P e r s o n n e l B o a r d
M i n u t e s
Thursday November 5, 2009
Chilmark Town Hall
8am
Present: Max McCreery (Chair), Jennie Greene (Vice-Chair), Frank LoRusso, Chuck Hodgkinson (Staff Representative)
Also Present: J.B. Riggs Parker (Board of Selectmen observer), Marina Lent (Secretary), Timothy R. Carroll (Executive Secretary)
Absent: Stephen Lewenberg
Draft Human Resources Procedure Manual: Jennie Greene presented changes to the draft Human Resources Procedure Manual (HRPM) determined by a working group consisting of Max McCreery, Jennie Greene and former Personnel Board member Susan Heilbron. The group had felt that the Procedure Manual’s numerical sequence of chapter headings should line up exactly with the structure of the Bylaw, and draft 7 was restructured accordingly. Some tidying up remained to be done, and Max McCreery asked Marina Lent to complete the process of achieving identical numerical sequence of headings matching the Procedure Manual to the Bylaw.
The Board reviewed a draft HRPM introduction provided by Max McCreery.
The opening sentence of the draft was amended to read as follows: “The Human Resources Bylaw was adopted by the Chilmark Town Meeting; this manual will assist both Town officials and employees in implementing the Human Resources Bylaw.” The last sentence was amended to read: “The HPRM may be changed from time to time as may be required with the approval of the Human Resources Board and the Board of Selectmen.”
Line 211: the board decided to delete the reference to drug testing.
Line 237: the board decided that the “supervisor” of a department head is the BOS, per the Chilmark Town Government organization chart, and that, under normal circumstances, a departing department head will be involved in assisting the Human Resources Board in reviewing and determining any changes that may need to be made to the position description in question.
Line 354: The Job Classification list will be in an appendix.
Line 365: delete reference to Town Meeting, since Town Meeting approval of a compensation plan is implicit in its approval of an annual budget.
Line 466: The section entitled “Employee Development and Training” will remain in the Procedure Manual, so as to preserve the numerical sequence of chapter headings to mirror the Bylaw, but the text of the section will read “This section is addressed in the Bylaw, no further clarification is required.”
Line 471: add the following sentence: “For the purposes of this section, elected and appointed officials may receive training as well.”
Lines 497-507: delete section on Maternity/Paternity leave and refer to Bylaw. “This section is addressed in the Bylaw, no further clarification is required.” Tim Carroll noted that for the past few decades, the Town has offered a week of paid leave for any employee. The leave offered here is without pay.
Mileage Reimbursement Practices: (49:00) Tim Carroll brought up a question about section 10, on reimbursement for mileage, in which the first two paragraphs are two stand-alone paragraphs. He stated that they’re more redundant than conflicting, but leave some ambiguity. Jennie Greene felt that the first para could be deleted; Tim Carroll suggested that the reference to the supervisor’s approval from the first paragraph could be pulled down into the second paragraph.
Tim noted that he has been working with Town Accountant Tom Wilson on developing consistency in reimbursement practices in the Town, because at present, there are 10 employees getting reimbursed, with different methods, the worst method being that some employees are able to put $20 of gas in the tank once or twice a week. Frank LoRusso asked what would entitle an employee to have such an arrangement. Tim Carroll explained that the Harbormaster gets $50 per week in gas, through some agreement, the Beach Superintendent gets $20 per week in gas, the custodian gets paid by mileage, the Assistant Assessor submits mileage, the Board of Health does not submit mileage; and the Building Inspector gets a flat annual reimbursement, which is treated as part of his salary.
Riggs Parker stated that he had not been aware of these practices. The shellfish constable used to get $1K per year flat rate for use of his boat; the prior Harbormaster got $500 - $800 for use of his vehicle; the Building Inspector gets $4-5 K per year for use of his vehicle, and this is treated as part of his salary.
Members asked how the agreement with Harbormaster had come about; Frank questioned how the Harbormaster could possibly need $50 per week to do his job. Members felt he should be charging mileage.
Jennie Greene noted that the Fire Chief needs to keep his vehicle running while on a Fire Standby, and that this justifies a different arrangement, but, other than that, there is no reason for any arrangement other than submission of mileage for any Town employee.
Line 558: add: “The fire chief may receive a fuel stipend for standing by at an active fire” or something like that). All other mileage reimbursements are by mileage.
Line 585: Disciplinary Action: the board had not read the section on Disciplinary Action in draft 8, which had been adapted from the existing Personnel Bylaw in accordance with directives given by the Board on this matter at its meeting of September 11th, 2009. The Board decided to review this and the following section, on Grievance Procedures, Lines 593 to 624, at a future meeting.
Lines 626 (Longevity) and 632 (Group Health and Life Insurance) and 638 (Retirement) were deemed to have been fully dealt with in the Bylaw.
The Board then reviewed a cover note drafted by Stephen Lewenberg which will serve to introduce the draft Bylaws and Procedure Manual to department heads, elected and appointed officials and staff of the Town. Minor amendments were suggested.
Chuck Hodgkinson suggested that the letter should make the distinction that the Bylaw is changed by Town Meeting, not just “short/long” versions, and that the Procedures Manual can be amended from time to time.
Tim Carroll noted that there is no indication of the procedure that will be followed to amend the Procedure Manual. He felt that staff would be reassured to know that the policies will be changed through the regular process of an open hearing announced in advance; that the procedures can’t be amended without some form of process.
Jennie Greene noted that the Board has not followed any such procedure when making policy changes in the past, and that a formal amendment procedure for the Procedures Manual is not needed. A policy is formulated by the Board, and then submitted to the BOS. In effect, the BOS meeting is the “public hearing”, it just isn’t posted as such.
Tim Carroll felt that Board decisions on interpretation of the policies can be made without notification or any formal process, but that policy changes should follow a clearly delineated and transparent process.
Jennie Greene pointed out that Board meetings are open to anybody, and that the staff representative is there to inform employees of any changes that are coming up. Employees can attend meetings or send a letter.
Chuck Hodgkinson suggested the following language: “The Personnel Board will make sure that all employees will be contacted upon revision as policies are revised over time.” Riggs Parker noted that the Board will not change the manual very frequently, and suggested that the Board give notice to the employees when doing so.
Max McCreery emphasized that any major changes would naturally involve consultation with employees.
October 8th minutes were approved.
The following summarizes the discussion on how to proceed with the drafts:
- The drafts must be completed carefully: rushing to meet a deadline is less important than getting it~RIGHT;
- that being said, every effort must~be made to ensure that the Bylaw can be published in the Town Report;
- the finalized draft Bylaw/HRPM~should be submitted to BOS and Department Heads (and staff?) simultaneously so as to avoid long response periods for each of these groups to review these substantial documents separately;
- the bylaw should be accompanied by a BRIEF summary of any substantive changes from the old 2001 bylaw;
- following incorporation and adoption of any needed changes, a redlined copy, showing changes made in the review process of the past few weeks, should be submitted to the BOS for its review, finalization, and incorporation on the Town Warrant.~
| 
