PRESENT: Jennie Greene, Stephen Lewenburg, Susan Heilbron, Richard Williams, Max McCreery, Polly McDowell, Staff Liaison
Also Present: JB Riggs Parker, Virginia C. Jones, Stanley Larsen, Tim Carroll
Meeting was convened at 0800 and the minutes of 5 July, 2007 were MSV (Moved, Seconded and Voted) with minor corrections.
Jennie reported that she had attended the Board Of Selectmen’s meeting on 11 July, 2007. At that meeting the BOS voted:
1. to approve funding to hire an administrative assistant to take minutes for the Personnel Board while Chuck Hodginson is working on the Middle Line Road Project.
2. to change the Shellfish Constable’s hours from the previously scheduled 20 hours
a week to 14 hours a week, or an average of 2 hours daily.
2. to direct the Personnel Board to redraft the Shellfish Constable’s job description
to reflect that the position is to enforce the state and local rules and regulations and is not directly involved in the new program of Shellfish Propagation.
Jennie handed out the current job descriptions for the Shellfish Constable and Assistant Shellfish Constable (dated July of 2003) for members to review. Tim Carroll, as Exec. Sec., had gone through the copies to highlight portions that he feels should be deleted to bring the job description into accord with the position as it is now constituted. Some discussion ensued before Stephen suggested listening to placeCityStanley before proceeding with any further revisions.
placeCityStanley was asked to speak and directed to focus his remarks upon necessary revisions to the job description and not to stray onto any issues that he may have with the decreased number of hours for the job. He started by asking that certain other species be included in section III and suggesting that section IV E be clarified to agree with section V-I (specify who, what etc.). He also averred that there is still no signed job description (“which is to my detriment”) and that the job description must be completely accurate and specific before any vote is taken…witness the “mismanagement of addressStreetMiddle Line Road project, the moorings, and the harbor.”Jennie replied that V-I is in virtually all the job descriptions and is to protect the confidentiality of
all employees.
Richard replied that the BOS is the supervisor of this position and both Jenny and Riggs agreed that there is a signed copy in existence.
Stanley continued by asserting that the April Town meeting changed the scope of this job and thus the job description but that was not what many voters and fishermen (including Stanley) expected to happen.
Max: Expressed concern that by revising the job description the PB is bypassing the committee (BOS) who should draft and review the job description.
Polly: We are not really changing the job description, just eliminating the portion that pertains to shellfish propagation and retaining those portions pertinent to Shellfish Constable.
Stephen: feels that this is a two step process: first we should eliminate the shellfish propagation portion and then we should tighten up the remaining job description.
Jennie: we will make adjustments first but we must also look at the state law to make the description accurate…what the constable is supposed to do.
Max: do we need to add any wording to make the position Chilmark specific?
The board expressed general concensus that we should not so limit the job.
A concern – also expressed by placeCityStanley -- that the wording is too general was addressed by Polly who stated that most of the staff job descriptions are somewhat vague on purpose – to make them broader in scope rather than limiting.
Stephen: The PB is working on several projects: one project is to develop, for each and every job in town two things: a current job description, and second a current performance evaluation. Further the appropriate supervisory entity needs to create goals and objectives for the coming year, and these will be, by their nature, much more detailed and specific. In this case, the goals and objectives will be drafted by the BOS (Warren Doty). The overall goal is to foster good two-way communication between supervisor and employee.
Stanly asked about adding protection of the shellfish beds and seed. The Board responded that this is the responsibility of the new Propagation Officer to identify problems and then bring them to the Constable’s attention for enforcement.
At this point placeCityStanley departed.
Richard queried whether the Propagation Officer has authority to enforce the laws? Riggs responded “No.” the Propagation Officer would notify the Constable of any infractions. The Shellfish Constable is the “shellfish cop.”
Tim: Stated that the job description is a bit light on details but we need to see how the next year of the new program goes before making a final version.
Max: We will prepare a skeleton description and the BOS will flesh out the details, is that right?
The Board then agreed that this has been sufficiently discussed for now, and after making some revisions to the current job description MSV to approve it with the understanding that it will be revisited at a future date (approximately 12 months) once the Shellfish Propagation Program has had a chance to be established and running smoothly. This will allow amendments or revisions at a later date and not restrict it to the current situation. The Assistant Shellfish Constable’s job description was given minor revisions to make it conform as well.
Stephen wished to emphasize that there are now two positions which need to work together as a team: the constable will enforce the shellfish rules and regulations for the Town of placeCityChilmark, and the propagation officer will farm shellfish for the Town. He moved that the Board make the minimal changes recommended by the BOS and not attempt to refine the whole by-law at this time. This was MV and S and Jennie is to check with state law to make sure that it is appropriately worded. She will redraft and circulate to all the members.
The next meeting was set for Thursday 26 July, 2007 at 0800 at which meeting only the personnel by-law (Section 4) will be discussed.
Meeting adjourned at 0930.
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia C. Jones
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