PERSONNEL BOARD
Draft Notes,
July 1, 2010
Members Present: Jennie Greene, Chair, Max McCreery, Steve Lewenberg.
Frank Fenner, Tim Carroll, Todd Christy, Administrative Assistant.
Public Present: Bob Bellinger, Randhi Belain,
The meeting was called to order by Ms. Greene at 8:05 AM.
Mr. Carroll discussed the new Open Meeting rules. These new regulations will require a little more attention to detail for the administrative assistants and board chairs. Emails and board member discussion were redefined to disallow on-line discussion of topics. The result will be more transparency into town board deliberation for the public. Mr. Carroll described how this new law may be addressed by the Town’s website which could hold all pertinent documents available to the public at all times.
Todd provided the board with the names of employees that were scheduled to have Performance Evaluations since April. Ms. Greene said she has not seen any of these evaluations as Chair of the Personnel Board. Todd will consult with Mr. Hodgkinson to get copies of these reviews.
Mr. McCreery asked if the Town Hall rest room would be available for the EMT’s to use during their shifts in the afternoons and on weekends as the bathroom in the Crossroad Fire Station is not in the best of shape. Mr. Carroll did say the EMT’s may access Town Hall for rest rooms and that North Road Fire Station was available as well.
Mr. Bellinger, the new director of Tri-Town Ambulance, was present to discuss the new managerial structure for the Ambulance service. The new structure would require more accountability within departments. Mr. Bellinger delivered for review a detailed handout describing how the new organization would include the Tri-Town Chief, an Assistant Ambulance Chief/ Training Officer, Clerical Assistant, Mechanical Manager and volunteers in a tiered system. This new system would include volunteers in a new role that would give them incentive to step up to take on new tasks and more responsibility. Mr. Bellinger went through the specific salary and stipend payments, saving the three towns about $14,000.00. The board members and the new chief had a good discussion concerning the breakdown of the various positions and their respective job descriptions,
but the priority for the Personnel Board is to have a clear job description for the new Assistant Ambulance Chief/ Training Officer by next Board meeting.
The board and Mr. Bellinger also had a lengthy discussion concerning the status of volunteers and their stipends. They discussed what specifically is a volunteer and how can EMT’s be paid by shift and not be a town employee? Mr. Lewenberg was curious about the line that defines what a volunteer is and what constitutes a town employee. According to the new Chief, half the squad just show up for shifts and there is some question concerning overtime and how volunteer shifts move into a scheduled shift and if additional time worked would require overtime pay. Currently, some volunteers make upward of $5k a year in stipend money based on number of runs/calls made. This definition needs to be clarified and all members agreed that the stipend program currently is more of a compensation system. It was noted that the use of volunteers has
always been key to the success of the squad, but tricky in terms of defining how they are reimbursed.
Mr. Bellinger presented the job descriptions within the packet. The job description for Tri-Town Ambulance Deputy Chief is the most important position to fill so they can get someone hired as soon as possible. Mr. Carroll asked if the job descriptions would be done by the next meeting. The Personnel Board agreed to review the Tri-Town Ambulance Deputy Chief position and amend/edit by next meeting July 15, 2010. The Board plans on reviewing the other positions at the next meeting. The Board would like to get an opinion from counsel concerning the volunteer position. Mr. Lewenberg stated that Ms. Greene needs a write-up form Mr. Bellinger of how the compensation would work for the volunteers as proposed, including where overtime might kick-in. Mr. Bellinger and Mr. Belain agreed to work on this and submit to the board.
Ms. Greene agreed to review the job description for the Deputy Chief and email for dissemination at the next meeting, July 15, 2010.
No minutes were reviewed at this time.
Documents discussed: (enclosed)
Tri-Town Ambulance Handout
Job Description of Administrative Support
Job Description Assistant Chief Tri-Town Ambulance
Job Description of Chief Tri-Town Ambulance
The meeting was adjourned at 9:43 AM.
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