Modesto City Council Watch (Feb. 12, 2016)

• Approved pay increases and one-time incentives for the Police Department’s 39 police sergeants and lieutenants and four captains. They will receive 2 percent raises effective this month as well as one-time payments of $1,500 this month and $1,000 in July. This is part of a one-year labor agreement between the city and the Modesto Police Management Association, which represents the sergeants and lieutenants. The captains are not part of a labor group. The city also will increase the salary range for the captains by 2.5 percent, essentially increasing their pay by 4.5 percent. The deal with the MPMA includes specialty pay, such as 5 percent for sergeants who are assigned to traffic or gangs. The city also is providing the sergeants, lieutenants and captains with 32 hours of special leave they must use or cash in by December. A city report says the cost of this is $209,353 annually to the general fund, as well as a one-time cost of $242,338.
• Adopted new regulations governing massage businesses. The council adopted a temporary ban in May on opening new massage and bodywork businesses as well as the expansion and relocation of existing businesses to give the city time to develop new regulations over concerns about prostitution and human trafficking. A recent change in state law gave local communities more control over these businesses. The new regulations include requiring massage and bodywork business owners and managers who have not been certified by the California Massage Therapy Council to receive a massage business permit from the Police Department. The department would run a background check on applicants, who also would need a city business license. The California Massage Therapy Council also conducts background checks on its applicants.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Modesto City Council Watch (Feb. 12, 2016)."