Shelby Moves On Rochester Hills Shared Employee Agreement

The Shelby Township Board of Trustees are moving forward with an agreement with Rochester Hills to share resources and employees in times of need.

The board unanimously voted in favor of the agreement at Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

“I am very hopeful this thing will grow and we will get a lot more out of it,” said Shelby Township Supervisor Richard Stathakis.

The Rochester Hills city government must also OK the agreement in order for it to go into effect.

Rochester Hills Building Director Scott Cope said he was waiting to see if Shelby Township was going to move forward before bringing the question to a vote in his city.

The two communities began talking about the shared agreement nearly a year ago, according to Cope, and have signed a tentative agreement that was approved by the local UAWs.

The Inter-Local agreement will essentially allow either community to request personnel services from one another on an “as needed basis,” at no cost.

“If one inspector goes on vacation, it would allow them (the building department) to call Shelby and ask for help and vice versa. If the inspector is available to help out, than no money would be exchanged, as long as it was a reasonable amount of time,” said Cope.

If the shared agreement reaches more than 50 hours of work done by one employee, the department using the employee must pay an overtime rate of $75 an hour.

The tentative agreement is currently limited to building department employees. However, Shelby Township officials have said that may change.

Cope, who runs a department of about 10 employees ranging from clerks to inspectors, said the agreement works because the two cities are comparable in size and both are facing budget cuts.

“In these economic times of ours, I think you’re finally starting to think outside the box,” said Shelby Township resident Ron Churchill to the trustees Tuesday. “I hope this goes further with other communities.”

Stathakis said he has approached several other neighboring cities about a shared agreement, but the negotiations weren’t as successful.

“This is a motto that will be expanded upon and we’re really excited about it,” said Stathakis.