##VIDEO ID:7CYjr89RxkY## let's call the October meeting of the town of Newbery Human Resources board uh together first order of business is to approve the minutes of Prior meetings we have two sens of minutes to approve Dian as always thank you and events be getting in to the board the first minutes will address of the admin of the regularly scheduled HR board meeting on Monday September the 23rd If folks had an opportunity to read through those minutes yes is there a motion to approve so move second second second any discussion of the minutes none seeing none all in favor of uh accepting the minutes as written say I I thank you second of the minutes is the uh subcommittee meeting also held on September 23rd subcommittee meeting for the purposes of classifying new position new and change positions do everyone had an opportunity to read those minutes yes yes is there a motion to approve approve second second any [Music] discussion seeing none take a vote all those in favor accepting the minutes as written say I I thank you oh I should also me mention before we go any further that we do have a quorum today although we're missing two members Lynn uh's out of town and Patty had an un unexpected medical situation come up with family member that she had to attend to and so she was hoping to join us today but it looks like she may not but again we are legal with a quorum here thank you all Diane let me turn to you any employee issues that aware no that I'm aware okay not heard from Chief isue assume that's the case in PD as well uh Personnel actions and job vacancies I know that there have been some comings and goings yes I if you'd like to address that just looking back at last meetings last last meetings minutes um so we have hired a assistant Town planner in the last minutes I had said that we put an offer out to C to a candidate the assistant Town planner actually started today uh his name is Daniel Loro so uh he comes to us from Lynn I think he worked in so he is a welcome Edition um we have hired an assistant Town Administrator to replace David Fields she starts November 4th um excited about her she's coming from the rally police department but also has a lot of extensive experience um in supportive administrative supportive roles um with many communities so I think she's going to be a great fit I'm that with her last week onboarded her and I had some time to spend with her so she starts November 4th to replace David um we have uh in my last meeting minutes I say that we have a new full-time Fr frighter Michael nean who started on September 22nd unfortunately on September 26th he decided it was not a fit so he resigned um so we now have a full-time firefighter position that's sort of been it's been posted and David is chief chief Evans is um taking this time to fill that role again so I think he just hadn't thought it through and decided at the end of the week it was not a fit so uh so he has moved on um he also had the res I'm curious more that he thought it wasn't a fit or that he had reconsidered his for coming out the first yeah I think that the latter is more appropriately stated okay yeah I think he just had given I think at the end of the week he had thought again about his decision it wasn't that it wasn't a fit here in the town important distinction yes um we have had a resignation of a patrolman so I don't want to speak for Patty but we probably do have a posting open for a full-time patrolman in the police department um and then I say in my last minutes that we have hired a library associ Youth Services librarian she started on October 3rd and on October 18th accepted a full-time position with the rally Library so I I question you know if you know that you're in the running but I guess if you don't know for sure that you're being offered the job I think you know um so anyway we now have a full time an opening for a part-time Services librarian and the last change was that since we last met um our shellfish constable resigned and we have hired the part-time shellfish Constable from the town of ipswitch um and he seems to be a great fit um but John Lucy Had senior had PRI previously held that position and um I think he had done it to transition us from um Paul thistlewood when Paul thistlewood left as the as a shelfish constable so um I think he's just moving on has resigned and we were able to coordinate with the town of ipswitch to use their shellfish Constable so he's now filling both roles for both communities so it'll be a split part-time job and yeah we're not doing it as a um it's not we're not doing it as a uh higher where we're it's he's working both jobs basically it's not that we've coordinated with them where we're like it like a partnership it's the word that I'm looking for um we do it with our um anal control officer I know yeah I can't think of the word yeah no can I but I yeah okay so um we have hired him he's working for us part time he's working for I switch parttime um comes with a lot of experience so he hit the ground running I think a couple of weeks ago I've met him and will he be giving us as many hours as as joh Lucy had been oh good okay believe it's around the same okay great he car okay it's which and Y Robert uh Campo not not animal officer shellfish Robert Campo um so that is it that's enough and we are I mean I say this every time but I mean things hopefully are starting to settle down um I think again I don't want to speak for Patty but she is a patrolman the fire position and really just a Services librarian and then hopefully you will be fully staffed which is not the kiss of death because I've said it well we we've talked about this for many months that that there is just as is the case in corporate industry uh within the municip municipal Community uh there's lots of movement yeah and there are going to be times that you end up you know at at at the top of that phone you know whether it's being able to poach or poach maybe not be the right choice of words but be able to entice cross T yeah entice somebody to come from from a from a neighboring community and we end up on the plus side of that equation and unfortunately there're going to be those times when um when we end up in the minus of that equation when folks recognize the quality to happen social social media was probably opened up opportunities on the quiet and folks have as they as they're signing on the do line with you they have full conversations going on in social media other positions and and using using this position as leverage with other well also I think maybe you know accepting the position recognizing that you've got several other things out in the field waiting not knowing if those are going to come through sometimes you make the best decision case PO is the assistant Town Administrator that we had previously you know he I mean I don't know if he was working you know actively he said he wasn't but to to find another position but he ended up taking position with the state four months after he started with us so I had the briefest conversation with him out right in the front hall one day and very quiet very introspective fellow yeah I had a a broad sense that this was a bridge and and unfortunately that there's there's a a lack of U you know personal personal ethic to use a job position is a bridge to another shop other words let me let me find employment while you while the months drift by where I really wish to go yeah I mean he stated that he wasn't actively looking and it was four months and unfortunately he had been solicited and he wasn't expecting it and that can be true I mean you know we're not have no reason not to trust that that was the case but um a few of these other ones you know yeah the point is you know if you look at each one of these comings and goings individually um makes sense can't question motivation problem is when you look at them as a collective you know it's out turn in the barrel and we've talked about that before we can go months sometimes years without any movement to speak up other than perhaps an occasional resignation or a a retirement yeah and then you're going to run into those Cycles where it seems like every time you turn around there's there's some movement so there's typically no Rhyme or Reason to it I would be concerned if if it was in a particular Department if you know if there was a history in constant turnover um if if folks reasons for leaving were eye opening for a lack of a better term but I don't believe that's the k no and it's not like I mean we had one I I think in the account accounting position where she decided to go and take another accounting position but a lot of these are um they're not lateral moves they're not you know advancement moves they're just different um so or personal you know for personal reasons but okay so that's all I have to report thank you Diane appreciate that questions or no no okay workplace ethics discrimination issues nothing that has come to my attention I assume that's the case with you as well than you safety issues again everything seems to be in place no new protocols that I'm aware of no okay other the business as as I mentioned in my note in scheduling this meeting the The Hope or I should say the expectation is that um by the date of our November meeting which as of now is Monday the 25th of November the Monday just prior to Thanksgiving which everyone seems to be able to make the expectations that by then Tracy will have spent enough time with the vendor that has been chosen for our compensation survey that um will'll be able to advance two basically number one that the parameters will have been put in place regarding neighboring communities that will'll be researching uh as well as confirming that all of our information is is what it needs to be in terms of our classification grid and everything that wraps around classification um and then number two the vendor will hopefully be able to join us uh for a presentation and a Q&A session at the beginning of that meeting so uh more news to follow there but just in anticipation I would ask everyone to perhaps plan on a 90 minute meeting on on Monday the the 25th and we can plan accordingly if it turns out that the vendor is unable to join us then we can dial that back but as of now I think we should think about going uh for 90 minutes and if that becomes burdensome for anyone please let me know and if that's the case maybe we'll be able to St at 3:30 if folks are available or you know do some sort of a work around yeah and like as I stated I'll be in touch with them because I've been funneling them information that they requested so I'll see if they're a available that date confirm okay and just sort of get an understanding of you know maybe time frame Etc great but I will I'll do that tomorrow thank you and so in advance uh what I would also ask is that Tracy uh can or Tracy Andor the vendor can provide for the HR board perhaps a you know a one or two page just an abstract yeah yeah Bas basic so that we can we can do our homework in advance come prepared with uh relevant questions to ask and observations to make okay all right anything else on the comp survey okay hopefully we'll uh we'll be able to get that back on the front for in November again next next meeting scheduled for Monday the 25th as of now scheduled for 4 p.m. I will uh I will effort that well in advance to make sure everybody's available and for some reason not again we've all agreed um that this is an important meeting that uh it would be it would be appropriate to have all hands on deck I would not want any members of the board to to miss it it's it's as important a meeting as we will have had for a while so most important so I'll I'll reach out tomorrow and start to get some information so that if we need to schedu if we need to resched that for a week later or what have you I'll uh I'll get you that great thank you okay I I have a it's more of a comment I think than uh anything else but U going back to the odd discussions we've had about uh you know this situation it's been months and months basically you talking about the comp survey now or something else yeah no the survey survey okay and and and I am still uh philosophically taken aback by the situation as as as presented to us that you know the the the Massachusetts what's the name of that that outfit in oh Massachusetts Municipal Association okay Mna I guess yeah that uh they in Ence said oh don't don't call us you know uh and then and so they really have no no manner of I mean this is not public knowledge or every town and City you know is protected by some sort of of of secrecy of of hirings Etc and I'm still confused by that because this the people who who got this job they're going to go to how do they do it do they go to these Equitable or equal towns I should say and then talk with the town bypassing that mass Municipal the mass Municipal Association was doing it as a sort of as a courtesy if you will it's not it's not a required that's not their sole function they had created a system where individual towns and communities could report in obviously it wasn't mandatory but requesting the information that individual towns submitted to mass Municipal Association they gathered all the data and you could go in and pull down from the system what you needed um it's not a bypassing of the mass Municipal Association a lot of communities even when the mass Municipal Association data was available would contract with an independent contractor to go out and find because keep in mind it's not just salary driven it's benefits it's vacation is C cools it's all these other things so there's not it's not that they're failing to provide a service that they're obligated to do it was just I think we talked about the fact that maybe municipalities weren't reporting in maybe they didn't have the staff to continue the the with the program um they're kind of two separate independent things salaries are are are public knowledge I mean they're not they're not openthebooks.com requests every here a listing of everybody here and what they make so it's not that it's it's in secret or it's private it's it's public knowledge you can request it um I think the Nuance is that this was a system where people you know towns and communities they at Mass Municipal Association was basically at the whim of individual communities participating and I think over time either people got busy I know myself you know I we did it every year um Tracy believed it was important so that we could reap what we put in um but other communities with the staff and and things the way that they're running and then with Co I don't know if they just weren't able to do it they just stopped doing it but they're not circumventing that it's a completely separate service with mass Municipal Association right does that that absolutely I think it it was provided to to Massachusetts citizen towns as a as a courtesy you know as a as a goodie if you will from from MMA but and we had heard for years that slowly but surely fewer and fewer towns were complying with their request for information and um it got to the point where over the past year or so as as Diane said you know it it became very clear that fewer and fewer towns were participating in a voluntary sharing of information as D said it's all public you know uh publicly available information it's not like they're trying to keep anything a secret or trying to you know keep competitors away from the from the data because again it's you know it's a request for information you get it anytime you want but not the benefits that seems to be the rug well yeah each Town offers different yeah I mean you could I mean I I don't think it's necessarily Mass Municipal Association didn't gather that information it was strictly salary they were never con um coordinating you know benefits and all of that but like I'll give you another example so Mass treasur treasures and Collectors Association we have an organization that I belong to every year they send out a salary survey and it's oh this is the salary survey so all the municipal treasurers in the state of Massachusetts and their staff you they request information and then when they they're done with it they report it back to the treasures and collectors so I just got mine for this year so I put in my my my staff how many hours they work what salaries they are you know and I believe it might ask for so there's all different ways that communities are trying to do the same thing that we're doing and sometimes they use vendors and they were doing it even when Mass Municipal had um salary data it's it's just because that was it was basically there like you said it was a courtesy so and I think an outside vender has the capacity to put all of this very information together in a in a format which would help in in this case the town ofvery understand in very clear concise terms that when you factor in the compensation grid when you factor in benefits When you factor in you know all the other pieces of the puzzle to make up a compensation package that they can provide us with something very basic but something very worthwhile that we can then use to our benefit going out into the marketplace to find quality folks I think when when MMA captur some of the stuff it wasn't necessarily you know all corelated in a way that would benefit us we we'd still have to go to the different end of the Earth to find all this stuff out a vendor specializing this stuff can prevent can provide a very concise clear clean easy to use I would say set of data which will then make it easier for us to decide what if anything we need to do they're also looking at the vendor that we've hired they're looking at our Personnel policy that we work so hard on they're looking at our classification study they're looking at a basically a comprehensive compensation they're not just comparing salaries across the board which is really what MMA was doing you'd put in I want to see salaries for communities with this position at you know for this and you would just get a a list it was there was no other um subjective data that went along with it was just strictly numbers so I think this is more comprehensive also in the fact that it's taking a look at how we rate jobs that makes sense yeah does that help you yeah it does the checklist of Criterion that the vendor looks at size of town all the elements that go into the the workplace do they do they look at inherent complexities in a particular Village U is there a a a master list uh from A to Z of those aspects that they examine each and every town starting at Town size and location that would be a great question I mean I think they're comparing us to Regional towns because we all pretty much are similar small communities um so be other element would be also well you use the word posting and the chief is posting for a new patrol officer where where's the mechanism to post all of the township jobs from fire to police to to Administration is is there one place that the Universe out there looking to work for municipalities knows to go to so Mass Municipal Association has a job site a lot of times those are posted there um if you're posting for a specific job that has an Affiliated Association case of Point treasure collector they have jobs posted so anybody that's looking for a treasure collector position or has a job to post it's posted within the obviously you're going to be looking on those job sites if you're looking in that specific role um I think there's also the uh there's another I think Municipal those are the two big ones it's also on our website M um we post it right on our website yeah I was looking at that the other day I would assume I haven't looked at it already but I would assume every municipality has on the front page of their own website or at least at least a link you can click to that talks about current opportunities whether they a volunteer you know or paid positions I think in the stay age I'd be surprised if if the town didn't have that on their website I think the association ones for because most of the the department heads are roles or roles within a department um I know the accounting has an association the library has the library there's an association for librarians that they post on so I think that the website as well as mass Municipal has a job site where all pretty much most of the jobs are listed there as well yeah to answer your original question John I I I I can't imagine that the vendor will come to us without uh exactly what you're talking about give me the list of 20 criteria that you've used to put this study together yeah you know not just population of town and you know configuration of of the government within that town but use demographics and and whatever complexities that may be uh I'm sure that's going to be part of the package that that the vendor will present to us on the 25th yes I would hope so okay so I'll get you an update as soon as thank you as soon as possible about the date and time that thank you John Tony any other thoughts or no okay all right again next meeting scheduled for Monday the 25th at 4 P.M that's uh it's in the books unless you hear otherwise if it turns out that that the vendor is unable to join us that afternoon then we'll we'll go to whatever Plan B looks like okay and my guess is it would probably be maybe the week or so after as opposed to the week before so if the vendor is not ready yet then Mak it soon as not can have Med okay any other new business to address no thank you for everything uh seeing none is there a motion to adjourn motion second second any other discussion adjourn okay thank you than you