For City Council Meeting January 13, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Tanya Williams, City Manager
BY: Shama Curian, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management
Title
Request City Council to: (1) Adopt Resolution No. 8451 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding Establishing Compensation and Related Benefits for Employees Represented by the Rialto City Employees’ Association; (2) Adopt Resolution No. 8452 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding Establishing Compensation and Related Benefits for Employees Represented by the Teamsters Mid-Management and Confidential Employee Union; and (3) Adopt Resolution No. 8453 Updating the Citywide Classification and Compensation Plan for Full-time and Part-time Employees; to Amend the Salaries for those Classifications Represented by the Rialto City Employees’ Association and the Teamsters Mid-Management and Confidential Employee Union.
(ACTION)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Adopt a Resolution approving the Memorandum of Understanding establishing compensation and related benefits for employees represented by the Rialto City Employees’ Association;
2) Adopt a Resolution approving the Memorandum of Understanding establishing compensation and related benefits for employees represented by the Teamsters Mid-Management and Confidential Employee Union; and
3) Adopt a Resolution updating the Citywide Classification and Compensation Plan for Full-time and Part-time Employees; to amend the salaries for those classifications represented by the Rialto City Employees’ Association and the Teamsters Mid-Management and Confidential Employee Union.
BACKGROUND
The labor agreements for the Rialto City Employees’ Association (“RCEA”) and the Teamsters Mid-Management and Confidential Employee Union (“TMMU”) expired on June 30, 2025. Both City representatives and the bargaining units initiated a focused negotiation process, which called for commitment from both sides to have as many meetings as possible in an attempt to reach an agreement. City representatives and representatives from the Association and the Union partnered together to ensure fair compensation while working towards a common goal of long-term fiscal sustainability.
The City continues to take necessary steps to meet current and future challenges, including continually shifting economic factors, increases to retirement costs, and changing demographics. These issues, along with the ability to provide competitive, fair-market wages, were the tenor of these negotiation meetings. The two bargaining groups and City management representatives have since held a number of collaborative and productive meetings to discuss the MOU and issues raised by both parties regarding hours, wages, working conditions, and personnel policies.
During the course of negotiations, management representatives met with the City Council to discuss the status and progress and received direction on specific items under consideration.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
The Memoranda of Understanding establishes terms and conditions of employment and compensation for City employees represented by the RCEA and the TMMU. Pursuant to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the City met and conferred in good faith concerning wages, benefits and working conditions with both the Employee Association and the Union.
Balancing the understanding that the City continues to compete with surrounding municipalities to attract and retain talent with the possibility of future economic uncertainty, the RCEA and TMMU Negotiation teams held true to their commitment to the process and worked closely with the city management representatives to reach an agreement. The Memoranda of Understanding is a 2-year term commencing retroactively to July 1, 2025, and expiring on June 30, 2027. The memberships for both bargaining units have since voted to accept the City’s offer. The proposed MOUs for the RCEA group and TMMU unit are included as Exhibit 1-A and Exhibit 2-A, respectively. Detailed information on the most notable revisions for the MOUs are included below.
Wages and Other Compensation
The proposed MOUs provide for members in the RCEA and TMMU groups to receive cost-of-living adjustments (“COLA”) in each year of the contracts:
• July 1, 2025: 3%
• July 1, 2026: 3%
These COLAs are reflected in Exhibit 3-A through a City Council adopted resolution.
Medical Benefit Allowance
The City of Rialto is among other public agencies in Southern California that contract with CalPERS to provide medical insurance to its employees. These Cities also provide employees with a medical benefit allowance to purchase medical, dental, and/or vision insurance through City-provided carriers such as CalPERS.
The proposed MOUs allow for a $250 increase beginning December 1, 2025, to the medical benefit allowance to keep pace with increasing costs of health care premiums.
The increases to the medical are over a two-year term:
• Effective December 1, 2025, the City will contribute an additional $150/mo. towards TMMU unit employees’ cafeteria allowance and towards RCEA unit employees’ monthly cafeteria allowance if the cost of their medical plan exceeds the City’s current contribution.
• Effective December 1, 2026, the City will contribute an additional $100/mo. towards TMMU unit employees’ cafeteria allowance and towards RCEA unit employees’ monthly cafeteria allowance if the cost of the medical plan exceeds the City’s current contribution.
Deferred Compensation
The proposed RCEA and TMMU MOUs also provides for additional contributions to unit employees’ 401(a) plans as follows:
• RCEA: Those employees who have been employed between 5-9 years, the City shall contribute an additional $70/month towards each RCEA member’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $370/month. Those employees who have been employed 10+ years, the City shall contribute an additional $70/month toward each RCEA member’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $670/month.
• TMMU: Those unit employees having up to 9 consecutive years with the City of Rialto, the City shall contribute an additional $150/month for a total compensation of $550/month. Those employees who have been employed 10+ years with the City of Rialto, the City shall contribute an additional $270/month toward each TMMU member’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $670/month.
Work Schedule
It is the intent of the City to have operating hours from Monday through Friday from 7:00am to 6:00pm. Alternating work schedules will be established for those employees represented by RCEA and TMMU and who are currently on the Monday through Thursday work schedule: either Monday through Thursday from 7:00am to 6:00pm, or Tuesday through Friday from 7:00am to 6:00pm.
Those Holidays that fall on an employee’s regularly scheduled day off will be banked to use at a later date.
Miscellaneous Items
The proposed MOU contains revisions to comply with laws and clean-up language to update practices and procedures. These MOU items were proposed by City Management and RCEA to streamline, simplify, and modernize the document.
CITY ASKS:
• Certification Pay:
o RCEA: Those unit employees who currently receive a percentage pay for certifications listed in the MOU will be grandfathered into that percentage pay. Any unit employee who requests certification pay after July 1, 2025, shall receive a flat amount of $300/month.
o TMMU: Those unit employees who currently receive a percentage pay for certifications listed in the MOU, will be grandfathered into that percentage pay. Any unit employee who requests certification pay after July 1, 2025, shall receive a flat amount of $650/month.
• Educational Incentive for RCEA: Those unit employees hired on or after July 1, 2025, shall not receive additional compensation for an associate’s degree.
• Longevity Pay Incentive for TMMU: Those unit employees hired and/or promoted into this group on or after July 1, 2025 shall not be eligible for the “public service experience” longevity pay.
• Bilingual Pay - both groups: Department Heads will assess the need for bilingual capabilities annually in conjunction with the Human Resources and Risk Management Director, who will jointly determine if the position still requires the need for bilingual capabilities.
• Cafeteria Benefits - both groups: Those unit employees who go on a leave of absence without pay, shall have their cafeteria dollars prorated to hours worked.
• Vacation Accrual Accounting - both groups: Anytime a unit employee is on a leave of absence without pay, the vacation leave accruals will be prorated towards hours worked.
• Sick Leave: Other than workers’ compensation, anytime a unit employee is on a leave of absence without pay, sick leave accruals will be prorated towards hours worked.
• Overpayment in Paychecks: In the event of an overpayment in an employee’s paycheck, the employee will work with HR/RM and payroll to pay back the overpayments in a reasonable timeframe.
RCEA ASSOCIATION MISCELLANEOUS ASKS:
• The City will contribute an additional $50 for a total of $250 for those unit employees who currently receive boot allowance, subject to the employee turning in their worn pair of boots, and it is limited to one boot allowance per fiscal year.
• City issued T-shirts will be specific to the employee’s body type for the employee that it is intended to wear the shirt.
With the Consumer Price Index increase for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario region being about 2.6%, along with the annual average increase in medical premiums of 11%, the proposed agreement strives to provide a compensation package that keeps up with expected inflation, allows the City to remain competitive in the current labor market pool, but also preserves the City’s financial position to react to potential future budget challenges.
The proposed agreement helps align the City’s workforce strategies with its business and service goals and represents a fair and equitable contract for the employees and the City.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This request is not a Project as defined by Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. A “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Pursuant to Section 15378 (b)(5), a project does not include organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3A in the General Plan:
“Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsible manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.”
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed the resolutions and approved them as to form.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Operating Budget Impact
The Agreements with RCEA and TMMU are projected to cost $2,286,036 for the two-year agreements, including CalPERS retirement costs and all associated costs that are tied to salary and benefit increases.
The breakdown is as follows:
RCEA: $1,525,668
TMMU: $760,368
These costs were included in the budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 and the increases incorporated in the MOU’s for next fiscal year will be included in the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact
There is no impact to the Capital Improvement Budget through this action.