Co-Chair Stewart Cousins called the meeting to order at 3:20 p.m.

DISCUSSION: There is a tape on file for more detailed information.

Co-Chair Stewart Cousins indicated that the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) that was entered into earlier in the year between the County Executive and the Unions is of great interest. The question is, do we want to recommend to the Legislation Committee, that Legislation be created for this. Co-Chair Stewart-Cousins stated that this task force felt Mr. Pepe could explain the whole scope of how the Unions see it and what the benefits would be to the County. Mr. Vogt interjected that there were some concerns about the dollar amount of the PLA, that the million dollar figure was too low. Mr. Pepe stated that they are evaluating it on a project by project basis. Mr. Pepe explained that in a PLA what you are doing is essentially taking existing labor contracts and melding many of the conditions from the various agreements into

one condition for the entire project. You have standard starting times, lunch periods, holidays, work conditions, how you hire & fire. Where if you took each contract individually, they are different, and it becomes a difficult process to work in that environment. The PLA allows you to have flexibility, you can build in split shifts without having to pay a premium. That is where the cost savings gets involved as far as the tax payer is concerned. Your job is to save the tax payers money as well as get it done efficiently and quickly. That is what the PLA is designed to do, in its best form. The PLA in existence for the Tappanzee Bridge(TZ Bridge) is an excellent contract. This is the model that the County should look at. For significant projects with complex labor requirements, there are advantages to having a PLA in place as long as that PLA provides for lower costs, enhancements, compatible work conditions between trades, and flexible operations for employers to operate under. As well as management rights provisions over who the employer can hire & not hire, based on the work that is required on a project, not based on a collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Pepe went on to say that any contractor, any employer can bid for a job. The condition is that when that contractor or employer gets the job, he has to abide by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that was established for that project under the PLA. For instance with the TZ Bridge, 12% of the work force can be non union, 88% has to be from the union, signatory to the collective bargaining agreement of the PLA under the local jurisdictions that do the work in that area. Mr. Vogt stated that he believes that the PLA should apply as long as there is a cost savings. He inquired as to how they determine a savings in advance. Mr. Pepe responded that you have to do an analysis. The County Dept. of Public Works just did one for a project that is coming out to bid soon. They took what was the TZ Bridge PLA, to the County as the agreement that they could accept. There were a few modifications that they proposed, that we weren’t happy with and we suggested they make certain changes otherwise if it is tested it wont stand up. Also that is the way the tax payer would get a better cost. For instance, in many of the Westchester County agreements there are twelve

holidays. Most of the trades have paid holidays. In the TZ Bridge agreement there are eight paid holidays, so those trades from Westchester that are working on the TZ Bridge have four fewer holidays then they would have had in their standard agreements. Those holidays have a value of anywhere between 15 and 20 cents per hour, for each hour that any craft person works on the project. If you take four of those your talking about 60 cents cost savings per hour for every hour that is worked on the project. It is a significant savings, when you add it up over the total cost of the project and the total cost of labor. Labor, depending on the type of job it is, generally runs from 40% - 60% of the cost of the project depending on how much material is in the project and things of that kind. The other issues in cost savings are, management’s determination on how to man the project, which trade gets the jurisdiction for performing which task. In a non PLA environment the contractor is faced with multiple contracts to deal with claiming the same work. Mr. Pepe gave an example, to move a cup from here to there he may think he can do it with laborers but the agreements that exist in the contract say, not only do you need a laborer, but also a carpenter an iron worker an operating engineer and a teamster. The management rights provision gives the employer the right to make that determination, so long as he is operating with the refinements of the New York State wage act, which says that he has to pay prevailing wages for that work. Mr. Vogt asked how much more cost is add for the Commissioner’s staff to do all the analysis. Mr. Pepe stated that it is an in house evaluation, and you are dealing with only eleven issues. The issues are, the work week, overtime conditions, flextime conditions, makeup provisions, reported pay, holidays, management rights, materials, arbitration, no strike, no lock out. Legislator Wishnie interjected that he has requested that the County Attorney draft legislation for the Board with regards to making PLA’s part of our permanent code. There are two issues that he feels people should try to understand, is it in the best interest of the tax payer, and does it prohibit non union contractors from participating. The answer he explained is a win, win situation for everyone concerned. It is to our

advantage as an owner to permit a broad range of people to bid on the work. Which then permits us to do a collective bargaining for a particular project, which is unheard of. Collective bargaining establishes prevailing rates. We have an opportunity to sit down and redo the contracts. He went on to address Mr. Vogt’s concern about the cost of the analysis, by saying that the PLA’s can be done at a particular level which can be established by the County, jobs over a million or whatever number is decided, so that the smaller jobs would not require lengthy negotiations which in the long term would be a waste of money. It is important for non union contractors to recognize that they can bid on the jobs, and win the jobs, and they will be paying the prevailing rate anyway, it does not hurt anybody. It is a good program. Mr. Vogt agreed, but expressed his concern that the cost of one million dollars is too low. Co-Chair Stewart - Cousins agreed stating that five or ten million dollars may be more prudent. Co-Chair Stewart - Cousins went on to express another concern of hers which was the inclusion of women and minorities in the construction industry and in the jobs being provided. In her opinion there has to be some understanding, that there are people who need to be embraced in terms of jobs, many of whom have been on the outskirts for a long time in terms of the construction trade. Co-Chair Stewart - Cousins would like to see something done within the legislation to insure opportunities for people who have been traditionally locked out, in terms of apprenticeships etc. Mr. Bilotta stated that in the specifications now, when they bid for projects there is a certain amount of money set aside for a minority contract. The unions do engage in apprenticeship programs. Mr. Pepe stated that the trades have made great strides over the past decade or so to include minorities and women. Mr. Bilotta stated that a non union contractor will have a lower bid than the union contractor. Mr. Pepe responded that the advantage should not be as it relates to the any economic condition because in the public works environment you deal with the prevailing wage law of NYS. The advantage the non union worker has is that they have a more flexible work force. That may lead to problems of their satisfying the requirements of the labor law. For

example, a worker who will work on the back hoe, fill up the dump truck, hop in the dump truck, drive the truck away, dump the earth, come back to the sight and get in the trench and put the pipe in. Those are jobs you would have three different people working on at a construction sight. Under the law they can do that, however the question is, when he is performing each of those different tasks is he paying the correct wage and benefit for the time that is spent performing the task. That is where you often find violations in wage law with the non union or open shop contractors being made. They look to pay the lowest rate to a worker who is performing the highest paying task. There was further discussion of the issue. Legislator Wishnie stated that we have a safety net. We as an owner have the advantage that we can bargain away certain costs. You can always say to the unions, thanks but no thanks, If you don’t want to do it on a project labor agreement it goes into the open market place and we can bid it the regular way. We are not mandated to do anything, we are mandated to sit and negotiate, if you don’t want to negotiate and it is not in the best interest of the tax payer, we don’t have to do it. This is a good program. Co-Chair Stewart - Cousins stated that this will be an on going discussion. We will be working together to craft something that makes good sense for everyone.

Janet Langsam, Director of the Westchester Arts Council gave a slide presentation to show the Task Force what they do. The slides showed a scope of different historical locations, and artistic/cultural events, such as Historic Hudson Valley, Lindhurst, the Katonah Museum, the Philharmonic, Hudson Opera, and various sculptures, and galleries just to name a few. They support many outdoor and indoor activities and festivals. This council was formed in 1965. They are a vehicle through which funding comes in both the private as well as public sector and is matched in a very strong way. A yet to be published, economic development study they just did shows that the impact of the arts industry here in Westchester County is 54.2 million dollars. That is what is spent by the industry in Westchester County. They are

responsible for 2, 047 full time jobs. They do educational work in the schools, programs that reinforce the curriculum. There was a lengthy discussion on the importance of arts and culture in Westchester County. Mr. Bilotta inquired if the additional funding they are requesting is to keep their doors open or to enhance what they have. Mrs. Langsam responded, both. It is to bring better quality in to the County and to maintain the facilities and programs that currently exist. Co-Chair Stewart - Cousins stated that we want the arts here in the County, however, we want to address the dollar tax on hotels. She expressed her belief that the Arts Council is doing wonderful things, the question is how do we go about funding them. Mrs. Langsam stated that there is a link between arts and tourism. Most cities have taken on this kind of partnership. Mr. Vogt stated he had no argument with what the arts contribute to the County. He does however disagree with the proposal of the dollar tax on hotels to fund it. He also asked to see a comprehensive budget, as well as a list of who funds them, and where do their funds go. Mrs. Langsom gave percentages to describe where the funds go, but the Task Force was in agreement that they would like to see it in dollar amounts as opposed to percentages. Mrs. Langsom stated that the County gives the Arts Council $430,000.00, which funds two activities, education and outreach grants. The Task Force felt this needed further discussion. Co-Chair Stewart-Cousins requested Tina Moro send a letter to Mrs. Langsam, thanking her for the presentation and requesting a breakdown of the schools they directly fund with County money, as well as inquire what exactly they will do with the additional money if they do receive it.

On motion of Harold Vogt, seconded by Jay Bilotta the motion to receive and file the bank survey was carried by a vote of 3-0.

On motion of Harold Vogt, seconded by Jay Bilotta the motion to receive and file the proposed Act repealing Act 156-1993 which establishes an investment policy for the County of Westchester and which establishes a new investment policy for the County of

Westchester pursuant to New York State general municipal law section 39, was carried by a vote of 3-0.

On motion of Harold Vogt, seconded by Jay Bilotta the motion to receive and file the bank list was carried by a vote of 3-0.

On motion of Harold Vogt, seconded by Jay Bilotta the motion to receive and file the report entitled Westchester Business and Major Employers was carried by a vote of 3-0.

The Task Force set the next meeting for September 4, 1997 at 3:00.

Harold Vogt motioned to close the meeting at 5:20 p.m. and was seconded by Jay Bilotta. The motion was carried by a vote of 3-0.