CHILMARK PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING OCTOBER 20, 2005
CHILMARK TOWN HALL – FINAL
CALL TO ORDER: 8:05 AM
PRESENT: Members Jennie Greene, Richard Williams, Max McCreery and Lois Norton. Also present: Riggs Parker, Polly McDowell, Tim Carroll and Chuck Hodgkinson. Absent: Henry Burkin.
MEETING MINUTES: The October 6 meeting minutes were reviewed and discussed. Mr. McCreery made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Ms. Norton seconded and the vote was unanimous in favor.
FISCAL 2007 COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT (COLA): Chuck Hodgkinson handed out several charts analyzing the CPI data and trends for discussion. Mr. Williams recommended using the Northeast Urban Wage & Clerical instead of the Northeast Urban Wage database for reference and consideration. Polly McDowell shared a summary of how other towns are approaching next year’s COLA factor and an estimate of specific island town costs versus the U.S. average for certain expense categories. The source was a Yahoo real estate website of neighborhood profiles. It indicated household expenditures for certain key categories are + 19 % higher in Chilmark than the national average cost for the same items. There was much discussion on the dramatic third quarter and in particular, September’s CPI
increase; the progress and approach other island towns are using to estimate next year’s COLA and the impact higher energy costs are having on the recent trends. Mr. Williams expressed his desire to create an objective way to quantify and establish the Town’s COLA each year. He added there should also be a way to fairly compensate town employees if the prior year’s COLA was below the actual increase in the CPI.
After much discussion, Mr. Williams proposed the following approach to calculating the Town’s COLA: 1. Calculate the current year’s CPI for January – September using the Northeast Urban Wage and Clerical database. 2. Compare the actual CPI increase for this 9-month period to the Town’s actual COLA in the current fiscal year. 3. Add 50 percent of the percentage point difference between the Town’s COLA and the 9-month increase in CPI to the current 9-month increase in CPI. For example, if the CPI for the first 9 months of 2005 increased +3.4 percentage points versus year ago and the Town’s COLA was +3.0 percent for FY 2006, a factor of 0.2 percentage points should be added to the COLA factor for FY 2007. Therefore, the theoretical COLA for
fiscal 2007 would be +3.4 % (+) 0.2 % = +3.6 %. Mr. Parker added that this should be done in a way that is favorable for Town employees and suggested not lowering the COLA factor in a similar fashion if the town’s COLA was higher than the actual CPI increase in the current fiscal year. This adjustment should only be made if it benefits town employees.
Ms. Norton made a motion to adopt this formula for calculating the Town’s COLA year after year. Mr. McCreery seconded and the vote was unanimous in favor. Mr. Williams pointed out that his rough calculations indicate this formula would produce a FY 2007 COLA of + 4.0 % + 0.3 % adjustment factor for FY 2006 = a grand total COLA of + 4.3 % for FY 2007. He asked Chuck Hodgkinson to check his math and see if it creates a fair COLA for FY 2007.
DRAFT PERSONNEL POLICIES: Chuck Hodgkinson summarized what policies and specific PB questions have been forwarded to counsel Jack Collins for input. Ms. Greene handed out a draft Civic Duty Volunteer policy for the group’s input. The only remaining policy that must be written is the Staff Administration policy that is to cover performance evaluation and merit pay increase procedures.
Mr. Parker asked to add the organization of the Town’s personnel files to the Board’s project list.
With no further business to discuss Mr. McCreery made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Norton seconded and the meeting adjourned at 9:55 AM.
Respectfully submitted by Chuck Hodgkinson, CAS.
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