Rapid City employees with job-related concerns can speak to aldermen about them, but only the mayor has the authority to remedy the situation.

The investigation into Alderman Sam Kooiker’s conduct toward city managers has raised questions about the propriety of employees, many of them union members, bringing their complaints to council members outside of the traditional grievance process.

A city memorandum approved by the council almost a year ago states that all city employees can contact an alderman about an employment issue if he or she does not feel comfortable going through the usual chain of command for grievances. But employees must still follow the grievance process, which is laid out in all union contracts and the equivalent guidelines for non-union employees, Mayor Alan Hanks said.

In September, Kooiker met with a group of Public Works employees upset with a number of things occurring at Rapid Transit, concerns he said he forwarded to Public Works Director Robert Ellis.

Hanks said there is no question that employees can speak directly to the mayor, the human resources director, a city attorney or an alderman for assistance through the grievance process. An employee’s first step normally would be going to his or her department director.

“We’ve been very candid if you’re uncomfortable with the normal process, you should have the ability to talk to someone you’re comfortable with, and they will help you work your way through the process,” Hanks said.

Employees only have a limited number of days to initiate the grievance process after experiencing a problem -– whether or not they talk to an alderman first.

In that process, council members have little authority, City Attorney Jason Green said. Under the aldermanic form of government, no employees report directly to aldermen.

“An individual council member doesn’t have any authority to remedy a grievance,” Green said. “An alderman who is presented with something like that has to get it to the mayor, who is the only person who has the responsibility to deal with it.

“Otherwise you have a chain of command and then you have someone coming in sideways from that chain of command.”

Representatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the collective bargaining unit representing the most city hall employees, declined to comment Monday on what the union encourages its members to do if they feel wronged.

Ritchie Nordstrom of AFSCME said he would not comment until after presenting similar information to the city council, hopefully Feb. 16.

An outside investigator, who looked into Kooiker’s recent conduct, raised concerns about policymakers meeting with employees and union representatives and possibly circumventing the collective bargaining agreement.

Kooiker said he follows the chain of command and always encourages employees to file grievances when they approach him with concerns.

“I am a council member. I am on the board of directors, so to speak. I’m not the boss, but at the same time, I have constituents I need to represent,” Kooiker said. “People that want to talk to me, I’m willing to listen. It’s an important thing to distinguish.”

Contact Emilie Rusch at 394-8453 or emilie.rusch@rapidcityjournal.com.