SPECIAL MEETING
June 30, 1949
A Special Meeting of City Council was held on Thursday, June 30, 1949 at 7:30 P.M. with Mayor Storey presiding. Members present were Messrs. Behen, Carroll, Culver, Petty, Smith and Wilson.
WAGES AND HOURS
City Council approved 44 hours as the basic work week of all hourly employees of the City of Dover.
Council approved the following wage scale effective June 30, 1949:
Laborers: $ .75 per hour
Truck Drivers: $ .80 per hour
Semi-skilled workers: $ .85 per hour
Power Plant: Operators: 1.05 per hour
Firemen: .90 per hour
Yardmen: .85 per hour
Linemen: 1st Class 1.30 per hour
2d class: 1.15 per hour
3d class: .92½ per hour
Street Foreman: $50.00 per week
Police: Lieutenant: $55.00 per week
Sergeant: 53.00 per week
Patrolman: 50.00 per week
Police will be raised at the rate of $2.50 per week after each six months of satisfactory service until the above maximums are reached.
Power plant employees will be paid double time for holidays worked.
Council approved salary increases of $5.00 per week for Mrs. Margaret D. Tomlinson and $2.50 per week for Mrs. Margaret L. Bullock.
Council authorized the City Manager to work hourly employees either a 40 or 44 hour work week and authorized payment of time and one-half time for hours worked over 44 hours per week.
PENSION ORDINANCE
By unanimous vote of all members of Council present, the following Resolution and Ordinance was adopted:
WHEREAS, by virtue of the provisions of Chapter 275, Laws of Delaware, 1947, the City of Dover is authorized, empowered and permitted to establish a system of pensions or benefits through group insurance or otherwise, for the regular employees thereof; and
WHEREAS, after careful investigation, study and consideration, it has been determined by the City of Dover that a pension plan supported solely by the City of Dover and similar to the plan of the State of Delaware would best suit the purposes of the City of Dover, financially and otherwise; and
WHEREAS, the City of Dover has elected to exercise the authority to establish a system of pensions or benefits for the regular employees thereof, pursuant to and in conformity with the provisions of said Chapter 275, Laws of Delaware 1947; now therefore
BE IT ORDAINED, by the City Council of the City of Dover, in Special Meeting convened, in pursuance of and in conformity with authority conferred by the provisions of the aforesaid Chapter 275, Laws of Delaware, 1947, that the following Ordinance creating and establishing a system of pensions or benefits for the regular employees of the City of Dover be adopted:
AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF PENSION BENEFITS TO CERTAIN CITY EMPLOYEES, FIXING AGES OF RETIREMENT, ESTABLISHING BENEFITS PAYABLE AND THE SOURCE OF PAYMENT THEREOF, PROVIDING FOR APPLICATIONS FOR PENSIONS, AND THE PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED WITH RESPECT THERETO; PROVIDING THAT PENSION BENEFITS SHALL BE FREE OF ATTACHMENT AND NON-ASSIGNABLE, AND ALSO PROVIDING FOR THE REDUCTION OF BENEFITS UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DOVER IN COUNCIL MET:
Section 1. NAME OF ORDINANCE: This Ordinance shall be called the “Dover City Employees Pension Plan”.
Section 2. ELIGIBILITY; OPTION: Every covered employee of the City of Dover, within the meaning of this Ordinance, maybe retired after such employee shall have served in covered employment for thirty-five years, or on or after attaining the age of sixty years in case of a female employee, or the age of sixty-five years in the case of a male employee, and shall after retirement during the remainder of his or her life receive the pension fixed by this Ordinance, subject to such qualifications and reservations as are herein contained; provided that prior to July 1, 1951, any covered employee may continue active work at his option, irrespective of his age, provided he continues mentally and physically fit to properly discharge his duties, but on and after said date a covered employee may continue active work at the option of the head of the department or agency by which he or she is employed up to the age of sixty-five years for female employees and seventy years for male employees, at which time retirement shall be mandatory for covered employees. Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall be construed to make mandatory the retirement of any employee who is not in “covered employment”, as such term is hereinafter defined.
Section 3. COVERED EMPLOYEES DEFINED: An employee shall be considered in “covered employment”, within the meaning of this Ordinance, while the employee receives, or in the case of service prior to the enactment of this Ordinance, has received a regular salary or wage from the City Treasury; provided, however, that an employee shall not be considered in covered employment while employed in an office to which said employee had been elected by popular vote at a regular City election.
An employee who shall be in covered employment on the date of retirement and who shall have served in covered employment for at least 15 years during the period that ends on the date of retirement and that includes no interruption for continuous covered employment, except allowable interruptions aggregating not over five years, shall be considered “covered employees” within the meaning of this Ordinance.
Allowable interruptions from continuous covered employment shall be interruptions arising from (a) leaves of absence granted to employees for illness, or for entering the military or naval services of the United States of America in time of war, or upon being called into the Armed Federal Service within two years prior to the seventh day of December, 1941, by operation of Federal law or (b) employment in an office to which the employee had been elected by popular vote at a regular City election, or (c) involuntary severance which shall include a required leave of absence on account of maternity according to rules and regulations prescribed as hereinafter provided, but the employee shall not be considered in covered employment during any period of such interruption, except as hereinafter provided, but the employees in the Armed Services of the United States, or in the auxiliaries of such Services in time of war, or when called into such Federal Services by operation of Federal law, shall be credited to each such employee as time actually spent in covered employment in this City. No time spent in such services shall be considered any part of the allowable interruptions aggregating not over five years as provided elsewhere in this Ordinance.
This Section shall be construed to include those City employees who were regularly employed on a full time or annual basis, but whose compensation prior to enactment of this Ordinance may have been computed on an hourly or weekly basis. Proof of length, regularity and continuity of the services of such employee shall be determined by the records of the City.
Section 4. PENSION BENEFITS: The pension shall be payable monthly and, subject to the limitation that the monthly pension payment shall not exceed One Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($150.00) nor be less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00). The monthly pension payment shall be one-seventieth of the monthly retiring base salary multiplied by the number of years (taken to the nearest one-twelfth part of a year) which the employee shall have served in covered employment during the period that ends on the date of retirement and that includes no interruption from continuous covered employment except allowable interruptions not over five years.
In the case of an employee who shall have been continuously in covered employment during the sixty consecutive months ending on the date of retirement, the “monthly retiring base salary” shall be the salary for covered employment paid to the employee during such sixty months, divided by sixty. In the case of an employee whose covered employment during such sixty months shall have been interrupted by an allowable interruption, the “monthly retiring base salary” shall be the salary for covered employment paid to employees during the last sixty months of covered employment, prior to the date of retirement, divided by sixty.
Section 5. DISABILITY PENSION: An employee who shall have become disabled while in covered employment and after having served in covered employment for at lest twenty-five years during the period that ends on the inception of such disability and that includes no interruptions from continuous covered employment, except allowable interruptions not over five years, so as to be prevented by such disability from performing his or her active duties, may be retired on a disability pension.
Such disabled employee shall be kept on the active salary payroll during the remainder of the calendar month in which such disability shall begin and for the next ensuing three calendar months. At the end of such third calendar month such disabled employee shall be retired and shall receive a pension calculated in accordance with Section 4 hereof and payable during the subsequent uninterrupted continuance of such disability until the date when such disabled employee would otherwise become eligible for retirement on pension in accordance with Section 2 hereof; provided however, that in the event the retired employee, while so disabled, shall engage in any gainful occupation or business then such disability pension shall be reduced by the excess, if any, of the compensation or profit earned from such occupation or business over one-half of the salary last received by such employee for active service in covered employment. If such disability shall continue until the date when such disabled employee shall otherwise become eligible for retirement on pension in accordance with Section 2 hereof, then the disability pension shall cease, but such disabled employee shall simultaneously enter upon the pension provided by Section 2 hereof.
Decision as to whether such disability exists or continues shall be by majority vote of the Disability Commission, consisting of the City Manager, Chairman, who shall, however, have no vote, a member of the City Council to be selected by the City Council, who shall represent the City, a person, either medical or lay, appointed by the Mayor to represent the public, to serve during all or part of the term of the Mayor, in the discretion of the Mayor, and a physician selected by the disabled employee to serve only when the Commission is considering the case of such employee.
The Disability Commission shall, at least once a year or oftener, at its discretion, while the retired employee is receiving a disability pension, require such retired employee to furnish satisfactory proof of the continuance of such disability. Whenever, in the opinion of the Disability Commission it shall appear that such employee has recovered to the extent of being able to perform his or her active duties, the Disability Commission shall require such employee to resume active service, whereupon no further monthly pension payments shall be made under this Section.
Members of the Disability Commission shall serve on the Commission without compensation. The City Manager is authorized to pay the costs of any examinations or investigations which he, with the advice of the City and public members of the Commission, may deem it proper to make concerning the existence or continued existence of such disability.
The period for which the disability pension shall have been paid shall be considered an allowable interruption which is allowable in addition to the allowable interruptions aggregating not over five years, in determining subsequent eligibility for retirement on pension under Section 2 hereof.
Section 6. PENSION BUDGET; PAYMENTS: The City Manager shall use a salary payroll record to include the employees eligible for pension, and at the time of drafting the Budget he shall include, in addition to an amount for active employees salaries, the names, addresses and amounts for those employees who were carried on the pension payroll, plus the names and addresses of the employees who might become eligible for retirement during the period covered in the Budget. The payment of the monthly pension benefits of this Ordinance shall be made solely by the City of Dover in the same way and by the same proceedings as salaries are paid and so provided for the active employees, except only as herein otherwise provided.
Section 7. APPLICATION FOR PENSION; CERTIFIED REPORT; RECORDS: A covered employee may request retirement with pension in accordance with this Ordinance by making written request therefor to the City Manager or to the head of the Department or Agency for which he or she is employed, at least thirty days prior to the date of retirement; or the City Manager or the head of the department or agency may, in accordance with this Ordinance, retire a covered employee at least thirty days prior to the date of retirement. In either event a statement shall be prepared, at least fifteen days prior to the date of retirement, in such form as may be prescribed by the City Manager, to enable him to comply with this Section. The City Manager shall finally decide whether the employee is entitled to the pension benefits and the amount thereof, except only in the case of controversy, provision for which is provided in this Ordinance. A copy of such statement shall also be given to the employee at least fifteen days prior to date of retirement.
All records of whatever kind or character received or to be received by the City Manager on pension cases shall be kept by him as all other official records of the office are preserved.
The City Manager shall be the chief administrative officer of this Ordinance. As such he is hereby empowered and directed to make such rules and regulations as may seem to him necessary and desirable to assist in carrying out its provisions. Such rules and regulations must have the approval of the City Solicitor and shall be publicized in full at least once in the City. After such approval and publication such rules and regulations shall have the force and effect of law.
Before any covered employee is retired with pension benefits according to the provisions of this Ordinance the correctness of the facts set forth in the application of any covered employee for benefits shall be certified to by the City Manager or by the head of the department or agency in which such employee is serving at the time of making his application.
Any covered employee who falsifies his age, either in an application to secure pension benefits or to continue in his position beyond the age limit specified for mandatory retirement shall forfeit all his rights and benefits under this Ordinance.
Section 8. ARBITRATION COMMITTEE; HEARINGS; NOTICE; OATHS: For the purpose of settling any controversy that may arise out of the administration of this Ordinance there is hereby created an Arbitration Committee consisting of the Mayor, or his appointee, a member of Council to be selected by Council, and the City Manager, who shall hear and adjudicate such controversy at a time and place convenient to all parties, after due notice in writing has been given to all interested parties, at least ten days before date of hearing, and who shall have the power to administer oaths and to do such acts and make such reasonable rules in the premises as such committee may deem necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Ordinance. The written decision of any two members of the Committee shall be final, and the members of the Committee shall serve without pay.
Section 9. NOTIFICATION; RESOLUTION: When the employee is not entitled to the pension benefits of this Ordinance, the City Manager shall so advise him or her by letter, but if the employee is entitled to pension benefits of this Ordinance, the City Manager shall prepare and give to the employee an appropriate Certificate, signed by the Mayor and attested by the City Manager, which certificate may be in the following form:
R E S O L U T I O N
Whereas, The retirement of
(name) (address)
an employee of the City of Dover, from his duties as
(title of duty)
in the , presents a suitable opportunity for expressing the esteem in
(name of department or agency)
which we hold as a faithful and satisfactory public servant; therefore
(him or her)
BE IT RESOLVED, That the City of Dover expresses its warmest appreciation and thanks to
for the able and loyal manner in which has uniformly(name) (he or she)
performed public duties, and further
(his or her)
RESOLVED, That this resolution be evidence of a right to the pension
(his or her)
provided by the “Dover City Employees Pension Plan”; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the City Manager be hereby requested to sign this Resolution and put the City
Seal upon it.
Section 10. FEDERAL BENEFITS: If any Federal or State of Delaware law shall hereafter be passed providing for annuities, pensions, disability allowances or other benefits, on account of the same service for which a pension is granted under this Ordinance, then the benefits herein provided shall be reduced to the extent of any Federal or State of Delaware benefits so granted.
Section 11. BENEFICIARIES OF PENSIONS NOT TO BE EMPLOYED BY CITY: No person while receiving a pension under this Ordinance shall be employed by the City of Dover in any capacity, except by appointment of the Mayor or election by popular vote at a regular City election; and during any such appointed or elected term he or she shall not be entitled to a pension unless he or she serves a term or office without pay.
Section 12. PENSION BENEFITS FREE OF ATTACHMENT; ASSIGNMENT: The pension benefits herein mentioned shall not be subject to attachment or execution and shall be payable only to the beneficiary designated and shall not be subject to assignment and transfer.
Section 13. On and after the effective date of this Ordinance only those new employees who enter the employment of the City of Dover under the age of forty-five years shall participate in the pension benefits herein provided; provided, however, the foregoing shall not apply to the employment of persons who are absent from covered employment because of any allowable interruptions from covered employment aggregating not over five years.
Section 14. This Ordinance shall become effective on the first day of August, A.D. 1949.
Approved June 30, 1949:
Clerk
Approved:
Mayor
GATES AT RAILROAD CROSSINGS
By unanimous resolution, Council directed the City Solicitor to contact the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and request that watchmen be provided at the Forest Street and Division Street railroad crossings between the hours of 6 A.M. and 9 P.M. Council further directed that the Railroad be requested to discontinue use of the automatic gates now installed during those hours.
Council adjourned at 9:00 P.M.
City Clerk