaliation.

The commission also approved a labor agreement with the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 8.

The agreement expired in June 2014, and the city and the firefighter union have been working on the new agreement since. The agreement approved Tuesday is effective from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2017.

The new agreement includes some wage increases, overtime pay and continues the 24-hour shift pilot program that is in effect through April 2016.

The commission also unanimously approved the guidelines for tax abatement requests. The guidelines were initially developed in April 2014 and presented to the commission during a work session after they raised concerns during discussion of a tax abatement for the Hotel Arvon project.

The guidelines were presented to the commission for a vote Nov. 17, but Commissioner Bill Bronson asked to postpone so that he could work with staff to further develop the guidelines.

According to city attorney Sara Sexe, the guidelines give the commission flexibility on granting tax abatements, within existing state law and local policies.

One of the major concerns for commissioners was granting tax abatements to projects within a tax increment financing district, which is permissible, but that is a criteria for consideration under the approved guidelines.