Employee Forum Minutes

September 11, 2003

Hargraves Community Center Meeting Room

 

Members Present:  Than Austin, Felix Bloch, Ann Brown, Maggie Burnett, Jeff Clark, Norman Clark, Amy Edwards, Lisa Edwards, Amy Harvey, Lois Jean Houpe, Bernard Leach, George Long, Leanne Mikles, Iris Schwintzer, Kelly Stokes, Deborah Squires, Travel Watkins, Susie Whaley, Mary Jean Williams

 

Members Absent:  Chelsea Laws, Mona Nazir, David Sasser

     

·   Welcome of new members Lois Jean Houpe with the Library and Norman Clark with the Fire Department.  Other members introduced themselves.

·    Minutes approved from 8/14/03 meeting

·     Agreement of items of discussion for today

Additional items:  include Employee Appreciation Day in continued discussion of employee appreciation.  Pam Eastwood would like feedback from EF before the EAD committee plans for 2004.

Move discussion of the elections process to the last item

       ·    Amy Harvey gave a report on 9/10/03 meeting with the Town Manager:

            About half of the EF members were present, and the meeting went well. Amy handed out a brief summary of the meeting which included the following:

 (Request Follow-up - presented in bold/italics)

Ø Request Proposal for Spanish Instruction - Presented, Cal to follow-up

Ø Request Proposal for AFLAC representative -- Presented, Cal to follow-up with Pam

Ø Request Proposal for Lunch and Learn Program - EF Education WG to revise and resubmit

Ø Request Proposal for Health Fair -- Presented, Cal to follow-up with Pam

Ø Develop a Comprehensive Employee Wellness Program - Not specifically addressed

Ø Do we know if the wellness person will be replaced? - No, Need to have OSHA person at this time, but may be able to facilitate some of the activities thru other programs

Ø Departments need to have staff meetings -Cal has relayed to Dept Heads, and will continue to remind on a regular basis

Ø Results of Hiring Process Survey -Cal will continue to work with Pam, EF to relay thoughts to Pam

Ø Need for Staff Support -Cal to try to find a space for a CPU

Ø Attendance -recruitment -HR to help with election process, EF to follow-up w/members that are frequently absent and replace as necessary, Cal to help as necessary

Ø Employee Appreciation - EF Communication WG to work on request

Ø HR-Question how treated on the job. Who to talk to? Perception that the resource is not available - Anissa is the person to talk to when she gets back, Pam is person to talk to until Anissa returns, if no resolution, then talk to Sonna, Flo, or Cal

Ø Need Diversity Training- Including Spanish - Cal to follow-up

Ø Feedback on CIGNA Insurance - Information item

§         Cal will have a follow up report for EF by our next regular meeting in October

§         Cal was pleased that the issue with paychecks had been taken care of as a result of issues raised at Public Works.

§         Felix requested that the items discussed be posted on the EF web page with an explanation of what was brought up. Amy has extensive notes from the meeting and will put them together to go out with the meeting minutes. Also, need to ask IT for a report on how many ‘Hits’ the web pages have had.

§         Felix requested a CPU for use by the EF, space for meeting to provide a physical presence of the EF.

§         Mary Jean raised the issue regarding diversity training for all employees.  The town manager wanted suggestions on how to accomplish this.  Mary Jean suggested each workgroup needs to discuss this since it affects everyone town wide. Felix recommended each WG chairperson focus on how we recognize diversity, what diversity means, how we can promote diversity.

·    Employee Appreciation:

Representatives were to discuss employee appreciation with people in their departments. Amy Edwards said that she polled employees in the Transportation Department and they wanted to see the EAD continue.  They were okay with the food but some would like to see the cookout on a Saturday comeback so they can bring their families and have more time to spend at the event because it is hard for most Transportation Employees to get there. Employees at the Library also have a hard time getting to the event. Police department says to leave it weekdays.  Also consider that many employees work on the weekend and have family obligations on the weekend, thus limiting their ability to attend on the weekend.  Or that many employees live outside of the town limits and are not inclined to travel back to town for a weekend event. It was suggested that the EAD alternate the event between a weekday and weekend event. If it is cost prohibitive to alternate every year, then maybe every two or three years.  Representatives that did not poll coworkers need to find out how they feel about the event and discuss it at the next meeting.  Also any suggestions for boosting employee morale can be discussed at that time as well.  Inspections and Information Technology need to be contacted.

 

 

·   Clarification of the Disciplinary Action Process:

The Policy WG wanted to have better understanding of the process leading to Disciplinary Action.  The way the policy is written the final written warning comes after the disciplinary action step of suspension, and they feel a final written warning should come before any disciplinary action. The Policy Work Group would like to see a more objective policy instead of the subjective policy where each Department head can decide at what point actions are to be made. Felix suggested the Policy WG put something in writing and possibly meet with Pam Eastwood and then bring a draft back to the EF either at the October or November meeting.

·    Elections Process: 

The Elections WG met twice to discuss the process for electing new EF members.  The Elections Procedure document was a combination of the UNC EF Guidelines and documents from the Town of Chapel Hill’s first EF election. The EF went through the draft procedure to make revisions.

Regarding the questions posed to EF members:

-Police Dept. members said there are 2 sets of day/night shifts so one representative from each and one from Administration is adequate.  The Fire department has 3 shifts but Norman Clark felt that it would be easier to attend on a day off because of the work schedule. He will consult with co-workers and get back to the Elections WG.

-Transportation employees will decide by vote which divisions represent their department.

-Consecutive terms; allow up to 3 consecutive 2 year terms determined by annual vote.

-It will be left up to representatives to get an alternate when they are unable to attend meetings.

It was suggested that the Elections work group form each year in July to begin work for the annual election and that it be made up of at least 4 EF members.

Term expirations were changed to 2-odd year and 2-even year for Transportation Dept. and Planning was changed to odd year to keep the rotation even at 11 people for each year.  All other departments are balanced at this time.