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
Adopted December 4th, 2008
M i n u t e s
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Chilmark Town Hall
8:00 am
Present: Max McCreery (Chair), Jennie Greene, Stephen Lewenberg, Polly McDowell (Staff Liaison)
Also Present: J.B. Riggs Parker (Selectman), Tim Carroll (Executive Secretary), Chuck Hodgkinson, Marina Lent (Secretary)
Absent: Susan Heilbron
Personnel Board Chair: The Personnel Board took note of the resignation of Richard Williams from the Chair and membership of the Personnel Board. His letter of resignation was read into the record, and members expressed their thanks for his service.
Stephen Lewenberg moved, and Jennie Greene seconded, to nominate Personnel Board Vice-Chair Max McCreery to complete the Chairmanship vacated by Richard Williams effective immediately. MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
Minutes of November 6th, 2008 approved as written.
Personnel Board Administrative Assistant: The Personnel Board had only one applicant for the position of Administrative Assistant. The applicant, currently serving as temporary Personnel Board Secretary, was interviewed by the Board.
Following deliberation, the Personnel Board UNANIMOUSLY DECIDED to hire Marina Lent as the Personnel Board Administrative Assistant. Tim Carroll was asked to draft a letter recommending to the Board of Selectmen that Marina Lent be appointed at a Grade 6, Step 3, to reflect her extensive experience. The Board also recommended that her past weeks of service to the Board be counted towards her probationary period.
“15-Minute Rule” for Personnel Board Deliberations: The Personnel Board responded positively to a proposal by Chairman Max McCreery to introduce time limits to agenda items. When board deliberations reach this limit, he will notify the board and ask whether the group wishes to conclude with a decision, continue, or decide on specific measures to move the item forward prior to the next meeting. Members agreed to try this approach, and Max McCreery noted that adjustments could be made as we go along.
Stephen Lewenberg explained that the most successful boards he had worked with in the past were boards which were able to review completed staff work. He suggested that the Personnel Board could appoint members to prepare specific topics for presentation and review by the full board. For example, one member could be charged with drafting the section in the procedure manual on holiday pay, present results to the board, and then hand the approved section to a staff member to incorporate into a full draft manual, which the board can review once it is assembled. There was general agreement on this approach.
E-mail discussions in advance of PB meetings: Tim Carrol noted that, in general, e-mail is difficult to manage within the requirements of the Open Meeting Law. E-mails are best coming from staff, and addressing practical organizational details, rather than arguing issues to be decided on. It is important that members not respond and develop ideas and agreements via e-mail. While it may seem to save time and perhaps enable the board to reach decisions more quickly, the practice not only violates the Open Meeting Law with respect to the general public, but also serves to disenfranchise board members who are not in a position to write extensively on the issues under consideration outside of the agreed meeting time. Chuck Hodgkinson suggested that members can prepare their thoughts and gather
information on a topic in advance of the meeting without communicating their ideas to each other in writing ahead of time.
Stephen Lewenberg noted that he had found that being physically present for an exchange of ideas during board discussions had been extremely valuable to him in developing his ideas. He supported Chuck’s suggestion that members hold their comments for discussion at the meeting.
Max McCreery mentioned a suggestion made to him via e-mail by Marina Lent whereby staff and/or members could provide background documentation on a particular topic sufficiently in advance of the meeting to enable members to benefit from the information prior to engaging in discussion (see attached e-mail of November 19th, 2008).
Attendance during upcoming holiday season: Stephen Lewenberg stated that he would like to participate in Personnel Board meetings via voice-box during his absence from January through March, although he would not be able to contribute towards a quorum or vote.
Max McCreery will be off-Island from December 14th through January 9th. He proposed that the board member in line for the chair following the present Chair’s tenure could be asked to take on that role during the Chair’s absence. The Personnel Board AGREED UNANIMOUSLY to this practice. Max will ask Susan if she will be able to chair the meetings of the Personnel Board during his absence.
Current Staffing Needs in Town Hall: Tim Carroll informed the Personnel Board that Administrative Assistant Christina Soulagnet handed in her letter of resignation last week. Her last day on the job will be December 12th. This leaves the Administrative Support Group in Town Hall very much up in the air.
He put forward a proposal to merge what had been three part-time positions: Board of Health, Town Clerk, and Planning Board/Housing Committee, into two full-time positions. A conflict of interest between the role of the Town Clerk and the Planning Board prevented these two jobs from being done by the same person, but it may be possible to merge the jobs of Health Inspector and the Planning Board. The Town Clerk could also serve as Administrative Assistant for the Housing Committee. He noted that “crunch times” for the different bodies did not overlap, and would thus allow a full-time employee to adjust time spent in a given week to the needs of the respective body.
Stephen Lewenberg expressed concern over whether such 40-hour jobs would be exempt or non-exempt positions. If they were non-exempt, and if the employee worked >40 hours, which of the bodies served by the employee would be liable for the overtime? While staff members must get prior authorization for overtime, we don’t want to put the Town in the position of being suddenly held responsible for large amounts of unbudgeted overtime. Riggs Parker noted that, fortunately, the employees currently joining the Town are people who actually enjoy working, and are not likely to seek financial gain by totting up hours or quarter-hours worked.
Polly McDowell expressed concern that the BOH employee should not be hired at a number of hours greater than needed to do the job, and that this would create a bad precedent. She also asked how a person’s pay rate would be, if the Grade/Step for one position were different from the Grade/Step s/he was working at in the other position. Tim Carroll clarified that a similar situation with Chuck Hodgkinson had been resolved by creating a “blended” personal rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act. He stated that this was an important opportunity to cut back the Town’s life and health insurance obligations by a full employee. Members also noted the improvement in public service when more employees are regularly available throughout the workday.
Chuck Hodgkinson explained that the large number of hourly, as opposed to salaried, positions in Town Hall is precisely because there are so many part time employees. The salary structure of the Town and how it can be rationalized and improved is an important topic for discussion by the board, he said. Max McCreery asked whether a member of the board was interested in working with Chuck to develop this agenda item, and indicated that he would be interested in doing so.
Tim Carroll suggested that a review of the Town’s salary structure would be a good project for next year, and could be brought to the Town as a part of the overall Bylaw revision. He also thanked the Personnel Board for their input on the concept of merging positions to create fewer, full-time positions.
Stephen Lewenberg moved, and Jennie Greene seconded, a MOTION that would encourage the Town to move in the direction of hiring full-time, rather than part-time, benefitted positions, both with a view to cost-saving on benefits packages as well as improving public service with more consistent staff presence at Town Hall. MOTION UNANIMOUSLY AGREED.
Selectman Riggs Parker stated that he would have to leave at this point, but wished to commend Jennie Greene on her work to reformat the BOH’s Health Inspector position description.
Riggs Parker and Jennie Greene left the meeting at 9am.
Personnel Board Vacancy: Max reminded members that it is neither advisable nor appropriate for the Board to recommend a new member as a Board, but he encouraged members to consider whom they would like to have on the board, to communicate with these individual(s) directly, and to make recommendations to the Town in their individual capacity.
Stephen Lewenberg noted that it would be good to get a person with experience as a large-scale, private-sector employer. Polly McDowell stated that it would be best to be a local business. She pointed out that the Board has a depth of knowledge on employment issues, but could benefit from someone with direct experience as an Island employer. She felt it was important to demonstrate to Town employees that the Personnel Board is fully in touch with the characteristics of Island employment. She noted that Island incomes tend to be fixed, and, due to the small scale of our operations, there simply isn’t unlimited room for professional advancement.
Tim Carroll pointed out Steve Bernier, who had served on the Personnel Board in the past, as an example of an Island employer with a roughly comparable number of employees as the Town. While there are certain differences between an employer in the private sector and a municipal employer, there is much to be gained from this perspective. He suggested that Personnel Board members ask the Town Clerk for a list of Chilmark voters, and see if anybody we know comes to mind as a good candidate. Members discussed a number of possible candidates.
Personnel Bylaw and Procedure Manual: Chuck Hodgkinson described his work to revise the Bylaw which he is carrying out with Susan Heilbron. They will work on individual sections in turn, rather than trying to produce a full draft. This will integrate the Board’s work of board of the past year and a half.
Tim Carroll noted that starting with the section on definitions means having to resolve all the issues before being able to move on, and that a more efficient approach might be to draft the bylaw and finalize the definitions after the board has reached agreement on all of the difficult issues in the course of considering the draft sections. Chuck Hodgkinson suggested that this discussion be deferred until Susan Heilbron is present.
Max raised the question of when best to share results of the board’s work with the employees. Polly McDowell suggested that the Procedure Manual is of more direct relevance to the staff and should be presented with the relevant section of the bylaw. Stephen Lewenberg stated that we must produce at the very least the index of the procedure manual, which may be shortly forthcoming based on the work Chuck and Susan have undertaken with the current draft.
Tim Carroll noted that it was important for the employees to be given a chance to have input on the draft before it is definitively locked in. He reiterated the importance of the procedure manual for the employees, and suggested that the board solicit staff input on a near-final draft section-by-section, so that the scope of the review does not become unmanageable for the employees.
Chuck Hodgkinson suggested that the Personnel Board address both the process of revision and review the draft of sections 1 and 2 which he and Susan Heilbron had submitted.
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Recommendation: Chuck Hodgkinson presented figures for the latest 12-month period through October, which yields a COLA of 4.8%. By December 20th, the definitive data will be out, which will determine the COLA for the coming fiscal year. Polly McDowell pointed out that the COLA reimburses staff members for cost of living increases incurred throughout the preceding year.
Members discussed recommending to the BOS that the COLA for the upcoming FY’10 budget should be determined according to the formula used by the Town, based on data as of the end of November 2008. It is to be anticipated that the COLA will end up in the neighborhood of +4.7%.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:42am.
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