Wellfleet Personnel Board
Minutes of Meeting of July 16, 2002
Town Hall, 2nd Floor Conference Room
Present: Lisa Benson, Chair; Sue Peters, Ken Kimball, John Makely; Rex Peterson, Assistant Town Administrator; Bill Walton, Jim McGrath, Shellfish Dept.
Excused: Deborah Davis
Chair Benson called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. Her first order of business was to welcome new member John Makely to the Board.
Election of Officers. The Board elected officers for the coming year. Ken Kimball nominated Sue Peters for Chair; John Makely seconded; unanimously elected. Sue Peters nominated Ken Kimball for Vice-Chair; John Makely seconded; unanimously elected. Sue Peters nominated John Makely as clerk; Ken Kimball seconded; unanimously elected.
Presentation and Discussion of regrading Assistant Shellfish Constable position. Shellfish Constable Bill Walton attended the meeting to explain his request that the Board regrade the Assistant Shellfish Constable position. Walton stated that he had invited Jim McGrath, the incumbent in the position, to attend because of his long experience in the department (serving twice as Acting Shellfish Constable during department head turnovers). Walton explained that this proposal differed from his requests in January (see minutes of 1/29/02) in that the OMNI grading which the Board did then was for positions in his proposed departmental restructuring, which is now in limbo. At that time he proposed new positions, Senior Shellfish Constable, Junior Shellfish
Constable, and Seasonal Deputy Shellfish Constable, renamed his own position Shellfish Constable and Marine Biologist, and requested the Board to assign grades to all positions. He then took the results of this meeting to the Town Administrator, who presented them to the Selectmen. Although his position was changed to Grade 13 by the Personnel Board, Walton explained that he was loath to enact the change while the rest of his restructuring proposal had not been acted upon by the Board of Selectmen. He, therefore, decided to attempt to upgrade the existing position of Assistant Shellfish Constable (looking for a grade of 10), which now has the same grade as the Deputy Constable but, being under a different union, is paid at a lower scale. He stated that the Deputies are paid more but the responsibilities and expertise of the Assistant Shellfish Constable are far greater. He informed the Board that the Teamsters' Union has now decided to allow the
Assistant Shellfish Constable position to become a part of the Wellfleet Employees' Association, a positive step. Walton added that he had tried to be very specific in writing up the Job Description for the position.
John Makely asked what the Assistant does that the Shellfish Constable does not do; Walton answered "nothing," and that the Assistant was supposed to be able to fill in when the Constable was not there, since it was essential that another person be there to make decisions. Makely asked the number of hours per week for both; Walton stated that it averaged out to about 56 hours/week, the slowest months being February and March. He reminded the Board that the work cycles depended upon the tides, that with summer daylight there were more chances of double tides during the day, and that this situation demanded flexibility in work hours.
Ken Kimball commented that there had been a question at the BOS meeting about whether all incumbents would have to reapply for the new positions if restructuring should occur. Walton stated that he had expressed his willingness to reapply.
Walton stated that the current Assistant Shellfish Constable position falls between the proposed new positions of Senior and Junior Constables. He emphasized that he had tried to describe the position in terms of what his position would need out of it, adding that one of his problems with the current deputy positions is the great degree of micro-management required. He stated that some of the requirements, such as physical exertion, are required by the nature of the job itself. He also felt that the inequity in the pay scale is a result of rankings which don't make sense.
Ken Kimball asked if changes should be made in Walton's own job description and Walton replied that he had proposed the restructuring to free up elements of his job. He answered Lisa Benson's comment that the description for the Assistant Shellfish Constable was the same as that for the (restructured) Senior Shellfish Constable by stating that they differed somewhat, for example, in experience. Benson asked if the elements in Walton's job description for the restructured Shellfish Constable & Marine Biologist covered work he did now; Walton assented to this but reiterated that he did not think he should take his position up from Grade 11 to 13 when the rest of the positions were at Grade 8.
John Makely asked how much revenue the shellfish department brought in annually; Walton answered that it had been $70,000 in direct revenue last year.
Lisa Benson expressed her confusion on how to handle Walton's proposal and whether the Board was doing its job if it put aside already assigned and graded positions by changing this grade. Kimball felt that the Board should try not to look at other positions while using the OMNI form but just to grade this position; he wished to do the right thing by the town employees.
Sue Peters asked for some history on the position: when the first Assistant Shellfish Constable was hired, were there also deputies? McGrath stated that the deputy position had been around for the same length of time; it is a position of 19 hours per week in which it is difficult to hold employees, since it requires a full-time commitment (because of changes in tides) and a tremendous amount of training for a part-time job. He added that the responsibilities of the Assistant Constable position have not changed substantially, although the department head has changed three times since he has worked here. He felt that the Shellfish Constable position needed to be changed; former managers have underutilized assistants and burned out.
Walton pointed out that the managed shellfish grants have grown, the demands from the state and the seashore for a higher level of information have increased, and that as more is expected of the Constable, more (by default) will be expected and needed from the Assistant Constable, including a higher level of education. He replied to Ken Kimball's question on the chances of success of the restructuring proposal that he has gotten very little feedback and, therefore, has come forward with this proposal because he felt a responsibility to improve the position--trying to disconnect the restructuring from the current structure.
Discussion of the proposal continued, including:
A request from Lisa Benson to see job descriptions for Shellfish Deputy and for Shellfish Constable
Walton's comment that bringing the Assistant Constable position up to speed while the restructuring is in limbo may get the department closer to the proposed structure
McGrath's statement that the difference between the current job descriptions of Constable and Assistant Constable is the educational component
Rex Peterson's points: (1) the reorganization plan can be approved administratively and without Town Meeting vote (2) the Selectmen were not interested in discussing shellfish reorganization until the Harbor Management Plan has been finalized (3) a Grade 8 under the Teamsters' contract is lower than a Grade 8 under WEA
Questions on source of money in budget for a raise in salary for a regraded Assistant Shellfish Constable
It was decided that the Board would proceed with the OMNI evaluation so that Walton could, with Rex Peterson, go to the Town Administrator to determine at what step in the grade the position would be placed. The Board then analyzed the position by the OMNI process (see attachment), arriving at a Grade 11 (Total of 609, Grade Range 558-619). Of the concern expressed at this grade equaling that of the current Constable's position, Sue Peters suggested that Walton and Peterson present the Shellfish Constable position to Tim Smith as having been approved for Grade 13 by the Personnel Board in January; therefore, a Grade 11 for the Assistant Constable is defensible (since Walton has been waiting for the decision on restructuring to assume his grade raise.) Lisa Benson moved that the Personnel Board approve the grade of 11 for the Assistant Shellfish Constable position; Ken Kimball seconded; the motion passed unanimously, 4-0. Walton will rewrite the Assistant Constable's job
description to incorporate changes decided upon during the discussion.
Discussion of Changes in OMNI Questionnaire. Lisa Benson distributed the draft revisions of the OMNI Questionnaire decided upon by the Board in its working session of 7/2/02; she stated that she was about halfway through the questionnaire and would get the rest of the document to the Board as soon as possible. She asked the members to go through the draft for errors and then email corrections to her. She noted that she had changed the title of the questionnaire (Personnel Board Position Evaluation Manual); since the word OMNI never appears in the document, she did not use it. Benson will complete the process and submit it to the Board members for review.
New Job Descriptions from the Recreation Department. The Board has received from Rec Department Director Becky Rosenblum descriptions for two positions: Recreation Department Aide and Skateboard Monitor. Chair Peters asked Rex Peterson to work with Ms. Rosenblum, aiding her in revising the descriptions and putting them in regular format.
Minutes of June 17 and July 2, 2002. Lisa Benson moved that the Board accept the minutes of 6/17/02 with Ken Kimball's amendments; Kimball seconded; passed, 3-0. Sue Peters moved that the Board accept the minutes of 7/2/02 as written; Benson seconded; passed 3-0.
Next meeting. The next meeting, on August 20, 2002 at 4:00 p.m., will concentrate upon the OMNI revisions. Rex Peterson will not be able to be present.
Ken Kimball moved for adjournment; John Makely seconded. The meeting adjourned at 6:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
________________________________ _______________________________
Frances J. Castillo, Assistant to the Sue Peters, Chair
Committee Secretary _________________________Date
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