STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ) ENGINEERS, LOCAL NO. 675, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 76-448

) PERC NO. 8H-RC-763-0013 CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA )

CONTROL DISTRICT, )

)

Public Employer. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

A representation hearing, pursuant to notice, was held on this cause on June 14, 1976, at 9:00 A.M., in the Auditorium, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Frank E. Hamilton, Esquire

Courthouse Square Building

200 Southeast 6th Street, Suite 204 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

For Public Ralph Bogardus, Esquire and Employer: Thomas J. Schwartz, Esquire

Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District

3301 Gun Club Road

West Palm Beach, Florida

There were two witnesses presented in the cause. The first witness was presented through a deposition, De Bene Esse, upon agreement of the Petitioner for the utilization of such deposition, and the further agreement of the parties to reserve objections that might arise in the deposition, except as to form of the question, until consideration of the petition by the Public Employees Relations Commission. This witness who was presented through the deposition was Michael Patrick Gostel, Personnel Director with the Central and Southern Flood Control District. The second witness presented in the course of the hearing was William C. Brannen, Jr., Director of the Department of Field Services, Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District.

The request for permission to take the deposition of Michael Patrick Gostel, De Bene Esse was made both orally and by written request and was granted by the undersigned and the Public Employees Relations Commission. The original and copies of the written request are part of this record.

According to the Petition as filed, February 25, 1976, the Petitioner requested the recognition of a unit comprised of the following employees: All

employees of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District Pumping Stations excluding office, clerical, managerial, professional and guards as defined in the Act.

The Public Employer takes the position that the proper unit for recognition would be one comprised of employees within the Field Services Department of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District of which the pumping stations are a part. In addition the Public Employer has made a written petition for determination of the issue of managerial and confidential employees and this petition is part of the record.

The following exhibits were admitted into evidence: Exhibit 1 - by Hearing Officer, Notice of Hearing'; Exhibit 2 - by Hearing Officer, Petition for Unit Recognition; Exhibit 3 - by Hearing Officer, affidavit of compliance of required showing of interest; Exhibit 4 - by Hearing Officer, affidavit of compliance for registration of employee organization; Exhibit 1 - by Public Employer, written petition for determination of managerial and confidential employees; Exhibit 2 - by Public Employer, organizational chart of the Public Employer, with general description of the departmental functions.

The parties stipulated and agreed that the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District is a Public Employer within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Chapter 447.

The parties stipulated and agreed that the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local #675 is an employee organization within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Chapter 447.

The question of the required showing of interest was considered by the introduction of the Public Employees Relations Commission's affidavit of compliance for required showing of interest, which was accepted by the Petitioner and received without comment from the Public Employer. The same approach was used for considering the registration of the employee organization and the parties response was identical.

No prior history of bargaining on the part of this proposed unit of employees was shown nor was there any evidence of a contractual bar to bargaining.

The Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District is composed of four

(4) departments. Those departments are Department of Administration, Department of Resource Management, Department of Resource Planning and the Department of Field Services. These departments are shown in the Public Employer's Exhibit 2. Within these departments there are 92 job position titles and descriptions, and within the Department of Field Services there are 46 job position titles and descriptions. Within the Field Services Department are found the pumping stations, which have 16 job position titles and descriptions, of which 11 are also found in other elements of the Field Services Department and 5 are special classifications found only in the pumping stations. A commentary on these job. position titles and descriptions within the Field Services Department may be found in the deposition of Michael Patrick Gostel on pages 26-67 and in Public Employer's Exhibit 1 to that deposition. A further explanation of the overall function of the Field Services Department may be found in the Public Employer's Exhibit 1 to that deposition. More explanation of the overall function of the Field Services Department may be ,found in the Public Employer's Exhibit 2. The last five pages of the Public Employer's Exhibit 2 give a more detailed explanation of the organizational structure. It should be noted that the first

page of Public Employer's Exhibit 2, which shows the Field Services with maintenance, operations, field stations and pumping stations as subordinate units is somewhat misleading. Actually, that page of the exhibit indicates that there are two primary functions, maintenance and operations, and that there are locations known as field stations and pumping stations, with both of those stations fulfilling certain maintenance and operations functions. It should also be indicated that at present the Building Services Division of the Department of Administration has been transferred to the Field Services Department.

The Department of Field Services is broken down into four major areas coming under the department director and deputy director. The first of those elements is the maintenance function which is found in all district facilities. The second element is the operation of the district facilities. The third area is the administrative support and budgeting and the fourth area of consideration is communications. Maintenance is carried out by the area's field station for the most part, with certain in-house maintenance being performed by the pumping stations. The maintenance function specifically includes maintenance of canals, levies, and water control structures. The operations area is controlled by the chief of operations, who is responsible for decisions to determine water levels, water discharges and pumping operations. The administration is concerned with budgeting, cost reports, cost analysis and supporting the operations and maintenance functions. The communications area, concerns the process of constructing the micro wave communications system in the southern portion of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District.

The pumping stations come under the operations section, together with other water control structures that control the level and control of water by gravity. Specifically, the pumping stations are designed to pump water in those areas where it is not possible to drain the land by gravity. These pumping stations are located in 15 positions and they serve the function of lifting the water to higher elevation and discharging it, either into tide water or into storage in Lake Okeechobee.

The field stations are responsible for maintenance of canals, levies, her structures, and work in the vicinity of the pumping stations that the pumping stations are not equipped to do. In this maintenance function the work of the field stations overlaps that of the pumping stations.

Looking at the overall function of the operations section, more specifically, the chief of operations in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is in communication with the field stations and pumping stations. The chief of operations communicates weather reports and the operational decisions on proper water management, to include the prevention of flooding in the rainy seasons.

In coordinating these functions, the chief of operations directs the implementation of the water control structures and pumping stations.

The chain of command which has application to the employees within the Department of Field Services runs from the Governing Board of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Districts to the Executive Director of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District to the Director of the Department of Field Services to the Deputy Director of the Department of Field Services to the Operations Chief and to the various superintendents of the field stations and pumping stations. There is no overlap of command between various sections or divisions of the Department of Field Services. The superintendents of the pumping stations are responsible for reporting to the Director of Field Services.

The overall control of employee matters within the Department of Field Services rests with the Director of Field Services. The employees within the Department of Field Services, as well as those employees within the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, are not members of the State of Florida Merit System (Civil Service System). They are members of a distinct merit system. That system contemplates that the Director of Field Services is responsible for hiring and firing, transferring, promoting, denoting, and giving raises subject to allowances of the budget. Matters of discipline are handled through the chain of command as described before. On the question of transfers, in particular, transfers are made within a given job position from one unit of the Field Services to another on a permanent basis, and in emergencies, but not ordinarily as a daily routine.

The Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District is part of the State of Florida Retirement System and has a common system of health insurance and life insurance, with the explanation that the employees who make higher wages have a higher life insurance.

All employees within the Department of Field Services are hired by the same method, to include those members of the pumping stations and are afforded the same merit raises based upon a common wage scale and work requirement which might be compared with employees of other divisions of the Department of Field Services. On those occasions when job openings are available within the Department of Field Services, job positions may be posted intradepartment or interdepartment depending on the job position and will be filled after applications and by process of interviews.

As mentioned before, there has been a petition filed for determination of managerial and confidential employees within the Department of Field Services and the testimony which pertains to those given positions may be found in the transcript of the deposition of Mr. Gostel at pages 26-67 and Public Employer's Exhibit 1 entered in the hearing.

DONE and ORDERED this 3rd day of August, 1976, in Tallahassee, Florida.

CHARLES C. ADAMS, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings Room 530, Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

COPIES FURNISHED:

Frank E. Hamilton, Esquire

200 Southeast Sixth Street

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33301

Ralph Bogardus, Esquire 33301 Gun Club Road

West Palm Beach, Florida 33402

Thomas J. Schwartz, Esquire 3301 Gun Club Road

West Palm Beach, Florida 33402

Curtis Mack, Chairman

Public Employees Relations Commission 2003 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 300

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 76-000448

Orders for Case No: 76-000448