Sunrise police union cites no-confidence vote in city manager; commissioners press for employee health screening options

Steve Negron, speaking on behalf of the Sunrise police union during public comment on Tuesday, said the union recently held a vote of no confidence in City Manager Mark Lebowski over what the union described as poor communication, lack of transparency and disrespectful behavior toward department members.

Negron asked the commission to press for accountability and to provide clarity about a $1.5 million amount the union says was removed from the city's health plan fund and has not been explained to employees. "We urge the city commission to take immediate action to address these concerns and ensure that our city manager is held accountable," Negron said.

Commissioner Joseph Scudo and others followed during open discussion by pressing the city manager for more information about employee preventive health screenings (referred to in the meeting as "LifeScan" or similar heart/cancer screening programs). Scudo said employees and unions want clarity on whether a city-sponsored screening program would be part of the city health plan, whether it would be rolled out to all employee groups and whether there would be costs, age limits or funding offsets.

City Manager Mark Lebowski responded that staff have been evaluating such screening programs as part of the budget process and that no firm decision had been reached because the budget had not been balanced. "It's something we've been talking about, internally," he said, adding that staff hope to present options to the commission when the budget is finalized.

Deputy Mayor Neil Kirch and others said they had discussed the issue with the city manager and expected staff to coordinate earlier with employee groups, unions and charter officers as options are developed. The union and several commissioners urged timely communication with employees and suggested presenting options to the employee group health insurance advisory committee.

Ending: The commission did not take formal action on the union's no-confidence statement at the meeting. Staff said they would continue evaluating preventive screening options in the budget process and would report back to the commission and employee groups with proposed plan details and any associated costs.