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 March 5th, 2009
M i n u t e s
Thursday February 19th, 2009
Chilmark Town Hall
08:00
Present: Max McCreery (Chair), Susan Heilbron (Vice-Chair), Jennie Greene, Stephen Lewenberg (via speakerphone, non-voting), Polly McDowell (Staff Liaison)
Also Present: Tim Carroll (Executive Secretary), Marina Lent (Personnel Board Secretary), John Flender (Cemetery Commission)
Cemetery Superintendent
The Board discussed options to enable hiring the desired candidate within the Fair Labor Standards Act, which will require a full-time employee of the Town to be paid overtime for additional hours worked for the Town in an additional job.
Cemetery Commissioner John Flender expressed a preference for hiring and paying the overtime rate, as opposed to contracting with him. He also noted that legal counsel had given the opinion that it would be possible to pay the individual’s overtime hours at the cemetery superintendent rate, rather than the rate accorded his full-time position.
Jennie Greene stated that a preliminary review of the grading criteria indicates that the position as proposed is properly graded at Grade 4. This is almost within budgeted resources for FY’09.
A MOTION to regrade the Cemetery Superintendent to Grade 4 was passed unanimously by the three members physically present; Stephen Lewenberg indicated his concurrence.
John Flender further conveyed the wish of the Cemetery Commission that the previous practice of having the bereaved family directly compensate the Cemetery Superintendent with a $100 fee at burial be changed. The Commission feels that it is more appropriate to have the fee assessed by the Town, paid to the Town, and granted to the Cemetery Superintendent by the Town. Personnel Board members agreed, and unanimously passed a MOTION to this effect. Stephen Lewenberg indicated his concurrence.
Eye/Vision Health Insurance Plan
Melanie Becker (Treasurer) presented an opportunity offered by the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group for the Town to buy into a 100% voluntarily employee-funded plan which would provide eye care benefits to Town employees. Cost to the Town would be the administrative cost of making the plan available. Personnel Board members unanimously moved to recommend participation in this plan to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) at its next meeting. Stephen Lewenberg indicated his concurrence. Max McCreery agreed to prepare a memo transmitting the Board’s recommendation to the Executive Secretary for inclusion on the BOS agenda.
Role of the Personnel Board in Hiring for the Town:
Susan Heilbron described the rationale for involvement of the Personnel Board at the very beginning stages of a hiring process. The Board of Selectmen must authorize the posting for hiring a Town position, and it has been suggested that the Personnel Board undertake an initial review of the proposed hire, to ensure that all features of the process, including the position description, grading of the position etc, are in order prior to BOS approval of posting the position.
The Board noted that the hiring process will be described in detail in the new Procedure Manual. An interim memo outlining the procedure will be produced by Susan Heilbron.
Employee Performance Review Process:
Max McCreery reported on his presentation of the proposed employee performance review process to the BOS on February 17th, which, he noted, had been favorably received.
Upon his return to the Island during the first week of March, Steve Lewenberg will meet first with Department heads and other direct supervisors, and then with Board/Commission/Committee chairs to introduce the review process. Max McCreery stressed the importance of involving and fully informing employees as well.
The following process for conducting employee reviews in 2009 was outlined:
1. Relevant supervisors of a particular employee will write responses to questions one and two (see attached memo to BOS) and will give these responses to the employee.
2. The supervisor and employee will meet to go over the issues raised in the evaluation and to seek agreement on goals and objectives for the employee over the coming year.
3. The supervisor will write up the goals and objectives as discussed with the employee, and supervisor and employee will sign the goals and objectives.
4. Sets of review question responses and goals and objectives from all relevant supervisors of each employee will be collated by the Executive Secretary and presented to the BOS.
Administrative Assistant to the Office of the Selectmen
Tim Carroll reported on the recommendation of Selectman Frank Fenner that Nina Lombardi be hired for the position of Administrative Assistant to the Office of the Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen indicated that they would like to meet Nina Lombardi prior to making the appointment and decided to invite her to attend their upcoming meeting on March 3rd, 2009. Stephen Lewenberg, who had observed the interviews for this position, stated that he considered this to be a very wise and appropriate choice.
Chilmark Chief of Police Hiring Process:
Susan Heilbron reported on the decision of the Board of Selectmen to charge Selectman Riggs Parker with conducting the first round of confidential interviews. Max McCreery will be the Personnel Board observer for this process, with Jennie Greene able to sit in if Max is unavailable.
The deadline for receipt of completed applications is March 2nd. So far, only one completed application has been received, and six or seven people have requested the application material. It will be up to the Selectmen to decide on March 2nd whether they wish to proceed with the hiring process on the basis of completed applications received, or whether they wish to re-advertise.
Tri-Town Ambulance Clerical Assistant to the Coordinator:
Max reported on the status of the hiring process for the Clerical Assistant. Two viable candidates had applied so far. However, the Personnel Board believes that it is inappropriate to require a certification that is not related to the responsibilities required by the position, and proposed changing EMT certification from a “required” to a “preferred” qualification for the position. This change will require re-advertisement of the position.
A MOTION to amend the position description to reflect preference for an EMT-certified candidate, rather than having certification be a requirement for applicants, was passed unanimously. The revised approved position description will be presented to the Tri-Town Ambulance Committee on at its coming meeting on Monday, February 23rd, and then transmitted for final approval to the next meeting of the BOS on March 3rd, after which the position can be re-advertised and hired.
Tri-Town Ambulance Revised Position Descriptions:
The Personnel Board unanimously approved the revised position description of Mechanical Assistant with the newly-approved language re: preference for EMT certification, as well as the position descriptions for the Defibrillator Assistant and Seasonal EMT, which were adopted as approved by the Tri-Town Ambulance Committee.
Minutes:
Adoption of the minutes of February 5th 2009 was postponed to the next meeting, which will take place March 5th, 2009.
The meeting adjourned at 09:36.
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