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(1) The city and the bargaining agent shall provide for and make every reasonable effort to conclude negotiations, including provisions for an effective date, a reopening date, and an expiration date, at a time to coincide with the period during which the budget committee and city council decide on the operating budget of the city. The process of collective bargaining shall begin on or about November 15th in the last year of an agreement and shall normally conclude prior to the official adoption of the budget by the city council.

(2) If after a reasonable, mutually agreed to period of negotiations, no agreement has been reached, either or both parties may request factfinding under this section. A “reasonable period of negotiations” may not exceed ninety (90) days unless the issues under negotiation are mutually determined to be of such complexity that they cannot be resolved within such limits; or, in the instance of negotiating an initial bargaining agreement between the city and a bargaining agent, time limits may extend beyond the ninety (90) day period to allow time for a full agreement to be developed between the parties. In the instance of an initial agreement between the city and a bargaining agent, mutual agreement on the period of negotiations shall be stipulated in the bargaining ground rules.

(3) Either party or the parties jointly may notify the hearings official in writing that they are initiating factfinding. Each party shall submit a final offer to the other party by the expiration date of the negotiation period. These offers shall be officially filed with the city recorder and copies of the offers shall be forwarded to the hearings official and be preserved for the panel of factfinders. Such offers shall in form and content constitute a complete draft of a proposed collective bargaining agreement, unless both parties mutually agree to submit in lieu of complete drafts of offers for factfinding, package proposals on specific impasse items. If only package proposals on specific items are submitted, all items previously agreed upon shall be filed with the city recorder. Subsequent to this filing, the parties may continue to negotiate.

(4) The panel of factfinders shall consist of three (3) members. One advocate shall be appointed by the city and one advocate shall be appointed by the bargaining agent. These appointments shall be made within four (4) days of the filing of the petition to proceed to factfinding. The two advocate members shall mutually appoint a third member within seven (7) days to be the chairperson on the panel of factfinders. No member of the panel of factfinders may be employed at that time by the city. Disinterested parties to the dispute shall be selected and whenever possible shall have experience in labor-management relations. The chairperson shall be a professional mediator or arbitrator recognized by the American Arbitration Association or by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Nothing in this section prohibits citizens of Eugene from appointment to the panel.

(a) If, after seven (7) days, a third member has not been mutually agreed upon, a list of five recognized neutrals shall be requested by the appointees from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or its successor. Each appointee shall alternately delete a name from the list until one name remains. The order of deleting shall be determined by lot and shall not require more than one day to complete for each deletion. The remaining person shall become the chairperson of the panel of factfinders. The chairperson shall convene the panel for mediation or hearings within ten (10) days thereafter, at a designated location within the city.

(b) If a vacancy occurs on the panel, the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the panel member was chosen. The vacancy shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all of the powers of the panel, except that no final selection under subsection (7) of this section shall be made by the panel until the vacancy has been filled.

(5) From the time of appointment until such time as the panel makes its selection, there shall be no communication by the members of the panel with other parties other than the city agent and the employee representative(s) concerning recommendations for settlement of the dispute. This shall not preclude the panel from, on its own initiative, obtaining whatever information from whatever sources it deems appropriate to assist in its selection. The panel shall provide mediation assistance to the parties prior to the issuance of its findings of fact under subsection (6) of this section.

(6) The panel shall have ten (10) days from the conclusion of its last hearing to make its selection of the final offer.

(7) In so doing, the panel shall select the most reasonable, in its judgment, of the final offers submitted by the parties. The panel may take into account only the following factors:

(a) Past collective bargaining contracts between the parties, including the bargaining that led up to such contracts;

(b) Comparison of wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment of other employees doing comparable work, giving consideration to factors peculiar to the market area and the classifications involved;

(c) Comparison of wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as reflected in municipalities in general, and in similar municipalities reasonably proximate to the city; and

(d) The interests and welfare of the public, the ability of the city to finance economic adjustments and the effect of such adjustments on the normal standard of city services.

(8) The panel may not compromise or alter the final offer that it selects. Selection of an offer shall be based on the content of that offer, and no consideration may be given to, nor may any evidence be received concerning, the collective bargaining in this dispute, or offers of settlement not contained in the offers submitted to the city recorder unless there is mutual agreement to submit package proposals on specific impasse items. In such an instance, the panel shall consider all previously agreed upon items filed with the city recorder, integrated with the specific impasse items to determine the single most reasonable offer.

(9) The offer selected by the panel, integrated with previously agreed upon items filed with the city recorder, constitutes the findings and recommendations of the panel. The panel shall explain in writing its selection to the parties in the dispute. The findings and explanation shall be tendered forthwith to the parties and to the hearings official. The parties shall notify the hearings official of the status of any negotiations ten (10) days after receiving the findings of fact. If the notice indicates that one or both of the parties do not accept the panel’s recommendations or that the parties have not otherwise settled the dispute, the hearings official shall publicize the selection final offer and the written explanation of findings of fact between ten (10) and twenty (20) days after receiving the recommendation.

(10) If, within twenty (20) days after receiving the factfinding award neither party to the award files an exception to the award as provided in ORS 33.320 for exception to arbitration awards, the award shall be deemed valid.

(11) Within thirty (30) days after receiving the factfinding report, the city manager shall inform the city council of the status of contract negotiations, including any mutual settlement of a dispute or any continued impasse proceedings under this Code.

(12) If either party refuses to accept the panel’s selection, the bargaining agent may file a ten (10) day notice of intent to strike. A copy of the notice specifying the time and date for commencement of the strike shall be delivered forthwith by registered or certified mail to the hearings official and to the city.

(13) If a strike occurs or is threatened, the city manager shall determine whether that strike or threatened strike creates threat or danger to the public health or safety. If the city manager determines that the strike or threatened strike creates a threat or danger to the public health or safety, the city manager shall so declare and notify the hearings official forthwith.

(14) Upon declaration and notification by the city manager that a strike or threatened strike creates a threat or danger to the public health or safety, the hearings official shall conduct a hearing within three (3) days after receipt of notification by the city manager, to determine the validity of the city manager’s declaration. If the city manager’s declaration is invalidated, the provisions of subsection (12) above shall apply.

(15) Upon determining the city manager’s notification to be valid, the hearings official shall order the immediate cancellation of the notice to strike or the immediate termination of the strike. Further, the hearings official shall:

(a) Declare the decision of the factfinding panel binding upon the parties, or

(b) Order the parties to submit to final and binding arbitration within ten (10) days.

Such arbitration shall be conducted under the procedures established in this section for factfinding proceedings, except the hearing shall be conducted by one recognized mediator or arbitrator selected mutually by the city agent and bargaining agent or by deleting names from a listof three (3) recognized neutrals as provided in subsection (4)(a) above. The selection of the final offer by the arbitrator shall be final and binding on both parties and shall be incorporated into a labor agreement.

(16) The arbitration award shall be deemed valid unless either party files an exception within twenty (20) days after receiving the arbitration award, as provided in ORS 33.320.

(17) Nothing contained in this Code shall limit or prohibit a collective bargaining agreement which may cover a period in excess of one year or which may provide for renegotiating only of parts thereof relating to direct or indirect monetary benefits to city employees.

(18) Time limits relating to collective bargaining may be waived by mutual agreement of the parties.

(Section 2.888 added by Ordinance No. 17796, enacted October 25, 1976 and amended by Ordinance No. 20113, enacted April 6, 1998, effective May 6, 1998.)