The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee unanimously recommended that County Council adopt Expedited Bill 16-25 to correct an eligibility omission in the county's Employee Retirement System.

Staff told the committee the expedited bill would add the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) Manager 3 position into Group E membership of the Employee Retirement System retroactive to the same effective date as the Manager 2 position, August 7, 2023; staff said the change corrects an inadvertent omission from prior 2023 legislation.

"This bill's purpose is to alter eligibility for group code E in the Employee Retirement System," the presenter said. The Office of Management and Budget provided a fiscal estimate of approximately $60,000 in additional expenditures per year if the correction is adopted, staff said. Committee members said the omission hindered recruitment and retention for critical dispatch and public-safety support roles.

The presenter and retirement-system staff said the change is intended to align benefits for represented emergency communications managers with other covered public-safety positions such as sworn deputy sheriffs and correctional officers. Ms. Jones of the Employee Retirement System and a representative from the Office of Management and Budget joined staff at the committee table to answer questions.

Councilmember Katz urged prompt action, saying the omission had complicated hiring and retention for roles that handle life-saving dispatch duties. "No one wanted a deputy sheriff or a corrections officer or someone who's dispatching life-saving calls not to be under this," Katz said.

The committee recorded a unanimous recommendation that full council take up the expedited bill so the correction can be made quickly; staff said there was no public testimony at the committee session other than the executive's request and staff explanation.

If the full council adopts the expedited bill, ECC Manager 3 positions will be placed in Group E retroactive to 2023-08-07 and the Employee Retirement System will implement the change, subject to actuarial and administrative adjustments. The committee did not record a separate roll-call vote at the committee meeting beyond the unanimous recommendation recorded by the chair.