I'm going to call the meeting to order today is Wednesday April 3rd 2024 this is the uh town of Westport Personnel Board and give me one second I have to read an announcement since we are remote this meet this meeting is being held remotely in accordance with the governor of Massachusetts March 12 2020 ORD suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law General Law chapter 30 a section 20 on March 29 2023 Governor Healey signed a supplemental 2023 budget Bill allowing remote and hybrid meeting options for public bodies through March 31 2025 this meeting is now being recorded okay well thank you all for uh for coming um I want to do things a little bit out of orders so uh recording secretary je Jess just make sure that I come back and cover everything because I am going to send both Tanya and Matt are here I'm going to deal with um we're going to go down to updated job descriptions uh and this is the uh Health director for the Board of Health I included that in the packet that I sent to um all of you last week I believe was Friday uh Friday or Saturday last week I sent you a packet with all of the uh agenda um information uh Tanya Matt I'll just let you describe what the changes are I know they were not um very extensive but uh certainly enough that we have to make make the noted changes so I'll let you have the floor okay um thank you very much I'm Tanya Ryden chair of the Board of Health um and we come before you with a revised uh job description from Matt arendo our director of Public Health who's been on board for six or seven years now um um and his job has changed um over the years um if those of you who've been in town long enough know that um I think it was three or four years ago uh animal Control Department was moved from the um select board's office to the Board of Health um and so and that was never reflected in his job description uh so um this actually was prompted by the um the wage and salary survey that went around to all employees who had to sort of match their um you know their survey response to the job description and we realized the job description was out of date um so we took the opportunity and this um revised job description uh basically is is a little bit more expanded what it does include now is the responsibilities for animal overseeing the animal Control Department um as well as um what was not articulated specifically in the in the um job description before was the all the responsibilities associated with the transfer station and the landfill closure monitoring which was another task that was assigned to Matt uh a few years ago by the um Town Administrator so um so this job description um that sort of is the those are the main operational changes um that we've Incorporated in the job description um but I can um just say um we we took the opportunity to go through it completely it was you know there's grammar and lot reorganizing a little things so so um so there's some changes like that so and I can summarize that section by section um just so people have a clear understanding of what what was changed um so in the position purpose we added that a first sentence that basically says these are all the Departments that he oversees so it's a clearer sense of the scope of responsibility so that's the Public Health Department transer Station um nursing and Animal Control are all under his supervision um and I just expanded this a little bit about um adding the promoting the town's Public Health um and um you know and enforces all the laws related to all the functions that he oversees um we also clarified under supervision a couple of things one um is that it uh under Mass General Law chapter 111 section 27 um the res the authority and responsibility for hiring staff for public health falls directly to the Board of Health um and so we wanted to just make that clear um but uh um and the only time that would be overridden is if there's a town Charter which we don't have um but that that the responsibilities that the Town Administrator oversees uh Personnel um procurement all those uh administrative functions he um Matt would follow under the Town Administrator for those functions so that's just clarifying that also um the job description before said he supervised everybody um and he he indirectly supervises there's a um because we now have a senior agent there's you know there's a little bit more um delegation responsibility so we just clarified that under supervision job environment and change the essential functions is where I talked about the um adding the animal control um and the um transfer station specific um related responsibilities um the other function that we added that wasn't in there before was seeks funding opportunities and rights and manage as grants as needed and I think that was important to highlight because um he's done grants for um you know Recycling and and we've done minor grants um he and I together uh related to septic stuff um but the in the last couple years we've had a major Grant which is now over 4 $100,000 for the South Coast Public Health collaborative which is um uh has been really uh an important um initiative of the state and that we are leading um the South Coast collaborative which is six communities so a lot of that responsibility falls on that that we wanted to capture not specifically because grants may come and go but that that's a a key part because as we know in uh Westport and in communities uh funding is constrained and so you're looking for creative ways to be able to uh fulfill your mission um and Matt's a very collaborative kind of guy and Cooperative he works with all sorts of departments he's really great at that and this is a a testament to um our success in that uh realm as well um there were a couple of things that we took out um that related to um the emergency medical core that is no longer a town level responsibility that's regionalized so there are a few other minor changes like that um and uh we added um sort of reflective of the pandemic we added about vaccine clinics um uh doing that and let's see um then under education and experience we as a board of health um added um what we would prefer to see is master's degree in a related field preferred as a qualification um preferred not required Matt has a master's degree and it's not required but we think the town um is best served by somebody ideally with that positions that responsibility and we also added a certification around pool operator certification because that we have public uh semi-public pools in town that need to be certified and that's also a function that we have to ful bill for this for State compliance so so those are the major changes to the job description um I'm happy to answer any questions anybody has um if there are any okay I'll open it up to the floor if anybody has any questions hi T thank you for that yeah yeah go ahead Nancy sorry thank you for that um so my first question is can I clar it sounds like there was a lot of clarification in the job description um but nothing new am I wrri what what is actually new that wasn't in the previous iteration so what what's new what wasn't in the job description but was in his actual work responsibility was overseeing the transfer station and the animal control um so those weren't explicitly um spelled out before but they have been part of his responsibility for years for years now okay and um the supervision of staff was the second question um so there's no direct supervision even though it says we super Vis all staff but it's it's indirect they actually report someone else it's mostly direct I'm just um and incorporating the fact that because we have um a a chain of command now it used to be you know sort of the director and agents and clerical staff but now we have a senior agent so that sometimes that like the senior agent has some you know staff that right don't directly report to him but he supervises like that he does more of the supervision around transfer station staff so I just wanted so I said he Matt still has ultimate responsibility for all staff in his purview but not that he um directly that they that everybody directly reports to him that's no longer that's not really fully accurate so that's that's just that clarification how many staff in in the preview that are in the public health domain approximately how many uh in you mean uh under him entirely or just by Department I I'll have to add it up animal control is one okay transfer station is three nursing is one and uh Board of Health uh including the grant funded staff is one two three four five six six am I get did I get did I remember everybody Matt yeah yeah one two three four five six seven seven and then um we oversee the um Community septic Loan program as well and there's kind of a our administrator kind of part-time so could be eight total okay well eight eight on that end but then three at the transfer station one animal control as well okay so and then the nurse right and then the nurse so it's like 13 14 okay and then we're gonna be hiring a second Animal control officer so we probably in the next few months we can add another one right we hope board lets us right thank you that's all I that's all the questions I have for now oh go ahead Gary so uh Matt are we so we're saying that Matt writes who writes most of the grants Matt's writing all the grants uh with help from the board okay so um that's a big undertaking I mean I think we I think we've all been a proponent of getting some kind of Grant Rider in town which would pay for itself you know but having a department at having to take the responsibility of writing grants is kind of you know among all the other things he's going to be involved with that's probably a big piece of his time to try to chase down grants you know um right so you know this position what is this is this position mainly is it is it going to be to assist Matt in grant writing or no this is just changing no no no this is changing Matt's job description not adding another person so we're not gonna so Matt will still have to write grants unfortunately yes okay or fortunately we've been very successful um yes yes very um so you're not seeking any uh salary adjustment at this time no this is merely a CL clarification of the job description and I think that you know and and I and I applaud your efforts that you went through and and realized that the other ones were woefully out of date I mean I can go through dozens of them and see how dated they are uh as part as you had mentioned you know this was in part stimulated by the um questionnaires that were sent out for the for the classification study we hope to also address job descriptions as a another part of this coming up um unfortunately you know our funding for the for the current project didn't cover the entire scope but we're going to try to see what we can manage to add on that would include job description to make sure that they're all correct and proper because I know that the questionnaire included job descriptions and as the the employees what types of things they do but there wasn't an indepth comparison about the written one versus what was reported so we're trying to make some strides in that regard uh to make sure that we've got you know Equitable salaries and job descriptions that actually fit the positions that the people are doing I mean I think I think it's very important uh for that to occur so I thank you very much for going through all of that and making those adjust ments and making it sound or making it look much more logical or having it read much more logically than it had been in the past so that's um that's great well thank you for doing the wage survey that's what promt yeah we we we haven't we're not quite finished with that yet but we're you know we're making good strides and the company um has done a good job so far in uh Gathering a lot of information so there'll be more on that to come so that will will be I think helpful for um uh helpful for everyone um now Cindy are they going to be providing a job description in per se on this position or no or that wasn't part of the package that wasn't part of the initial package only because of the amount of you know we were given we were appropriated $330,000 and I think yeah um with the uh full job description it was somewhere north of 50 and uh we'll if we don't wait too long they'll we'll be able to add some of that on onto there in the future so we'll just stay tuned the the Town Administrator is very hopeful that we can get the whole package done at some point so yeah we'll at least get the wage and classification um study complete very soon uh does anyone have any other questions for Matt or Tanya so do we need a motion to approve this or um we could do this yeah we could do this now uh that would be fine we could do it later I I I will certainly entertain a motion um to approve the um the Rewritten job description there's no no money attached to it um that's pretty much it and it's fully supported by the board uh Board of Health voted unanimously in February to uh endorse this new job description okay so I'll make a motion that we um we uh we make the uh job description prer and up to date per the for the recommendation yeah okay and I would sec I would second it okay great we have a motion and second any other further discussion um since this is a recorded meeting uh I have to do a uh an actual roll call vote uh so I'll go um Gary yes uh Nancy yes uh Carrie yes and Cindy yes okay fine motion is um approved unanimously and thank you very much for your time I'm glad that you weren't have didn't have to wait with us too long and that you're in and out the door and um you can move on um s thank you um actually we at least I'm going to stay on board because we had a question about the Personnel um oh yeah okay around vacation time right so that'll come up a little bit later so if you want to get up and get a cup of tea or something we'll you you're welcome to stay and listen to us but don't yeah I have mine here too so if any point you want to get up we're probably at least 30 minutes away from that so just so you know okay I'll come back thank you all right thanks for joining us as well Matt thank you thank you um okay so we're g to move on to the um Council on Aging that was at the top of the list because that's also a um an issue that we need to address and this is a a salary adjustment I will U Beverly was Beverly B Bish was not able to join us um this evening threes away this week um this is pretty straightforward this is a I sent sent out the the job description although there are no changes to this job description it is a position that's already listed in our schedule um it took her some time to find someone to fill this position it's a part-time job it's the supportive daycare assistant director the Cur current salary is listed as $683 per hour this salary is not paid with Town funds the salary is paid uh through either grants or revolving money that comes into the day supportive daycare program and is paid out that way so it's it this does not impact Town funds at all uh so she's requ requesting the the the the rate that she had has hoped to pay the new person new person is currently paying 1683 but she very much hopes uh that the only way the person would accept the position was if it could be at 1750 now I've looked at the O the scale of the other people that work of the Council on Aging and I would say 1750 is appropriate for an assistant director it's not going to stick out it's not like it's $21 I believe the director uh pays north of $21 I don't have the schedule here in front of me um so it still keeps a significant enough gap between the director versus the assistant director but makes this position a little bit more elevated than a um supportive daycare aid for example um who is in the $16 range um right now so it it puts them uh above so she's requesting a salary range of, 1750 this is a non-un position uh it's a part-time uh position it's less than 20 hours per week uh and it's not paid for with Town funds um that's about the most I can tell you about that right now so Cindy we don't know if um um we don't know if there's other positions in town whether it's Town funds or not that are getting that have that same scale do we know that or well you know it's it's a it's a difficult position to comp right you know because it's it's supportive daycare for senior citizens on a part-time basis so you know teachers AIDS in the schools get paid more than that um uh or comparable to that I looked I briefly looked at at some of their salaries um you know if you're an ENT entry level person you're you know in the high 16s she evidently looked for a long time to find one to find the person to fill this position and the only one that would accept the position was at 1750 but um it it won't stick out uh I don't have an ax to grind in this I'm I'm telling you what she has told me um it's a very important role for her because supportive day is um a very popular program uh at at the council and aging Center where you know people can drop off uh you know their parents or brother or sister that's elderly that needs some assistance during the course of the day but it's still can go home at the end of the day um and these people the director and the assistant director since they both work part-time uh coordinate different activities for and the staff and the AIDS that that are there um you know minimum wage now in this state help me if I'm wrong is550 is that correct I know it's above 15 because it went to 15 a couple of years ago so um you know it's it's just slightly above minimum weight 15 15 per hour at the moment is this still 15 I thought that it went to 15 a couple of years ago they haven't raised it since then I think I think it's due for another scheduled increase yeah yeah but it's 15 but I mean I would be in support of this I was just doing some research there's a town in like Western Mass who had you know an assistant director for a senior center for the town and it was like $28 an hour I mean I think 1750 is is is is not unreasonable I think that's fine I mean given given that the current rate is 1683 you know we literally talking about 60 cents an hour and if this person fulfills the position on something that's very hard to find anyway um I'm I'm also in favor of it but Gary what are your thoughts oh no I'm in favor of it I just wanted to you know we try not to we try not to create an animosity amongst other you know we' we've been down we've been down that road before I guess so um if if you know they're having an issue with trying to find somebody it is a critical position in that depart you know yeah I would support it uh let me just look at the um I sent I sent you guys the new Personnel uh let me just look at this um most recent copy of the personal bylaw so let me just give me one second um sure I'm working at a handicap because I'm doing this off my phone tonight and an iPad and I don't have a laptop that a laptop that I can easily um switch back and forth so let me just oh I have it here I think I see what you see there's a Council on Aging um salary schedule on page 27 so there's assistant to the director it must be the same one it's part-time it's right it's right under it yep so $16 an hour so it looks like actually there's an Outreach coordinator who is um full almost full-time $19 an hour um there's an Outreach worker at $18.70 an hour and a supportive Day program director at $20 an hour if the directors are at $20 an hour yeah even the Outreach coordinator I mean of course we don't we can only make assumptions as to what their duties are but if they're not even like assistant director um right you know I would think 17 is is is is fine um could even probably stand to be higher probably there's an assistant director of the nutrition program meal site that's at 1650 so it looks like the assistant directors are pegged at 1650 I would only say if we've got one you know probably should equalize them otherwise there will be disparity if you have two assistant directors um I will I will talk with Beverly about that and see if she would like to uh have both of them I I don't know uh what the circumstance I I don't know I I agree with you though given that they are both assistant directors um I think it's a I guess this one is a manager right nutrition program meal site manager there may be some other conflict with this so before we t with that I will check with her the one above it is a supportive Digger and assistance correct um but it's interesting that one actually is paid the same as the the manager so yeah there's some there's some things to be ironed out here um but I think I think what they're asking for is more than fair I in my view right so this was the fiscal year 23 level at 1650 two and a half% was uh 2% was added to that and for that started last July so the current rate is 1683 uh which is not printed here uh and it would go to 1750 so um yeah I make a motion that we um support it okay yeah I would I would second that great thank you uh we have a motion and a second to uh approve the uh rate increase as requested by the Council on Aging director for the assistant supportive Day program assistant director to a current to a new current salary of 1750 per hour I'm going to do can I ask one question before we make a does this position have to be now are we saying we have somebody for the position but they won't apply because no they're current they they currently they knew that it had to go through this this uh process so they they accepted the position at 1683 with the caveat that Beverly was going to try to get an increase so she had has the person in place and they were willing to work and it's not retroactive but they knew that Beverly was going to make the attempt and if she couldn't get it I think the person was going to go look elsewhere and or not it's not it's not like we have to repost this position no no no no no she had somebody and they were willing to go wait through the process yeah it's not a tremendous amount of money I think you know was it was more in principle than anything else for all those involved that they wanted you know a larger a larger some they were willing to to wait through uh wait through the process okay okay so uh we have the motion we have the second I'll take the roll call uh Gary yes Nancy yes Carrie yes okay and Cindy yes great thank you very much um okay so um I don't have the agenda now we're got to go back to the agenda does anybody here have an agenda in front of them now I've got to go back to it on my my I I'm so technology um um deficient right now because our printer is broken you that's what happens when you walk work from home our printer is broken the the laptop is kind of on the fritz so um oh I did I did have it somewhere I can get got it I was on the town website and that's where I found it sorry it's loading and now we've got the recreation direct I can go by based on uh on this it's the recreation director the assistant it um town beach manager uh and town engineer those are really the position things that we need to go through um so why don't we make we can make this uh a little bit easy so what do I have on their uh head lifeguard yep headli guards on okay so um and Beach manager we'll start with the beach manager because that really kind of flows down to everything else um if you recall last summer uh there was a little bit of a crisis in the um the beach Department about finding lifeguards whether or not the salary was correct and this that and the other and and in previous years we had a head lifeguard that was the head lifeguard for 12 years I believe it was more than 10 years so he and and he chose to no longer be uh a lifeguard as you can imagine he was a little bit older and had a family and wasn't really into um being a a beach lifeguard anymore um so he moved on and a lot of you know he was very comfortable and very um well versed in the administ ative aspects of managing the Lifeguard duties which you know involves scheduling uh and then when someone calls it sick getting someone else there getting the equipment together making sure that the equipment is in order the beginning of the year there's a lot of managing involved as far as time time sheets are concerned uh and making sure people are there on time and the testing and all of the issues that are involved in that um the the recreation department the head of the recreation department Dana stepped in last year and uh offered to help them coordinate getting the life getting new lifeguards and managing that schedule since there really wasn't a head lifeguard at the time that really could do that they found that that situation worked very very well having a non-life guard at least manage the process manage the schedule manage uh you know getting people there uh she checks in with them to make sure that they're there on time and there's still a head lifeguard but he's just not involved with the administrative um uh duties you know we have three beaches only one of which that is really man to uh its fullest but as you can see here on the on the job description um the beach manager will be responsible for lifeguard scheduling preparing time sheets for processing through the town of Westport conducting inservice training checking in with the head lifeguard to make sure they're overseeing the day-to-day operations of the beach and Waterfront determining which areas of the Waterfront may be closed because of dangerous conditions and other similar operational responsibilities she will oversee the head lifeguard and ultimately all lifeguards I shouldn't say she the beach manager will uh oversee the head lifeguard and ultimately all lifeguards assigned to Cherry and Webb Beach the primary job is management and night not lifeguarding although if the uh arises the beach man or can lifeguard if needed this the person in this position must be at least 18 years old um possess at least one season of lifeguarding experience uh have a lifeguard certification first aid certification uh CPR AED for the professional rescue certification and preferably possessed certification in the American Red Cross lifeguard management evidently uh our current Recreation director fits this description and she is willing to take this on so the one thing that is missing from this is that it doesn't talk about and we can send this back to them for um clarification my understanding is that this is five hours per week uh during the beach season uh and that's how much the uh Beach committee has appropriated in their bud budget to pay for this that they've allocated and I and quite frankly I don't know what the salary amount is so that's something else we need to uh clarify with them uh is this coming is this coming out of the revolving fund yes okay so there's no impact of the general fund correct and and so that's why they you know they increased Beach fees this year the beach sticker fees this year because you know they they want to they want to up the anti a little bit as far as the professionalism of the beach I mean this is not the beach of 20 years ago you know there's you know it's busy every day the the parking lot's full every day um and you know the required certifications certainly become much much more stringent than they have been and lifeguards come and go you know we had we had a hard time finding lifeguards last year um and so you need a management process in place to keep this uh together before the same people year after year would come back uh and that was great that's not the case anymore uh so many lifeguards leave now by the middle of August if they have other if they have college commitments which are sports or whatnot and you can't keep them until Labor Day which is always a difficult um issue I can't say that this beach manager is going to be able to remedy that but certainly uh have an have a Target to um to do that so my initial questions are this beach manager should have uh the expected hours per week and they have not requested a salary range on this so I mean you know I'm willing to send it back to them for additional information for that but those are my two questions anyone else anyone else have any other issues about this are we going to table this are we going to vote um it's it's it's up to you I mean I'm just saying those are my two two issues I mean if we approve it it would it would go um it could still be approved in the warrant so this is kind of a town meeting issue and it's less than 20 hours a week so we can at least put it in the proper classification of the warrant that it's a part-time position it's less than 20 hours the warrant does not print the the salary that's really more for our purposes so so it would not prevent that but this job description for Beach manager or the position for Beach manager is not currently in the Personnel bylaws so um it would be difficult for them given that we've had a town meeting to move forward with this although not impossible um it it should be included in the warrant uh for the anal toown meeting in May so I'm willing to entertain a motion if you want to table it that's fine we could have another meeting prior to uh May 7 and um get the answers to the questions I'm I I'm fine either way this is not a big deal to me I mean uh I I am curious as to what the rate is but that's not that's not a function of what they need for town meeting right now I say we we approve I mean I'm okay with that I don't know how other people feel it worked out very well last year and Sean Sean leech will tell you that it you know once the crisis passed it all moved very smoothly because literally the beach committee the unpaid Beach committee was ended up getting involved in a lot of things and this was you know phone calls at night and you know I don't have somebody for tomorrow what am i g to do they need somebody else you know that's be a coordinator basically a coordinator corre correct right and they need that I mean you know we we can't have you know part-time unpaid people trying to manage the stuff right you know on a Tuesday night so approve it okay yeah okay second so you're you're gonna second that um Carrie yes so we have a motion we have a motion to a second uh to approve the position of beach manager I will question them on um the salary rate and um the hours to CL clarify this it was always my understanding because it was based on the funding that was provided um to the finance committee from the beach Department that it was five hours per week but this does not say that so um uh we'll go around and do a roll call so Gary yes uh Nancy yes Gary yes Syd says yes and so it is unanimous um okay so now got to make sure they have the other one right because um all right so the other position actually is not the head lifeguard but really the assistant head lifeguard and this came about as well um as as a result of the management issue um that there was kind of a a um a gap or a flaw in in the structure of how the how the beach um lifeguards were managed so this description of the assistant head lifeguard if you if you look I will read it for the record the assistant head lifeguard is in charge of all of the lifeguards when the head lifeguard is not available at chering Webb Beach and is on site at the beach during the majority of the working lifeguard hours the assistant head lifeguard reports to the Head lifeguard and will be given specific duties the assistant head lifeguard ensures all lifeguards are monitoring activities in the swimming and Beach areas at Cherry and web Beach they are there to prevent accidents and provide assistance to swimmers in distress responsible for ensuring the safety of beachgoers by preventing and responding to emergencies uh the assistant head lifeguard must be at least 18 years old possess at least one season of lifeguarding experience have uh lifeguard certifications which include first stage certification CPR AED and the professional rescue cert certificates prly possess certificates in the American Red Cross lifeguard management so this is when uh if the head lifeguard is out for the day I mean you the beach is is man seven days a week um so there are occasions when the head lifeguard is not on duty and they did not have a designated person who uh had the responsibility to step up when the head lifeguard was gone this uh assistant lifeguard receives an additional stip uh and I cannot tell you how much it is once again I'm going from my memory of their presentation to the finance committee uh but there he receives an additional stip when he has the duties of the head lifeguard um so there is a little difference in Pay once again this does not come out of the Town um uh tax roles this comes out of the revolving funds that the uh uh Beach uh Beach committee collects as a result of the uh stickers so that's pretty much it this is a new position that they are adding as a assistant head lifeguard to fill in when the Lifeguard uh is not available I think it's pretty cut and dry anyone have any comments questions NOP I think I think it's fine I think given that it's a sday a week thing um it's hard for had lifeguard to be the the person on Authority you know seven days a week a month so I think it's reasonable ask and and the the beach manager would hire someone accordingly I mean they you know they would know that she needs an assistant as well so she knows that I keep saying she that position would know that um they need another responsible enough person that could take the role of head lifeguard so I think it helps just overall when planning out for the uh um for the for the season uh in selecting the Personnel although we might we may not have the luxury of being able to be selective but um in a in a in a perfect environment you could but at least Envision how the scheduling should be done you're not going to put the assistant head lifeguard on the same Duty five days a week as the head lifeguard you're going to make sure they have opposite days so um just that of itself will be helpful so I'll entertain emotion to accept the job description of the uh town beach assistant head lifeguard okay anybody second I'll second okay great so we have a motion of a second uh any other discussion no uh we'll have to take a roll call Gary yes Nancy yes Carrie yes and Cindy yes great thank you the motion carries uh unanimously uh I I sent the other um uh I sent the other ones just as a reference to see um the difference between the two which is very little so um we've done that we've done that we've done that uh we did that one okay so we have uh two other um positions one we're a little bit more familiar with so the uh it assistant um I have to admit unfortunately I I should have invited um the IT director tonight and I failed to uh to do so um this is a job description I have not seen once again they have not asked us for a salary range because this position has not been posted yet this is a position that they would like to um uh like to do they should have included a salary range for it but it is not included in this um so Keith I'll just give you a little back background Keith Nova who is the um IT director uh last town meeting his salary uh was increased rather significantly because he thought that he was going to devote more hours to the town the IT director currently is part-time uh it and the number of hours that he can devote to Westport really is not enough time for the amount of hours that the town of Westport needs to have it assistance in the areas particularly of um uh technical support um you know software um installation hardware issues that go on um the IT person would this it assistant would be a much more uh Hands-On person versus Keith who is taking care of a lot of the um larger projects the um you know the Broadband issues connecting the the schools to the town having the town connected within itself so he's he takes care of the of the larger over oversight issues and this it assistant would actually be the much more uh on the ground um dealing with the um with the daytoday problems that the people in it have um Carrie you have spent some a little bit of time talking with Keith about this is that correct yes so well tell us what you know um this covers it this one okay this this um this job job description yeah okay it gives the potential uh candidate the information he needs I do I really think salary is important as well I'd like to see that before approving this at least me uh yeah so once again uh this is uh not a a position that is currently in the roles of the Personnel bylaws so I think that they would at least like to get the job description approved and listed within the Personnel bylaws so that way there there are no issues when they go out to higher person the way that our Personnel bylaws is structured it's um you know it's it's unfortunate if you have if you create a new position in the middle of the year because in all honesty it is subject to approval at town meeting the next the next available town meeting so uh we'll just say for example that we approved this position and even if it were funded even if the account had money in it to pay for the position if the following year if the town meeting did not approve this position it would get eliminated so it's always better to know up front that they approve of the position and that it's included within the Personnel bylaws up front so it's earmarked we have that job it's not funded yet there is funding I I believe in this upcoming budget for that so it would be great to have the position at least categorized if if we're going to fund it so um you know it's a little bit of a wonky process of chicken and egg but that's just the way it works I mean that's just the way the personel bylaws work so I think um we can discuss salary with them and I think that that is important as well uh and how many hours uh they're they're talking about as far as the overall job description I think we'll we'll limit our discussion to that this evening and we can have a later discussion with them about the number of hours and the salary I would approve this job description yeah I know you spent some time on this yeah um does anyone have any other questions so Cindy you're saying this is in the budget for fy2 or it is they they uh yes it did get included and I don't I I I don't off the top my head I don't have the finance committee uh budget um they basically took the additional money that was given to Keith last year so that he would work more hours and now they split it out and they took that money away from Keith and put it into an assistant now you know I know the dollars and cents are a little bit more because of the benefit packages or the taxes that have to get paid but it was more or less that there there may have been a few thousand dollar more added to the position in total when you add what Keith was going to get in total he just took the money out of his own pocket and and gave it to an assistant so that's kind of what this is all about he knows that he can't devote the the amount of time that he thought he could I mean my my only comments about the job description that it's it it still looks very much like a working draft it's I think it does need some more Clarity but in in terms of the principle of having an IT assistant um like I I would be fine with I'm sure there's many many demands um on the of the town for it support so I wouldn't I wouldn't have any objections to that itself um I see what you're saying though there's a lot of on liners there's a lot of bullet points yeah it's it's a lot of it's I think some things are like just scrunch together it it's I think just needs a little B more clarity just finishing off um because it it it starts to read very much like an assistant and then at the end of it it was surprised to see requires like a a computer science degree you know it makes it sound like it's more than the job description LED it to believe um anyway I think it just needs some more work um a little bit it's just my view but in terms of the function itself so Cindy were you saying that we have an IT director but because he can't commit to full-time work we need someone to do maybe the more Junior end of the of the scope of juty to assist um yeah you were saying for which he was already paid he was paid an uplift to be a director no it was in the budget for him to to get paid to be a full-time director he's always he's always been part-time last year he thought that his his other employment was going to free him up to now devote more time and so he had had requested a salary increase last year and he realized that that wasn't going to happen and he didn't take the salary increase because he didn't put in the hours and so now he realizes that um the town still needs that additional work so he kind of gave back I shouldn't say he gave back but that salary figure was shifted now what with the increase that was given to him has now been shifted down to an assistant to an assistant yeah I think as long as the duties are are reflective of an assistant not a director you know what I mean I hope I hope he kept like the senior scope of director Judy and accountability and this person is just getting you know an assistant appropriate level work right har did you look at um the it director's uh job description by any chance I glanced at it yes this does this is a little lesser than I can tell that Keith wrote this yeah um I agree with Nancy it needs to be cleaned up and formatted um it expanded a little bit I mean you know are a lot of points on here so but and that's fine I mean um now how does that work if if we just if it's just like a formatting I know it's a little more than formatting but if it was just like a formatting issue do we send it back to them to format or do we I I think I think that we we can approve this we can approve the concept of the position so that way it gets approved at town meeting or gets included in the town meeting list of changes for uh positions and we can request the IT director um you know expand on this on this current uh job description for town meeting purposes I mean we we need to approve of the position uh and we have the layout of the position here um it does say that it's part-time so it's going to be it will be categorized as a part-time position uh so we know how to code the job for personnel bylaw purposes this by no way uh is is is giving them the stamp of of our approval that this is all fine and good we still have we still have a lot of leeway that we can give to buttoning up and tightening up this job description so does this um do we also have a help desk I know someone well they had talked about that and keitha talked about that and um you know I think it's part of that is in the you know he hasn't hired this person I don't know if this this person in this job description exists uh I really don't know I don't I don't know if he has a person in mind or or if he knows it might take six months or whatever to fill this position I know I have a person who asked me about this position he graduated from folk and he has a degree in computer sciences and yeah yeah maybe that would work so I don't know if he has position P person in mind for the position um and I don't know if his budget included there was some money for a help desk but I think that that was in the inum so we don't have a contracted service with like a a soft you know a help Des that takes not yet not yet okay that like fills the role when Keith's not there I guess that's the question yeah I think that that depends on the software it wouldn't be our responsibility some software come with a for an additional cost you get help desk and whatnot but if there there are there are companies that are out there that that do take the place of multiple software systems like for the town I work in we have a help Des that that also does thei our financials uh they they know every system Microsoft so when when our it directors in there we call them up and they can assist I don't know if we have that in Westport do we have that in Westport probably not not not right now not right now he did he did put a request in his budget for nominal amount to get that started uh yeah I know you mentioned it I thought say something about it right off the top of my head I don't remember where that is in the budget uh Nicole you you you've joined us um you have your hand up Nicole yeah uh we have somebody that we can call if there's a problem with the with the new laptops part of installing the laptops I I'm not sure how long it lasts but there's like an 800 number if we have an issue with the laptops as for software I mean you know I if other than like Microsoft which you really can't do a lot about like soft write zobrio um we call them you know the assessing um uh the assessing uh program the gis that stuff we call them and and they usually help us like right away so he doesn't usually deal with the software stuff he just deals with like the hardware the the laptops the print you know even the were're under contract with Rico so right even deal with the printers so yeah so if you if you turn your laptop on and you try to print something and it tells you that your printer is no your laptop is no longer connected to the printer who would you call Keith I would email Keith first and then if he or or the call this 800 number usually I can figure it out myself and I don't have to deal with anybody else but um but yeah it's it's this like I said I've never I haven't had the opportunity to use these these new people yet my assistant has and um they've pretty much been on the ball but usually I just email Keith and if it's something like a like an update or something that or something I need um you know like downloaded or something he'll do it like in the middle of the night like we saw him come in during the audit meeting on Monday night so he'll come in do some updates and stuff like that and then leave right yeah right and that's what Keith wants he wants like a someone to help them with their email or the little things right during the day when like when we're there because we're there from 7:30 to 4: and he can't always be there like if we have a real problem so that's what he wants you know somebody to help us during the day right so like I said you know this person has not been hired I I don't believe that he has necessarily someone in mind and uh they have not indicated what the salary level is here so our approval of this would be merely to um uh give a placeholder and approve of a position of this type uh not necessarily the funding if we don't know if the funding is going to come through with that because that's in in his budget for next year if it's not funded then it's not going to come through we can certainly require them to expand on the um uh definitions and the characteristics of the uh the job description as well as providing uh they they can't hire anyone until the Personnel Board approves the hourly rate so um would that be in the motion would you have would that have to be in the motion well I guess the the motion could uh just be to approve the position um with further clarification I guess to further clarification clarication I think that that would be uh sufficient our discussion of this is on the record uh as to what the things are that we're looking for um so I I would be happy with uh a motion to approve the position uh pending further clarification so moved I guess I moved to yeah what you just said okay any second yeah I second it okay great thank you Nancy um okay any other discussion on this I think you know I think there is a lot more work this has been kind of been kicking around for several months so um there's some more work that needs to be done with this um Gary yes uh Nancy yes thank you uh Carrie yes and Cindy yes passed unanimously okay so the last one uh I have the least amount of information but once again this is something that just recently got uh included in the budget uh as a matter of fact just last night um is the town engineer this is a brand new position for the town the Town Administrator has put together this very well scripted job description as compared to um the previous one we looked at this is not bullet points this is uh very narrative uh label draft um uh job description um he knows that this is a work in process um but once again it's the type of thing that um would like to be included uh in the list of available um uh positions in the town if once it gets you know funded and once it's approved and you know our our endorsement of the position Itself by no way endorses um filling the position or that it's 100% accurate we are approving a placeholder uh on the town warrant to make sure that there is a classification and description for this position so this is not endorsing it as is the the job description that was given to us is labeled as a draft uh the Town Administrator just started to work on this he he's pulled this together from many um uh other towns uh and and their Town engineers uh this is a um a position as we discussed last evening that will uh serve a lot of different departments in the town whether it be the building department the highway department the planning department um right now we currently Outsource many of those at time certain times of the year it's very difficult to find uh Engineers that are willing to work on a um caseby casee basis because they're all they all get very busy in the spring uh in the winter when people are trying to get ready for uh new new jobs to open up uh and they have made a very good case uh for you know even simple things like you know culverts in the roads when the when the highway department uh goes to re repair some of these roads to make sure that the uh the culverts are you know still in the proper place the right angles all the things that Engineers do all the engineering that they do so there there are many hats and many roles that this um position can fill in the select board uh chose this out of out of many things that they know that they the town needed as to being the top priority that they that they wanted to fulfill uh in the upcoming year uh to benefit the town overall uh we had a great lengthy discussion about this last evening in the finance committee and uh we did approve the the um funding for uh a town engineer um so this is a draft once again our vote would be um to uh include uh the classification which I will work on with the um Town Administrator is a full-time position he will give me the proper number or whatever that needs to get in there but our approval is mainly that we can get it included in the roster of positions with in the town of Westport Gary would you make a motion for this I don't remember if you were in favor of this last night so maybe I'm pushing the wrong button I am no I'm not in favor of the position so I'm not gonna make a okay I yeah I couldn't remember I couldn't remember okay a motion okay uh to approve it I will second the motion so I'll go through a uh roll call once again this is merely uh to include this position uh on the roster of positions for the town we um we are not indorsing the position because we don't have sufficient information um we don't know what exactly what the salary level will be uh a figure of 120,000 has been floated but that is not the final number um and the current job description in front of us is still in draft form um my preference would be to at least include it in the roster we still have opportunity as a board uh for uh salary and job description um um review so uh this does not this does not give any of that away so I'll do a roll call I'll I'll do reverse order Carrie yes Nancy I I I think I would have like to have spoken to whomever put this forward I it's a big step um I I I don't I simply don't know Cindy what can I say Okay okay then I mean you can you know you can vote either way I mean it's um um what so tell me what your qu your questions are yeah it's just it's a big commitment it's an expensive um position I'm not saying it's it's not needed um I would have liked to had like the background as to like where this came from we never had an engineer before and I was looking at the classification and the all the classifications in the bylaw I mean I'm not opposed to it uh but it's it's it's a big investment I um I mean I I don't know if I could I'm not against it I should say I'm not against it but I would have liked like more information from like how this came about um and why it's why it can't continue to be outsourced is it was it mostly because it's just we're not able to Source an engineer when we need it well some of it also had to do with continuity so when you Outsource you don't always get the same person so uh you may have to wait two weeks before someone can come on you may have to wait two months before they're available and now you may get a new engineer that started with XYZ firm who just came here from Ohio do do most towns have Engineers uh many of them do I mean this is really kind of moving in the direction of um you know one one phrase has been tossed about to have a infrastructure Department uh this is really a different name probably a 2020s name for what used to be a DPW so if you have a Department of Public Works you're GNA have an engineer on site and you're G to have your own engineer if not several engineers um you know it's um oh so it's like that money we've the money and I wish someone had been able to tell us how much money we spend on a yearly basis in engineering work so some of it comes from a from Grants that get folded into the grant money um so I think in that regard I think it's a little bit of a weak case uh this is more of a management decision on the part of the select board this is really not a Personnel Board decision about the position the select board has chosen out of their list of things that they have um High priorities for or priorities for this one went to the top of the list so as managing the town the select board has decided they would like to town engineer I don't believe it's the purview of the Personnel Board to say we don't need a town engineer that's not really our role it's our role is to determine whether or not the job description and the salary um perhaps even the candidate fits the role that's given we don't get to determine whether the job oh good because that was that was too much for me to contemplate I feel like I wasn't like fit to make that determination but otherwise as you as you've said um it's it's then it would be a yes for me but thank you for explaining um yeah I think it's it's not us to say oh we don't need an engineer okay good I that was on our shoulders and I was no that's between you know the finance committee the select board and town meeting quite frankly uh we're just there to we we are here to oversee that position this what they're looking for is our approval to put a placeholder in there so if they can fill if they get the funding to fill it uh the Personnel Board has reserved a spot for them and we will negotiate with them what the what the job should look like and what it will pay okay thank you no that's very helpful um so it would be yes for me then okay thank you um I would say yes and Garing no okay so we have H three to one uh which is fine so the the um the vote carries all right thank you you um okay I think that finally covers we had a lot of things to um cover as far as um job descriptions are concerned we have two people with us uh tonight also that would like to talk about one of the items I have on the agenda and get um forgive me for my wording but it was a general discussion about the Personnel bylaws there have been many issues and I've encountered them myself of uh issues of ambiguity and um things that perhaps contradict themselves within the bylaws and I think all of us would agree that you know we we need to start from page one someday and go through them um that was also on the list of the Town Administrator to include um this um gov HR who's doing the salary survey to give us some assistance with and I think that that that help for that is also up and coming is it going to be you know three months from now probably not but we have to live with what we have in the meantime and we can make little tweaks um here and there will it's impossible for us to do for this upcoming town meeting but certainly we can at least get the process going and get some interpretation whether we have to go to PP law to get further interpretation or not but the managers in the town have difficulty sometime trying to um uh get through and understand what some of the what what some of the laws are some of the rules are and the Personnel bylaw Nicole was the one that actually uh initially brought up she's the town accountant she was the one that actually initially brought this up to me um Tanya who was um Tanya Ryden who was with us earlier the um member of the Board of Health the chair of the Board of Health uh also mentioned to me that she wanted to meet have this discussion and that's why she requested to stay with us um further on so Nicole I'm going to um I'm just going to let you U kind of air what what some of your issues are I read through the vacation time one today and I I think I I get what they're trying to say but I want to hear what you what you have to say so this has been an ongoing problem since since I've been worked for the town um I used to be the union president so a lot of this stuff landed on my shoulders especially being in the accountants office and taking care of vacation and sick time for everyone and um you know the the vacation time the way it's listed in the Personnel bylaws is very very confusing um because it basically says that you know if you start in a certain month you get so many days of of vacation time but it's unclear as to whether the vacation time starts from day one or if it starts a year from day one because it says that all vacation time is due and payable on July 1 um so let's see I'm trying to find where that page is um so it says that all salary full-time annual and regular employees shall earn vacation time as follows if hired at July and August you get six days but the first line of this says vacation shall be calculated and available on July 1 based on the prior Year's employment so if you started say you started this July July of 2024 do you get six days or do you have to wait until July of next year to get six days I think I think it's resolved I think it's resolved Nicole and for any of you who have personal bylaws and fr it's on page 18 I think it gets resolved in the that next sentence because it says employees with one year right not let me let me finish finish employees with one year but not more than two shall be granted 12 days so if you're hired in July or August that year you only get six days that first year because now employees with one year but not more than two get 12 so how can you get six and 12 right but the thing is is so you say you're hired July 5th okay what's happened is is some people believe that I'm hired July 5th I should get six days but then if you read that and it says one year so their year is July of the following year no so they should get July 1 they should get six days no they don't get another because it says employees with one year get 12 days right so they wouldn't have a year right that's why they're saying if you hire July or August you only get six that first year you kind of get almost half of what you would get the following year so if you hired July or August you get six days that year If you hired September October you only get five days for the rest of that year come when your oneye anniversary you're going to get 12 days right but you're not going to get it on your anniversary you're G to get it on July 1 do you see do you see how confusing that that whole I understand but but I understand but I think that any employee that's hired during the course of the year does not have to wait a full year before they get vacation I think that's what says technically technically that's what this says if it's due and payable on the first and you get hired 10 days later then you're to get paid on July 1st to get vacation time on July 1st you have to wait almost a whole year no no no no it's tell you no Nicole it's saying if you're hired July or August you get six days for the year come next July and you will get 12 days right but it says they're calculated and available on July 1st based on your previous year's employment if you're not employed employed on July 1st you're employed on July 10th you don't get any vacation time until the following July 1 so see it goes both ways that that sentence really applies to below vacation shall be calulated available on July 1 how can it be calculated on July 1 if you're not hired until November so I I understand what you're hir in November you don't get anything no that's not foll July 1 you get four days yeah you get four you get four days I mean not if they're calculated on July 1 it's July 1 it's only if you're hired in July no but it says based on the prior Year's employment but you had no prior year okay you're tired so you're zero right that's what that's where the confusion everybody I understand I understand why you're conf I understand this is why why you're confused I give him I give him the time I have time when they walk in the door you know what I'm saying they hide July 10th they get six days that that is absolutely I'm not saying it's worded properly that is the intent that is the intent of that paragraph is to give people who who come in during the course of the Year some benefit of time that that's the only reason for that paragraph is to give people who come in time it's not it's not the they get dinged about 50% of the time right but for that first year they do earn vacation pay and come July one even if you were hired in January or March or whatever because you only got a few days come July one if you didn't have a a well see I know it says employees with one year if you didn't have a full year you're right I mean there's a gap in there I it has to be addressed but under no cir circumstances should someone be waiting a full year for vacation I'm not saying this is worded right you're corre you're absolutely correct this is not worded properly but the intent I think that's built in here is that people that come in during the course of the year do earn vacation time from the day that they start right but unfortunately this is where we we end up in these discussions because the intent it's is a person wrote this like 20 years ago okay how does the Union contract work so the Union contract works I mean it does say the whole it has that line with the July 1 but the way it works is six months you get five days then a year you get 10 okay but what happens on July 1 if you haven't worked there for a year you only have that you have got your five days so say you start July 10th so six months from July 10th is going to be January 10th you get five days okay you use your five days between there and June 30th on July 1 you still have you got five more days and then on your anniversary date you you'll acrew the next five where does it say anything here about anniversary date listen it does not and that's the other problem with the Union contract that I tried to change before I was not Union anymore um because that's the way it was that's the way we have always this is this is I don't want to say that's the way we've always done it but right yeah this is clearly a section that needs to be addressed um as you are well as you are well aware and there are even sections in this bylaw here that refer to you know employees under this agreement shall have the same benefits as those under the Union contract and that's why I asked you about that so yes which I thought that right we need we need to work on that I want to hear from Tanya Tanya what what do you have what how's your interpretation of this um well that's the exact the same issue as Nicole is pointing out I I think I understand Nicole's interpretation literally I believe the way it's written is the way she's interpreting it um but we have we hired people under the grant uh for the um coll collaborative South Coast Public Health collaborative I think one in August and one in September and they don't have any vacation time until July 1 that that's that is not the industry Norm no well if you what what what month did you hire them one in August and one in September so they would have gotten six days I mean if I look at this if they were hired in August they should have gotten six days between now and July 1 and the other one in September should have gotten five days I I would like that interpretation to be the one that we can follow because I don't want these staff to be penalized we thought I think Matt interpreted this um the way you're interpreting it um but literally Nicole is following the letter of the way it's written so I agree that it has to be Rewritten but is there a way to provide clarification that during your first year you get a pro-rated amount of vacation and then in your second year your second year which is either your anniversary date or your July 1 however you end up interpreting that but at least in the first year that you get a pro-rated amount of vacation I don't think there's any industry or anywhere where you have to wait a whole year to get a vacation right I mean that that's why those months and those days were written in here I mean for what other purpose would they be for if not to pr- rate people that were hired during the course of a year that's what that whole section there that says if hired July or August I don't know if you have the b in front of you but you know page 18 that was the whole purpose of that section unfortunately that first introductory sentence pushes everything back a year so that the first you're pro-rated in your second year really and not until two full years or almost two years of employment do you get the full amount I think it's it's uh poorly worded but uh I will make sure that we get an interpretation to straighten this out I mean we cannot change the words in the bylaw but we can have an interpretation we can't have we can't change the words in the bylaw um ourselves you know we would have to propose the change and have a go to toown meeting which would be you know fine it would go through the process but we certainly can get a better interpretation from KP law as to how this how this is written and and how it should be applied because right now it it is you know it it is contradictory or it's not quite clear because the way the sentences are written in the wrong places I mean to me it just doesn't yeah it was just poorly poorly uh constructed and and and poorly managed the way it was put together um and we can you know we can at least try to get some clarity uh and and address those issues we can at least make the attempt and if it has to be addressed and Rewritten we'll do that as well but we'll have to come up with some solution in the meantime Nicole before you go again did any anyone else have any other answer do you have any any uh comment on this kind of a no I agree I agree with you Cindy I I think it could stand to be better um better worded that's all um and and clearly and it's an attempt to have the first year paraded and then and the success of years you know to deal with that and that's not un common in most cbas that I've worked on um I would just I was looking at the sick time you know maybe when we talk about a review of it we could propose that it follows the sick time um which is an acrel process so um we could we could propose something like that I've seen seen it written aund different ways but I can see it's basically trying to be prated but I'm happy to work on any language if you need to clarify okay that's um that's that's great um I I I certainly can sympathize with you know if you're managing people and hiring people and they want to know what their vacation time is and it's like well maybe it's this but maybe it's you know that's difficult that that's difficult under any circumstances um Carrie did you have Gary had to leave he had another uh another appointment uh Carrie did you have anything you wanted to add to this no um I I agree I think it should be Rewritten or changed or some type of clarification okay um Nicole or Tanya did you were there any other sections that I mean I I know that we could go on and on but are there any other specific sections that you feel need to be addressed sooner rather than later um for me it was just the vacation time because it came up for two specific employees so if you can get clarification um or if you have to follow up with rewriting I will we would very much appreciate that I I will uh make that a priority um tomorrow I'll start making some uh inquiries uh to try to fix this or get or get at least get an answer yeah um I mean I've spoken to several Town administrators several Selectmen several department heads and everybody has a different interpretation that's why we a lot of times we just end up giving it and maybe it's right maybe it's not right um the other sections I I sent you um the personal bylaws with my comments oh yeah right okay sorry so I mean it's basically just a lot of just cleanup that hasn't been done and we need to get it like on the next town meeting not this one obviously cleanup job uh job titles IT director is on there twice um we do no longer have a Harbor Master per se we have marine services so we know we no longer have Housing Partnership committee that needs to come off all the right you know um when we when the union changed the sick buyback uh Denise put both of them in there so now you've got to figure it twice because people can buy back sick time whichever whichever way is more beneficial to them as a non-union person um so I I mean I gave you the comment share it with the rest of the committee take a look at it maybe talk to gov HR and as they do in the wage classification maybe they have some insight into this um the one thing that that really stuck out because you know you read the Personnel bylaws but sometimes you just don't comprehend everything in there it talks about funeral expenses for police and fire that pass on duty and it says that we we pay up to $2,000 like it says something about a a reasonable cost or something and I want to see anybody who can get buried for $2,000 right well it's just like you know the the Social Security Administration believe it or not still gives the Widow uh of a social security recipient $255 for funeral expenses I know it's it's it's is that crazy I know this says reasonable expenses not to exceed $2,000 I mean okay but and and to be honest with you that's in the bylaws yeah where is it in the budget I mean that's for another day but we don't have line item anywhere for funeral well I think I think seel the select board would probably just take it out of their professional professional expenses account or something but or we could take it out of the reserve fund but right but I mean there's a there's a few things something that came up this year was clothing allowance um we have some of our non-un employeers that get clothing allowance but it's not specifically written in the bylaws and they're not part of a Union contract so it's it's a of just cleaning up stuff that I mean the personel bylaws probably were originally written back in you know who knows when a long time ago so it's just you got to bring them up to the to the you know 2020s you know um we're gonna we're gonna try we're gonna try Nicole we've got at least we're we're finally taking steps to make this a little bit more professional and we're going to try to tighten up and button up a lot of the uh a lot of those issues so um put 4,000 articles like the zoning board does you know on on the town meeting right to clean it up right right and all you have to do is put them at the end when they're only about six people left in the audience right right so um well certainly the vacation one is one that we'll pay attention to and uh I'll take a look at some of these uh others and um I will um uh I'll be in touch uh once I once I can get a better answer sounds good thank you very much okay well thank you very much um okay um I think that was the oh we have some minutes right Jess do we have minutes yes um 11024 okay I know that those were circulated at some point somewhere um would anyone like to make a motion to approve the minutes of January 10th please a motion to approve the minutes of January 10th 2024 uh I'll second that um Gary is no longer with us um this needs to be a unanimous vot even when we're three members we need any votes uh need to be unanimous when we're down to three members so um um Carrie your vote Yes to approve the minutes uh Cindy Brown I uh Nancy yes thank you okay so we have unanimous vote to approve the minutes uh Jess did I miss anything uh the update on the wage and classif yeah okay so yeah that's very important sorry the big one um unfortunately don't have a real update for you because if I had I would have provided you with the documentation um we're getting very close I mean the Town Administrator and the P the coordinator of this have been exchanging a lot of information some of it's coming down to um little quirky things about uh incentive pay that gets included in one town and they're trying to strip it all away so that we're looking at at base pays for most places with a way to uh wait some of the incentive packages that they have many of the incentive packages involve degrees so it's pretty easy to uh to give them a waiting um so they're down to you know little nitty-gritty things I have not um I was involved in the early on process um they have too many things that go back and forth on little um little details so I haven't been as involved in the last couple of weeks as I was earlier so we're getting closer and closer I'm willing to say that probably within 30 days or so we will have the final uh package uh the final draft form um of what that's going to look like uh I I don't even have a sense of like wow boy you know some things stick out I really don't um all I'm merely telling you is that it is progressing and it's really it's near completion and as soon as we have even something that I can share uh I'll be happy to share um for a lot of reasons you know the the Town Administrator really doesn't want the drafts to be uh circulated until they've all been reviewed and he can sign off on on what the final content is so um see so yeah we don't really have even draft forms that I can share so uh it's getting there and I think it's going to be very interesting and exciting for us to be able to read and go through to see where we are this is an independent party that is now reviewed um you know the salary classifications for um uh this includes police and fire uh and all uh all types of uh positions all throughout the town so he they were given a roster of uh employees they interviewed uh as many employees as were willing to respond uh they were very thorough in their examination of um of what the duties were they asked the each each person that responded uh you know something about their job and a little bit about their job description so I think that they've been able to make a very good assessment of um where we stand between them so I'm going to be very excited to see where we where we stand if you know maybe we're okay maybe we're low maybe we're High uh I don't know but this is an independent party um that did the work and so um I think that that will at least give us a framework going forward as to how we can approach some of these things from a funding standpoint from a benefit standpoint and whatnot so uh it will be a good thing and I think we're probably we're probably about 30 days away from doing this so that's my update I'm sorry I couldn't give you you know the platter with a little bit more meat on it but all I can give you is the sample that um it's coming that's good but that's good news we're almost there we're almost there yeah be excited to see it all finally when when they when they do propose it what sort of format will the meeting be sending will we get something like a presentation or will be a report that we'll have to digest um I I would say we will probably get the report first it it it can be either way either we get the report and look through it and formulate questions and then uh meet with them as we had met with them in the past or we can get it at the same time so really it's our call as to how uh we would like to um how we would like to do that I mean do you think Nancy you would have a preference as to whether you want the report and formulate questions and then meet you want I think so I think um I think my preference would be to get the report first circulated amongst us and then we convene to go through it and tease out some sort of High Point questions we'd like to maybe ask them we can be organized about our time with them and then you know delve through I'm sure they'll be a lot to go through so I mean that's what I would prefer I think we're gonna need time amongst ourselves to agree I think that's a good approach right Carrie agrees as well so I think that is a good approach uh so I will keep that in mind as the um delivery date becomes uh closer uh when I can deliver it to you and suggest to them that we can meet and then set up a time uh that's suitable for everyone to um discuss it with them uh in detail Okay I uh I I thank you all for your Indulgence in the time I know this is a was a long meeting much longer than we usually have we had a lot to cover uh tonight I've got some loose ends that I've got to follow up on with some a couple of these boards and I'll be back to you we may need a a short meeting in a month or so I'm not even sure but I'll be back to you but uh I'll entertain a motion to adjourn um I'll second it okay uh so uh all those in favor I even for this I have to do a roll call Carrie yes I Nancy yes and Cindy uh yes I'll let you all go it's uh 8:37 we are thank you Cindy