a.Either party may determine that the meet and confer process has reached impasse as defined in Section 16.02 and may invoke the procedures of this section. Impasse procedures shall be commenced when one party files written notice on the other that impasse has been reached. At such time, the involving party shall, with the written notice, serve the other party with a final offer of settlement. Within three (3) working days of said written notice, the other party shall serve the invoking party with their final written offer of settlement.

b.As soon as possible thereafter, the representatives of each party shall hold an impasse meeting. The purpose of the impasse meeting shall be to attempt to resolve all outstanding issues and reach agreement. If no agreement can be reached, the parties may mutually agree to submit the matter to non binding mediation selected from the State Mediation and Conciliation Service or other mutually agreed upon alternative.

c.In the event the parties agree to submit the matter to non binding mediation, they may also agree to limit the issues submitted to a mediator. All mediation proceedings shall be conducted in closed session and the mediator shall make no public statement concerning the proceedings or any issues. The impasse meeting shall be continued from time to time until the completion of the mediation process. If the mediation process fails to produce an agreement between the parties, a final impasse meeting shall be held. The parties shall bear their own costs of the mediation proceedings and each pay one half of the costs of the mediator, unless they mutually agree to a different cost sharing formula.

d.If mediation is not used, or agreement cannot be reached after mediation and the parties cannot agree at the impasse meeting, then the matter shall be submitted to the City Council. Not more than ten (10) days after the impasse meeting, the parties shall submit to the City Clerk their final offer of settlement together with any supplementary information they wish to submit. Offers submitted to the City Clerk shall be deemed for the purpose of settlement. They need not be the same as the offers submitted for impasse meeting purposes but must be the same as the final offer of settlement presented during impasse. As soon as possible after submission, the City Clerk shall forward a copy of each party’s offer to the other party and to the City Council. The City Clerk shall also set the matter for a hearing before the City Council at their next adjourned or regular meeting not less than five (5) nor more than thirty (30) days after the final offers are submitted to the City Clerk’s Office. The time limits set forth are intended to be maximum time limits and the parties shall attempt to agree to exact dates for the submission of written settlements and hearing before the City Council.

e.The City Council shall take such action regarding the establishment of wages, fringe benefits or any other matter within their legislative discretion as they see fit. If the Council deems that a settlement is possible after the impasse hearing, they may continue the hearing and refer the matter back to the representatives for further negotiation. However, the Council may not continue the matter beyond the next regular or adjourned meeting at which time it must resolve the issues before the Council.

f.The action taken by the City Council shall be final.