CHILMARK PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
CHILMARK TOWN HALL FINAL
CALL TO ORDER: 8:05 AM
PRESENT: Members Jennie Greene, Susan Heilbron, Richard Williams and Max McCreery. Also present: Selectmen’s Liaison Riggs Parker, Staff Liaison Polly McDowell, Melanie Becker, Tom Wilson and Chuck Hodgkinson. Absent: Lois Norton and Executive Secretary Tim Carroll.
MEETING MINUTES: The 9/7/06 meeting minutes were reviewed. Ms. Heilbron made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. McCreery seconded and the vote was unanimous in favor.
SEASONAL BEACH EMPLOYEE EVALUATIONS: Ms. Greene returned the 2006 performance evaluations for the beach employees to Chuck H. who will in turn give them to the Executive Secretary for filing in the personnel files.
ADP BENEFITS TRACKING: Ms. Becker updated the Personnel Board (PB) on the changes made at ADP for handling our account. She added that compensatory time (comp. time) would be added to the tracking system and printed on each employee’s paycheck. If an employee has no earned comp. time, nothing will be printed on a paycheck. Ms. Becker informed the PB that due to the accurate monthly tracking of paid leave benefits; one employee has a negative vacation time balance because of a vacation that was planned quite a while ago. Before using ADP’s system, the town had no way of accurately tracking the year to date accrual and use of earned paid leave.
The PB discussed this issue at length as well as all aspects of the accrual, approval, use and deadlines for using earned vacation time. The PB agreed to the following short and long term solutions:
1. Short Term: Recommend a one-time exception to the vacation use policy for fiscal year 2007 that allows an employee to carry up to one week of negative vacation time provided each employee’s accrued balance of vacation time is equal to or greater than zero hours by June 30, 2007. This would allow employees to take their planned vacations. The town would not have a financial exposure because employees are paid in arrears. The town would hold an employee’s last paycheck if they stopped working for the town and had a one-week negative vacation balance. Chuck H. will prepare a memo for the Board of Selectmen’s
discussion at their October 3 meeting.
2. Long Term: The PB agreed to review the entire Personnel By-Law with the goal of proposing needed updates and revisions that might be caused by new technology or labor law changes. Any revisions will be presented for town voter approval at the spring 2007 Annual Town Meeting (ATM). Chuck H. will see if the December 28, 2006 deadline for the Spring 2007 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles applies to articles that do not request funding.
The PB asked Chuck H. to have the Executive Secretary inform all town employees of the Board of Selectmen’s decision to give blanket approval to carry over any unused fiscal year 2006 vacation time to December 31, 2006.
Ms. Becker also mentioned that certain salaried, exempt employees are not submitting weekly time sheets when they use accrued paid leave. Mr. Parker agreed to talk with each of the employees as they all report directly to the Board of Selectmen.
Ms. Becker was asked and confirmed that there are occasions when she must submit the weekly payroll to ADP for processing before obtaining all of the required supervisor approvals and signatures. There was a lengthy discussion of whether or not processing payroll without the required signatures is an appropriate use of town funds. Town Accountant Tom Wilson joined the meeting and informed the PB that the Treasurer may not issue any town checks without approval from the Board of Selectmen and the Town Accountant. He added that Massachusetts General law requires municipalities to pay all earned payroll within seven (7) days of the pay period’s closing date. It is the town’s responsibility to meet this deadline. Mr. Parker offered to talk with the specific
supervisors about signing weekly timesheets in a timely manner.
FISCAL YEAR 2008 COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT (COLA): Chuck H. informed the PB that it will need to begin working on the fiscal year 2008 COLA in October—using the January-September, 2006 versus 2005 CPI data. He agreed to provide a preliminary analysis for the next PB meeting.
Ms. Heilbron and Mr. McCreery updated the PB on the Employee Administration Policy draft. Ms. Heilbron asked for the PB’s opinion on whether or not the town should consider awarding each employee’s annual COLA as a merit based form of compensation. She added that the town’s personnel legal counsel said there are no legal restrictions or requirements regarding the town’s use of a COLA. Mr. Williams offered that he hopes the town would separate the COLA increase from a merit based salary increase. He added that the purpose of a COLA is to keep the pay scale consistent with annual inflation.
Ms. Heilbron and Mr. McCreery will take this discussion under advisement as they draft this section of the Employee Administration Policy for the PB’s review at a later date.
With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted by Chuck Hodgkinson, CAS.
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