Subject:          Minutes of Meeting Held on September 7, 2006

 

Present:          Shelley DeSimone, Dede Heatwole, Steve Salvo, Don Bade, Peg Frederickson,  Zoe Fogarty

 

Convened:     6:15 PM at COA

 

  1. Minutes of the August 3, 2006 meeting, as amended, were approved.

 

  1. The members discussed the proposed changes to the Bylaws provisions for vacation time.  The changes would give employees more total vacation days (up to 4 weeks), would allow employees to carry over up to 3 vacation days per year, and would permit employees to use vacation time after six months of continuous employment.  The Board agreed to forward its recommendations for changes to the Bylaws to the Board of Selectmen and Town Counsel, for possible vote by the Town at the next Town meeting.  AI:  Dede will draft changes to the sick leave provisions in the Bylaws to bring them into legal compliance.

 

  1. Don announced that Jim Cashman, Treasurer and Collector, has resigned his position effective September 30, 2006.

 

  1. The members discussed the ADP contract and the potential cost of tracking sick and vacation time starting October 1.  More information is needed about how time is currently being tracked and how it is being recorded for payroll purposes, as well as in what form ADP needs the information.  The members agreed to continue forward with a planned start date of October 1.

 

  1. Don informed the Board that a fireman, Dana Davis, has been called up for military service in Iraq, for a possible two year tour.  The Board confirmed the Town’s obligation to hold his job open.  The Newbury Fire Company indicated that there are several candidates willing to fill his position on a temporary basis.

 

  1. Shelley reported on the remaining steps to complete the job description process.  Shelley recommended that the final descriptions be kept in both electronic and paper form, and kept in a general binder by grade number.  The members generally discussed defining exempt status of positions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and agreed that it would be useful to indicate FLSA status for each position. Shelley reported that there are several job descriptions still being finalized, including COA, Building Inspector and Conservation Agent. The members discussed having employees should sign their job descriptions. 

 

  1. Steve reported on the status of the job compensation and classification plan. Steve presented the plan at the Executive Committee meeting on August 29, 2006, and the employees appeared to be very interested.  Five members of the Board, Don, Zoe, Steve, Shelley and Peg, have been working for months, and meeting weekly, to complete this task. The Board still needs information from some employees, as well as market data from similar towns. Peg, Shelley and Don will be getting this information.   The Board agreed to formally adopt the Job Compensation and Classification Plan, as required by the Bylaws.

 

  1. Zoe and Peg presented proposed personnel action forms to be used in the hiring process. Members discussed what information is needed on the forms and who would be collecting it, and suggested some changes to make the forms easier to read.  The members discussed what signatures are needed for various actions, including hiring, transfers or promotion.  The members agreed that openings would be posted internally at the same time as any external posting, but that no position would be filled for the first 5 days of any posting.  AI:  Peg and Zoe will incorporate changes into the Personnel Action forms, as well as develop PAF completion instruction and draft a recruitment bylaw.

 

  1. The members discussed ways to obtain employee input.  Don suggested that the Board might have designated hours at Town Hall to be available to employees.

 

  1. The members agreed that the Board should address the issue of employee performance evaluations and move this up our task list.

 

  1.  Next meeting will be Thursday, October 5, 2006, at COA. 

 

 

 Adjourned:    Approximately 8:30 pm