Employee Forum Minutes

May 8, 2003

Police Headquarters Meeting Room

 

Members Present:  Than Austin, Felix Bloch, Jeff Clark, Amy Edwards, Lisa Edwards, Amy Harvey, Bernard Leach,  Leanne Mikels,  Mona Nazir, Iris Schwintzer, Kelly Stokes, Susie Whaley, Mary Jean Williams

 

Members Absent:   Ann Brown, Maggie Burnett, Brigid Cox, Chelsea Laws, George Long, David Sasser, Deborah Squires, Travel Watkins, Rodney Watson

 

 

Ex-officio members present:   Pam Eastwood; Human Resources, Lindsay Wallace; Human Resources

 

• Minutes from the 4/24/03 meeting were approved
• Additional agenda items for discussion were: 
• Communication with the Town Manager
• What does the term “value diversity” mean?
• Handling issues presented to EF members by fellow employees

 

• Alternates for departments with only one EF representative was discussed; Pam Eastwood said that she would speak with department  directors and would get back to us; Susie Whaley will send list of absences to Mary Jean Williams and she will contact members that have had frequent absences This topic to be discussed at the next meeting
• Confirmation of sites for EF meetings :  June-  at Public Works in new break room behind the Field Operations building, July- at Public Works, September- at Hargraves Community Center, October- Kelly Stokes will confirm later, other hosting departments will be contacted by the EF secretary
• Communication with the town manager was discussed at length; there is a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 14 at 9:00 a.m., with a two hour time frame blocked, if needed, with Cal Horton; the meeting place will be determined when members confirm they will be in attendance, the meeting is open to the entire EF (secretary will correspond with absent members regarding meeting); it was decided that a written record of the meeting would facilitate follow up (attached)   
• Discussion of the term “value diversity” will be on the agenda for the next meeting 

• Discussion of handling issues presented to EF members by fellow employees; it was suggested that the issues could be sent to the secretary and added to the agenda of an upcoming meeting, and a form could be designed that would be filled out by the person submitting the issue could be used to communicate to the EF; It is important that the EF member let the employee know that the issue, suggestion was brought to the attention of the Forum and any results also be specifically relayed to the employee

• New issues that were brought forward were:

-Training opportunities are not being offered equally throughout departments

-Does the town pay shift differential (HR confirmed that it does not exist at this time)

• Work groups meet  briefly and reported the following:

 

Communications/Employee Relations

Ø       Mona Nazir is working on setting up web page for the EF, it will be accessed from the town’s internal website

Ø       Polled EF members asking if their departments/divisions have regularly scheduled staff meetings for all personnel; the following departments do not:  Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology, Transit

Ø       Will look at the results from diversity study to see if there is any relevant information to our WG

 

 

Education/Training

Ø       Plan to work on developing a survey between now and the next meeting

Ø       Work on trying to setup “survival” Spanish class and fun activities

Ø       Next work group meeting start to discuss the new items that were given to us at the last two meetings

§         Evaluation process

§         Work force sensitivity training

§         Training opportunities within departments

   

Promotion/Hiring

Ø       Prioritized issues

Ø       Planned a questionnaire for most recent town employees that will solicit their views on the  town’s hiring procedures

 

Benefits

Ø       Discussed ideas for potential additional benefits; i.e. discounts for employees and their dependants using Parks and Recreation facilities and programs; home buying assistance program; and transportation related benefits

Ø       WG members will review our current benefits package and look at other municipalities home buying assistance programs

           

 

Town Policies

Ø       Examined the holiday pay policy and found no discrepancies between the Town Policy and individual departmental policies