##VIDEO ID:A3xuuyZUKSU## 3 2 good afternoon Littleton um we have a very short meeting this afternoon September 12th uh a vote on a human resources issue and were we going to have anybody speak to that today I I mean I can speak a little forward based on Monday's discussion yeah I we I had some discussion on the 10year requirement but I I see there was some push back on it so I didn't I did not have any push back on it I was okay with it I mean I I didn't get to explain my logic I guess I I I read everybody else's Logic on it um I the only thing I would say um about a 10-year I ji I I I acknowledge the potential that it could hinder recruitment but I I didn't see it that way because I don't think it's an entitlement um that people should expect giving someone a stipend um after step 10 is really like an incentive like wow they've been in municipal government you know for 10 years or that um we wanted to recognize it so I was just thinking recruiting someone um where recruiting them from a for a grade and a step from 1 to 10 in there um and that that should be it this was more to me um I was looking at it a little differently but um I'm I recognize I mean you you g you gave a pretty good opinion and I know Michelle has an opinion on it as well and uh I you know I'm I'm willing to to concede on it but I I did have a a logic behind it um and you know Chuck and I had talked offline um just a more so about the internal um piece to it the internal fairness uh to the employees that have been here a while and we when we bring an employee in at a higher higher step you know we're expecting them to have a lot of as much Municipal experience as possible to be um to meet the conditions of this if you will dipen so I didn't warranted yeah but um we can we can talk more about it and Karen I'm sorry I should have actually asked uh to speak through through you the chair you may speak Madam chair I'm sorry I'm sorry Chuck Madame chair if I can um just uh and U it was my what I had expressed to um Mr Wilson uh this morning was in uh in disagreement um in recommending the uh the the 10-year minimum for municipal service is we have we have found an outst we found an outstanding candidate and we hired Eric uh uh derba um that uh has has worked primarily in the private sector and he is bringing a great sense of responsibility and experience and expertise in his field to uh to benefit the town um specifically with with our facilities he's done an excellent job and I know Ryan has worked closely with him on 36 King Street on a number of different issues that have come up uh in the in the in the different buildings he's instrumental in the construction of of the council agent the senior center um and typically um not okay that may not be but typically especially in a in a building area in the building comp Department inspectional Services uh what you what you often find that coming into a municipality is a contractor general contractor that is no longer on the ladder banging Nails after 25 35 years of doing it they then uh putting the themselves in a position of using their expertise and the success in the private sector and and uh applying it to a municipality and working directly with contractors based upon his or her experience in the field for 25 to 30 years if we if we impose that minimum of 10 years there we were already having a difficult time and of identifying uh uh uh seasoned experts in that field many municipalities are and here this this would make it even more difficult uh if if someone had to have at least 10 years of Municipal experience Garen may I speak sure this Chuck again this is Chuck um Jim I I I respect that and I think that even if it were in place or if it was a fiveyear we we can we've got a history of waving whatever policy we've had when it come to hiring and we've had to make a decision on a case-by casee basis that could be true of in this instance certainly it took us a while to find a facilities manager um the other component so if if there's no appetite for it there's no appetite for it but what if we lowered that to five years Municipal experience but with the opportunity to wave it if necessary um the thing that I was more hung up on was vesting somebody that they're they're they're going to be with the town for some period of time before they can qualify for so if they Comm in at a 10 and you know their new employee to the town they need to be here for three years or something just I I feel more strongly about having them vested it might be two years I don't know maybe it's a year I no I wouldn't go down to a year but that's where I had more concerns than with um having Municipal experience I if I through the chair um if we're if we're going to go into a little bit more of that part of it uh Chuck I I I would say after a year you you don't you you don't qualify for it the year that you're hired um in other words if you get brought on in in January and you just happen to come in at step 10 um you wouldn't qualify it till the following year I don't think you should qualify for it the year that you're hired I it's almost like a year of probation um but I yeah I think that's the only way we could kind of trigger it in there but I I like the idea of a fivey year I like the idea of sometime period in there um it's not Jim you do bring up a good point of there are some professions out there in within the town that um line up really well with the public sector and some of the best talent we would grab out of the public sector and not necessarily private EXC me private the private sector not necessarily the public sector so um I'd like to hear you know Matthew or Karen try in on it I I can see both ways I I do know that once we say something here it's going to be hard to change it it'll be hard in other words to all of a sudden throw a tenure on this if this thing goes south um or doesn't seem to be working as planned or um let's but I'd like to hear everybody else's thoughts on it I can I can go next I guess I'm I'm wondering how much of an issue this is going to be I'm wondering how much we're wor whether we're worried about something that isn't a lot of upheaval how many how many employees that are current are going to be affected and how often do we hire someone with you know multiple you know five or more years of Municipal experience if the latter is the most common case then you know let's let's I don't know negotiate the stipend as part of the as part of the employment but I just I just don't know if if I may through the chair I can I can I speak to that and then I know Matthew that um I I had said a couple things earlier um I I you know I use the example of of a facilities manager that just was recently hired and he was strictly private sector and we have he's done a great job for us and he has been a great find and and uh I'm sure Ryan can speak in great detail to the benefits he brings to Littleton based upon working closely with Ryan on a number of different issues within our facilities um and also typically the profession such as a Building Commissioner or building inspector typically you do you you really don't have people that have started their careers and as a building inspector early on in the career you will you will you will dominantly get an individual whoever he or she is that has been on a ladder and banging nails for 25 years and they want to get off the ladder and for health reasons or whatever and so then now they look for they still like the business they still like the um uh they still that's in still in their blood if you want to say and they want to stay part of it and they've got a they've got the necessary licenses to to have a job and continue continue to stay in the field in their profession and they will go to a municipality and become an inspector and um in some cases inspectors initial inspectors don't have Municipal experience they'll come right off the street but they've got all the licenses appropriate that they can then they can be drained appr trained appropriately for inspectional services that is a mass that's a huge huge position to to fill and it's getting more and more difficult as we talked to peers in in other communities it's it's much more difficult to fill those type that type of a position especially so no comments on the best thing talk yeah I guess talk to me about the the first the year that they're hired is that the case with um our current potential hire we I won't say the position um or is just a a situation where the employee wouldn't it wouldn't matter anyway because it wouldn't be till the SE July of 2026 in other words is it if we say you cannot you don't qualify unless you have a year of service in the town a full year a full year of service with in the town does that hinder this it it's just we treat we treat that first year as a probationary almost so I guess I guess the performance I don't think it's excuse me since we tied performance to this maybe that fixes that problem as well I I guess yeah right I mean performance is a fix to it and I I can't imagine I really at least and Ryan please chime in on on if whether you agree but I don't see us walking you know hiring someone in saying step 10 right I there would have to be I think the max we would you know look at going is is potentially a nine which would give them essentially um uh they would have to be here for a better part of a year and then um performance review uh that would be make that would make them eligible to go uh you know up to now then they're hit in the ceiling after that for another year we have hired people um at step 10 uh but it but to Jim's point it's still going to take a year for them to work their way through and we're not going to award this unless they uh do you know have a have a satisfactory um review thereafter so it is it is based on on the Merit for that so um you I see Michelle's on it too Michelle you have anything you Brian Ryan before we go there I'd like to I'd like to speak yeah sure sure um we've we've put this type of stipulation in anytime we've had to wave um the current policy in order to bring somebody on above um you know two steps above the um the posst thing where we have put that in place we've done it also with the I think both the dees when when they got um a bump they weren't able to step it wasn't wasn't the same thing as was this is a stien but I see it as the same thing because it basically is taking the place of a step so anytime we've done something where we bump somebody up we've we've kind of put the language in that they wouldn't step in this cycle so I I I feel pretty strongly that we should at least do a year like they're on board for a year and they wouldn't to Gary's Point 2026 would be the first time if we hired somebody today 2026 would be the first cycle that they would be eligible to get the step stien yeah that been that's F we could we could we could put that in I mean if we're not hiring because even if you hired at a step nine like like Jim just said um you wouldn't qualify for this year anyway you're gonna you're GNA get a step anyway to step 10 right it's it's only affects those people that come in at step 10 yeah that's what I was about to say they need to wait they need to wait a year so they're goingon to go they're goingon to go anywhere from 1 month to 20 you know 24 months months if it's a year if it's a if it's a may I request if it's a year then um you we do have language in there that um allows me to to request the select board to wave it on a case-by casee basis yeah I think you have that Authority anyway but yeah if you want to put it into the policy that exceptions can be granted based on exceptional performance why don't we say that with the first year I mean or or at the discretion of the Town Administrator at the recommendation of the Town Administrator great thank you sure I mean that's that's my opinion anyway I I agree with that thank you so how excuse me how was that how would that read then um SE two employees that brought in on at the highest step step 10 um would not be eligible for the stipended um until uh 12 year 12 really 12 months served they wouldn't be eligible till the following cycle I don't know how you word that in the following fiscal year you can't put it that way Gary because then if they come in in Jan anuary and they're there for 12 months so they're going to ask the typen in February right it so it's the following fiscal year cycle is what it is yeah um with the um ability exceptions to be considered through the Town Administrator and the select board I mean that's really you know just say the stipend you know they're eligible for the stipend um at the first fiscal year following 12 months of employment there you go God Matthew why don't you write more I need to look I guess because I haven't gone to law school okay think we have that okay um I guess I'm I'm gonna have to I'm gonna push back a little bit I I don't think um I don't think the ad hoc approach is serving us all that well um I think I would rather that we had a policy and stuck to it and in my opinion the policy should be more flexible not less um I just you know a as we grow this idea that we're going to keep granting exceptions and that that's that's how we want to do business is is not something that I'm really in line with I agree okay so Karen you're just saying let's keep it the language as as written let no oh go ahead yeah I think I think that's what Karen's saying because we add I'm saying I don't I did not I didn't think the 10 year no I didn't think the 10year requirement um was was a great idea um I don't I think it's um I think again it pushes back on that flexibility that we need in today's hiring environment that's fair yep um so I to me I think it should um I think it should either be you know you're eligible after your first after that one year mark um the way Matthew put it or you're not um okay eliminate the the waiver or the exception I mean or at least don't put language in there what yeah what's your uh I would I would I'll uh I would value the uh Town Administrator and the assistant Town administrator's opinion on that Karen the only thing I would see is if we're going to put that language in there if someone gets hired on July 2nd they would not be eligible the following July in this scenario if we don't put language in there because they would not have served a year before the next fiscal year that's the so that would be where you'd want to create an exception can be granted based on uh that you know how we put that language in there we could Bas on the administrator yeah the Town based on the town administrator's recommendation or or discretion either one okay and that way we're not tying our hands to Performance or okay yeah I'm comfortable with that thank you all right this is a great this is actually a fantastic incentive to the employees I I think um there's going to be a lot of happy people in in town that have been you know don't want to go anywhere but they've been here a while you know forget the recruitment side I think the retention side this is a huge Victory I think for a lot of employees that are creeping up on this and that have been there a while that's great yeah well done Gary crafting this Michelle and Ryan yes thank you thank you all all right let's have a motion go back to the motion hold on a [Music] minute there with me so this would be moved as amended move that the select board vote to approve the proposed amendment as amended under section two classification and compensation B compensation 3 three step increases in the town of Littleton employee handbook second by Gary second set okay uh let's go to vote um Chuck Chuck says yes Gary Gary says yes Matthew Matthew says yes and me Karen Morrison says yes as well unanimous I'll AC thank you all very very much we're moved move to adjourn move toj by Matthew second by Gary Gary Gary seconds the motion to adjourn all right um Chuck Chuck says yes Gary Gary says yes Matthew Matthew says yes and I'm a yes as well thanks everybody appreciate time today have a great weekend very much