At its Nov. 7 Regular Meeting, the city of Beverly Hills held its first hearing to solicit public input on upcoming labor negotiations with three of its sworn employee associations. The city will negotiate new Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), or collective bargaining agreements, with three of these associations at the beginning of 2025: Police Officers’ Association (BHPOA), Police Management Association (BHPMA) and Firefighters’ Association (BHFMA). Current BHPOA and BHPMA contracts end in June 2025, while the BHFMA contract ends in May 2025.
The MOUs contain the terms and conditions of employment between the city and its employees. These agreements include the wages and benefits for each city employee and are determined by factors like the cost of living and comparable salaries for similar positions in other cities. Per state law, the city must negotiate in good faith with its employee associations to establish their respective MOUs.
The negotiations will be led by an independent labor negotiations team who will represent the city and make decisions on their behalf. The negotiations team consists of four independent labor negotiators, including Shelley Ovrom, Kristen Rowe and Tatiana Szerwinski. Peter Brown will be the lead negotiator.
At the meeting, Brown gave a breakdown of the overall average cost to the city of each public employee in the three sworn employee associations being considered. The total cost of each employee considers salary, benefits, pension contributions, unfunded liability, and overtime pay.
Brown also outlined the public employee pension plan, underscoring the difference between classic and new members under the California pension system, which determines how cities fund public employee pensions. California’s public employee pension system changed significantly in 2013 with the Public Employee Pension Reform Act (PEPRA). Under this law, employees fall into two categories: classic members hired before Jan. 1, 2013, who kept their original pension benefits and lower contribution rates, and “PEPRA” members hired after that date, who must pay higher pension contributions as determined by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS).
Today, Beverly Hills and most California cities primarily hire PEPRA members, and Brown emphasized that City Council should consider projected CalPERS pension contribution rates when reviewing the MOUs.
The Nov. 7 City Council meeting was preceded by an informational meeting on Oct. 29 for the community, which gave background on the city’s labor negotiation process as well as its specific timeline. The city will now hold a closed session in December 2024/January 2025 to direct Brown on strategy and authority for upcoming labor negotiations.
Finally, an independent fiscal analysis will be conducted prior to the adoption of the MOUs. The analysis will be posted on the city’s website for at least two weeks, which will provide the public with information about the cost to the city of the new agreements. The public will have another opportunity to provide input on the labor negotiations process when presented to the City Council for a second time.
The new MOUs are expected to be adopted in January or February of 2025.
During the meeting, Councilmember Wells inquired about comparative studies being done between Beverly Hills and other cities to help the council make decisions about the new MOUs. Brown assured that comparative surveys are in the process of being conducted and will be shared with the council when they meet again.
The comparative surveys are designed to help City Council know where the earnings of its sworn associations’ employees are relative to similar positions in other cities. However, Brown noted that these comparisons are relatively straightforward in this case because public safety jobs (fire and police) are relatively consistent from city to city.
In other matters, the city heard from its urban designer, Mark Odell, on seven new Golden Shield Awards recommended by the Cultural Heritage Commission. The City Council unanimously approved all seven new Golden Shield Award recipients, which are the Beverly Hills Handbag Studio, Ye Bridle Path, David Orgell, Dolores Drive-In, Holsum Bakery, La Dolce Vita and Mr. Chow.
Golden Shield Awards are given to locations that have historical and cultural significance in the city. The program was created in 2019 by the Cultural Heritage Commission and Beverly Hills City Council to recognize important contributions to the city’s history. Awardees are recognized with a custom gilt-bronze plaque highlighting their respective significance.
Finally, members of the council also commented on their recent ventures outside of Beverly Hills, such as Mayor Lester Friedman and Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian’s trip to New York to build connections with local businesses. Additionally, Councilmember Wells, Councilmember Corman and Nazarian attended the 2024 League of California Cities Annual Conference and Expo in Long Beach to connect with fellow city employees from other parts of California.
