T o w n o f C h i l m a r k P e r s o n n e l B o a r d
Approved September 25, 2008
M i n u t e s
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Chilmark Town Hall
8 am
Present: Max McCreery (Chairing for Richard Williams), Jennie Greene, Susan Heilbron, Stephen Lewenberg, Polly McDowell (Staff Liaison)
Also Present: Lenny Jason (Building Inspector), J.B. Riggs Parker (Selectman Liaison), Tim Carroll (Executive Secretary), Chuck Hodgekinson, Marina Lent (Personnel Board Secretary)
Absent: Richard Williams
Lenny Jason, Chilmark Building Inspector requested to address the Personnel Board on the subject of performance evaluations of persons working for the Town on inspection projects assigned by him. He described receiving a letter from Executive Secretary Tim Carroll requesting an employee self-appraisal, which he had duly filled out and turned in. However, he had balked at requiring inspectors working under him to fill out self-appraisals. He noted that he had not received such a request since 2003, and wondered why this year is different. He also stated that a self-appraisal employee evaluation process is not appropriate for these workers in that the inspectors are not really employees of the Town, they are vendors.
Stephen Lewenberg noted the principle that all people working for the Town should be evaluated in some fashion, to ensure that the Town's continued utilization of their services is based on satisfactory performance. Lenny Jason pointed out that inspectors were appointed upon his recommendation, and that oversight of the quality of their work was thus assured.
Discussion ensued as to whether the inspectors should be defined as employees of the Town or as vendors. While they have Town job descriptions and appear on the Town's organizational chart, they are paid by the job, not regularly on payroll. Personnel Board members agreed that the questions raised by Lenny Jason in relation to the job performance appraisal applied to a wider range of people employed by the Town and that a clear distinction between "employee" and "vendor" needs to be developed and procedures put in place to ensure appropriate oversight of all workers.
Executive Secretary Tim Carroll pointed out that, for the purposes of wages and taxation, inspectors working for the Town are classified as "employees". Selectman Liaison Riggs Parker described the appointment of inspectors by the Board of Selectmen (BOS). The BOS receives a list of inspectors to be appointed from the Executive Secretary. Questions BOS members may have about any of the appointments are directed to the Executive Secretary, and, if satisfactorily answered, the appointments are made. According to State statute, the Building Inspector appoints inspectors working under his jurisdiction; our Bylaws give that authority to the Selectmen.
Personnel Board members agreed that Max McCreery and Jennie Greene will form a subcommittee to look into these matters. They will review how other Island Towns address these employment issues, and seek to determine appropriate ways of reviewing the work of Town inspectors.
Max McCreery thanked Lenny Jason on behalf of the Board for bringing these important questions to its attention. When asked for a final recommendation to the Board, Lenny Jason emphasized the importance of conducting thorough exit interviews with employees of the Town. The Board agreed that this is a desirable and valuable practice.
Adoption of Minutes: Minutes of August 21st, 2008 unanimously adopted as amended; no quorum was present to adopt minutes of July 21st, 2008.
Assistant Shellfish Constable Position Description: Jennie Greene presented the finalized position description. The Board noted that it had done its best to enable the expeditious hiring of an Assistant Shellfish Constable to assist with the upcoming shellfish harvest, but that much remained to be done to review and update the Shellfish Propagation/Constable positions of the Town, and that it could not usefully undertake this work without hearing from the Shellfish Advisory Committee.
At the suggestion of Selectman Liaison Riggs Parker, Board members decided to table the question until they have been able to meet with the Shellfish Advisory Committee; Jennie Greene agreed to attend the next Committee meeting, and asked Tim Carroll to notify her when that will be.
The Board observed a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Personnel Bylaw revisions: Chair Max McCreery requested that Susan Heilbron lead the meeting on the question of the Personnel Bylaw revisions.
Chuck Hodgekinson presented the current draft texts of the bylaw revision:
1. Rev.4 of the Bylaws of July 29th represents a comprehensive compilation of all suggested amendments and additions as of that date;
2. Amendments of, and additions to sections 1, 2, 4 and 10 were handed out by Personnel Board Chair Richard Williams at the August 21st meeting of the Board;
3. Further amendments to section 10 were produced by Richard Williams and Susan Heilbron at the working meeting of August 27th, 2008.
Stephen Lewenberg introduced a serious concern regarding section 10 on "Disciplinary Action": he pointed out that, as currently drafted, the Bylaws do not distinguish between discipline for infractions and performance issues related to an employee's abilities. These must be handled separately: performance issues should be addressed through a performance improvement program, rather than through punitive measures.
Personnel Board members agreed that performance issues should be taken out of the section dealing with disciplinary action and should be addressed in a separate section on performance improvement.
Executive Secretary Tim Carroll reminded the Board of the recent history of trying to deal with intractable performance problems of Town employees without clear directives in the Bylaws. He stressed the need for a process for dealing with chronic performance issues and noted that an annual performance evaluation coupled with annual reappointment by the BOS does not satisfactorily address such problems. A more systematic and explicit process for dealing with performance issues is needed.
Stephen Lewenberg noted that sustainability of performance improvement is a critical requirement of any solid performance improvement program: there must be no backsliding after completion of a performance improvement initiative. He asked whether Selectmen could "dis-appoint" an employee on performance grounds outside of the regular reappointment cycle, and noted that we do not have the procedures to address consistently serious performance problems in our current Personnel Bylaws as drafted.
Stephen Lewenberg offered to undertake the task of separating all performance issues out of the current section 10 on Disciplinary Action and drafting a section on Performance Improvement.
Susan Heilbron raised questions as to the best way to proceed with editing the draft Bylaws: she noted that she had many suggested changes of a purely editorial nature, but did not feel that it was necessarily a good use of the Board's time to go over such changes in full session. The Board as a whole should focus instead on suggested changes of a substantive nature only.
Members agreed, and Riggs Parker suggested that the Board work on substantive issues until satisfied that they have been adequately addressed, and then produce a clean, unmarked copy of the complete current draft to read with a fresh eye.
Jennie Greene raised a concern with the grievance procedure as currently drafted: is the Board committing to hear and consider any complaint whatsoever? Have we set up an open-ended process for Personnel Board review of absolutely any complaint? The intent is to let employees know that somebody from the Personnel Board is available for them to talk to and can mediate with their supervisor(s) if necessary. The Board felt that an open-ended procedure for the formal hearing of employee complaints by the Personnel Board is not the intent and should be removed from the draft bylaws; however, the question of Personnel Board availability to the employees can be properly addressed in the procedure manual. Likewise, provisions regarding performance appraisal process currently detailed in the draft bylaws, should be moved
to the procedure manual.
Tim Carroll pointed out that provisions in the draft Disciplinary action section are inconsistent with the Open Meeting Law, which already contains provisions for meeting with the Appointing Authority in cases of discipline or dismissal. (Part I, Title VII, Chapter 39, Section 23B(2))
Susan Heilbron asked whether the Board has now gone through the entire bylaw draft, and whether major substantive issues apart from those raised today are still outstanding. Together with Chuck Hodgekinson, she will undertake to produce a new, clean, up-to-date compilation draft. Purely editorial improvements can be made to this draft without reference to the Board as a whole. Changes to section 10, removing reference to employee performance and ability from Disciplinary Action, plus a new section on performance improvement, will be produced by Stephen Lewenberg.
At its next meeting, on September 25th, the Personnel Board will meet jointly with the BOS to discuss employee evaluations.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:32am.
| 
