Item Coversheet

City of Topeka
Council Action Form
 Council Chambers
214 SE 8th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66603
www.topeka.org
February 1, 2022
DATE:February 1, 2022
CONTACT PERSON:Amanda StanleyDOCUMENT #:
SECOND PARTY/SUBJECT:Compulsory Retirement - TMC Chapters 2.30 and 2.35PROJECT #:
CATEGORY/SUBCATEGORY 013 Ordinances - Codified / 002 Administration
CIP PROJECT:No
ACTION OF COUNCIL:Discussion 12-14-21. Deferred to Feb 1, 2022 on 2-21-21.JOURNAL #:
PAGE #:
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:

 

ORDINANCE introduced by Councilmember Neil Dobler, concerning compulsory retirement, amending Chapters 2.30 and 2.35 of the Topeka Municipal Code. (Deferred from the meeting of December 21, 2021.)

 

Voting Requirement: At least five (5) votes of the City Council are required.  The Mayor does not vote.

 

(Approval of the ordinance only reinstates compulsory retirement and does not make any other changes.)

VOTING REQUIREMENTS:

At least five (5) votes of the City Council are required to adopt the ordinance. The Mayor does not vote. The proposed ordinance involves a matter of home rule on which the Mayor has veto authority.

POLICY ISSUE:

Whether to amend Topeka Municipal Code Chapters 2.30 and 2.35 to require compulsory retirement for the Fire and Police Departments.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

Staff recommends the City Council move to adopt the ordinance.

BACKGROUND:

When the comprehensive personnel revisions were submitted for Governing Body approval in September 2019, it was recommended that Chapter 2.140 (entitled "Benefits") be repealed in its entirety. Article IV (entitled "Police and Fire Pension Funds") was part of that chapter. After this occurred; however, it was determined that Section 2.140.280, entitled "Compulsory Retirement" should have been retained due to the fact that the ADEA requires this language to be a "local law" -- which means it needed to be included in the TMC versus the Personnel Manual in order to be relied upon.

 

Upon recognizing this error, city staff brought an ordinance to the Governing Body for its consideration reinstating compulsory retirement as well as cleaning up other related TMC provisions in March of 2021. On April 6, 2021, Councilmember Naeger moved to adopt the ordinance.  The motion seconded by Councilmember Padilla failed.  Councilmembers Hiller, Duncan, Valdivia-Alcala and Emerson voted “no.”  (4-4-0)

 

The ordinance being introduced at the request of Councilmember Dobler only reinstates compulsory retirement and does not make any other changes. The proposed ordinance has been reviewed by Fire and Police Management, the FOP, and the Fire Union.

 

The ordinance was deferred from the meeting of December 21, 2021.

BUDGETARY IMPACT:
No immediate fiscal impact is anticipated.
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Not Applicable
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Ordinance