By Robert Barron, Staff Writer

The city of Enid reached a tentative two-year contract agreement Thursday with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing non-uniformed city workers.

The city and union completed their 37th negotiating session with the agreement, which was announced at Cherokee Strip Conference Center. The agreement was approved by Enid City Commission later Thursday night by a 7-0 vote. Union general membership will vote on the pact Feb. 28.

The final stumbling block to overcome concerned the city’s merit pay system.

“We are all proud of our hard work, and we’ve always had the same focus, and we remain on the same team,” said City Manager Eric Benson.

Union president Joey Breeze thanked city negotiators for their hard work, saying both sides had spent many hours at the negotiating table.

“I hope this will help to make the city a better place to live,” Breeze said.

The two sides reached agreement on most issues quickly in the negotiation process but hung up on compensation.

The city originally offered a 7 percent across-the-board salary increase while eliminating the merit process. The union countered with a 5 percent across-the-board pay increase and keeping merit.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, employees would receive a 5 percent across-the-board pay increase, which was agreed upon earlier. In addition, the new merit pay plan is based on performance and allows an employee to receive a percentage of his or her salary as a performance bonus annually. There is no ceiling on receiving the bonus. Employees would be eligible for a 1 percent bonus for average performance, 3 percent for above-average performance and 4 percent for exemplary performance, City Attorney Carol Lahman said.

All employees will be evaluated in October, with bonuses paid in January. Because there was insufficient time for evaluations this fiscal year, all employees will receive a 1 percent bonus. The new merit pay plan will be used in the next fiscal year, which starts this summer.

Under the old merit plan, annual evaluations determined if employees accomplished certain goals set out for them. If they did, they received a 3 percent to 4 percent pay increase. However, there was a cap on eligibility, and some longer-term employees maxed out on merit plan.

The old plan was based on hire date, Lahman said, and essentially forced the department head to do evaluations all year, rather than once a year.

Benson complimented union attorney Zach Ramsey, who commuted from Washington, D.C., about 30 times to assist in the negotiations, and union negotiator Tony Puckett of Oklahoma City.

Breeze said he is confident union members will approve the contract Thursday.

“I’m very pleased. I think the agreement is good for everyone. The city benefits in every respect from the agreement,” Benson said.

“This has never been ugly. It has been professional and considerate every time,” Benson said.

Breeze said when the union first began its effort to represent city workers and obtain a contract they would not be ugly.

“We’re here to serve the city of Enid,” he said.