Employee Forum Meeting

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

9:00a.m. Library Meeting Room

 

Members Present:         Amy Harvey, George Long, Leanne Mikels, Brigid Cox, Kelly Stokes, Bernard Leach, Than Austin, Deborah Squires, Mary Jean Williams, Rodney Watson, Mike Ward, Mona Malik, Ann Brown, Amy Edwards, Iris Schwintzer, Felix Bloch, Maggie Burnett, Susie Whaley, Traval Watkins, Lisa Edwards, Jeff Clark, Chelsea Laws

 

Ex-officio present: Pam Eastwood, Director of Human Resources, and Lindsay Wallace, Employee Relations and Training Officer.

 

Cal Horton, Town Manager, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and congratulated members on being elected to represent their departments.  He explained that the Employee Forum was formed as a result of a work environment assessment done by McKoy and Associates Management Consultants in 2001.  He asked the group to remember and be guided by the Town of Chapel Hill philosophy of “treating people with dignity and respect” and “providing fair effective, efficient and fast public service”.

 

Pam Eastwood, Human Resources Director, facilitated the meeting. 

Lindsay Wallace, Employee Relations and Training Coordinator took minutes.

 

Eleven of the members of this first Forum will serve a one year term. Other members will serve for two years.  The one-year members (by group consensus) are:

 

Rodney Watson                           Fire

George Long                               Housing

Brigid Cox                                   Library

Bernard Leach                             Parks & Rec

Jeff Clark                                     Police

Leanne Mikels                             Police

Maggie Burnett                            Public Works

Traval Watkins                             Public Works

Maggie Brown                             Transportation

Amy Edwards                              Transportation

Iris Schwintzer                              Transportation

 

The group decided to defer the election of officers until a later meeting, as they felt they did not know each other well enough at this point in time to elect leadership.

 

The group had a lively discussion resulting in the following list of issues and goals which they would like to address. These are not listed in priority order but rather as they were discussed. Before the next meeting, the group members will consider relative priority rankings and be prepared to discuss this at an upcoming meeting. 

 

Issues and Goals

1. Look for ways to improve communication at all levels. Begin by asking employees for input.

 

2. Look for ways to improve and expand Promotional opportunity/career development for Town employees.

 

3. Think about an array of ways of recognizing the value of each person and each job within the Town.

 

4. Work on ways to clarify rules and policies in each department (and to assure their  consistency with Town policies.) and share this information with employees.

 

5. Seek out ways of reducing differences in perception between Town departments and erasing attitudes of superiority, to work toward a more team-oriented culture.

 

6. Consider ways to help Town employees live in Town, use the Transit system and other services.

 

7. Consider ways to address staffing levels needed in each Town department.

 

8. Study methods to assure that best qualified people are hired and promoted.

 

9. Look at reasons why people leave, with focus on pay and reasons other than pay.

 

10. Find ways to help employees understand their benefits programs and how to use them – Look for improvements which can be made in the benefits programs.

 

11. Encourage more “lunch and learn” sessions and other options which will make learning available to all employees regardless of work schedule or shift.

 

12. Ask Human Resources to find ways to improve the timeliness of the hiring process.

 

13. Study the current performance evaluation process  for improvement and assurance of  equal treatment by supervisors.

 

14. Seek out ways to increase involvement and communications between council members and employees, for greater mutual understanding.

 

15. Seek out ways to provide open communication at all levels without retaliation  throughout the Town.

 

16. Study ways to provide discounts for Town employees for use of Town Services.

 

 

The Forum will meet bi-weekly.  The next meeting will be Wednesday, February 26 in the Library Meeting Room at 9:00a.m.  The meeting will last 1.5 hours.

 

At the next meeting:

 

¨      The goals and issues identified above will be discussed and prioritized

¨      The role and duties of the elected officers for the group will be discussed.