Meeting Minutes -List of Topics to Discuss with the Manager
Attendance: Felix Bloch, Maggie Brown, Lisa Edwards, Terry Gearheart, Amy Harvey, Cal Horton, Chelsea Laws, Iris Schwintzer, Deborah Squires, Traval Watkins, and Mary Jean Williams.
· Deborah presented the request for Spanish instruction-
o Difficulty in meeting the public
o Network of employees that have Spanish background
§ The Town needs to have a list of employees with Spanish background and their availability
§ Finance-Jim able to translate
o have done Spanish classes in past in different depts.
§ Felix-great need in transit
o Transit working on getting Spanish on phone, signs, published documents in Spanish – same in Police Dept
o Need to figure out town-wide approach
§ Have some info available to present to someone
§ Have basic skills to point to proficient person
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§ Felix- ask for evening classes, and availability of spouse attendance.
· Need for diversity training
o Diversity valuable to Town of Chapel Hill-may need to have someone come show us how to see the diversity (value), similar to work done with Henry McCoy- with focus on EF reps to be able to get info out
§ How show commitment to diversity
§ Diversity training- needs to be continued instead of starting at the beginning every time- need a progressive approach
§ EF need to make a more specific request- develop options- part of regular work
· Deborah presented the request for an AFLAC representative
o Pam is in the process of starting work, postponed due to work load
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· Deborah presented the request for continued Lunch and Learn series
o CIGNA classes
o Can be built into HR workload
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Need to think about schedules – Fire, Police,
Transit, all have schedules typically different than the normal
o 401K transition from BB&T to Prudential- and financial info in general
§ Flexible spending
§ Employee orientations/ other specific times
§ Transit – may not understand why info important, time is a major issue, lot of these things need to be progressive learning
§ Like EAD- Department Heads need to be on board to push the ideas and give time, etc.
o EF Educ. Work Group flush out areas worth considering and suggest times
· Deborah presented the request for a return of a Town Health fair
o It is difficult for many employees to get to booths and EAD activities
o
Do at site other than
o Ask Pam to work on and get back to us.
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o Felix-related an eye exam experience-his new card not available at time of service- he worked with HR to resolve
o Mary Jean-related a billing error that took 8 months-she thought that they had a lot of turnover which was why customer service dropped
o Will we consider different insurance companies? Nationwide trend is such that insurance companies are dividing up the area which limits the number of choices.
· Will the Town be rehiring a wellness person? No
o Got behind with legal responsibilities with OSHA
§ higher injury rate,
§ not filing forms
o Still need to focus on safety and training
o Later hope to do wellness activities
§ Sitting long periods –need to be addressed by safety officer
§ Working on filling the position
o Is there an exercise room expected at the new TOC? At this present time the transit plans reflect exercise equipment still in.
§ Council challenged staff to lower total cost of TOC project
§ Transit 90 % funded- 80% federal funds, 10 % State funds, may be available
§ But no fed or State funds for Public Works part of the TOC project
§ Will let Council know consequences of cuts
o Nov 4 bond referendum planned for- Library expansion, sidewalks, open space, greenways, and traffic signal improvements.
o May also try to do Certificates of Participation-which do not have to have a vote, but still have to be paid.
o Town employees can not participate in bond process on “Town time”
§ Can not use town resources
§ Can give your opinion-but can not wear buttons, etc.
· Departments need to have staff meetings
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o Transit-has started to put into place plan of meeting with different levels of staff
· Results of Hiring process survey
o Sent questionnaire-Transit, Fire maybe Police Dept
§ Minimal response because of lack of results seen from doing surveys
§ People are not sure what the steps are and the time frame of the process
o HR revamping process-getting ready to put in writing- get the Dept Head to review, then open review to all employees- purpose to speed up process
o EF to work with Pam to expand on ideas of what is needed to improve process
§ Promised full-time positions-but typically not happen
· Typically start as contract employee, then move to part-time position, then move to full-time positions
§ In past have used oral communications, which has lead to erroneous perceptions of expectations
· Cal-talked to employee in that particular example-they fairly received info-but need to be carefully relay info
o Now working on written materials and a check list that people can receive and sign-off on to know that the expectations are clear on both sides
· Need for Staff Support
o Will need from HR-for election process
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o Mona has setup webpage to aide in communication
o Need place for EF located so that we have a presence- a place that we can work out of and employees can contact us.
§ Limited access to phone, computer to be able to do work, getting communications
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o IT working on speed of internet and added computer to transit
· Attendance-recruitment
o Long vacancy in Library and Fire Departments – now found
o Hope that election procedure will improve problems of vacancies
o Reasonable to ask intention of EF member if absences are many- may need to find a replacement
· Employee Appreciation
o Long term employees are leaving/retiring-
§ trying to find additional ways to show appreciation-
§ ways to keep new employees
o Disparity across the depts.- will come up with request (working on morale)
· HR-Question how treated on the job. Who to talk to? Perception that the resource is not available.
o who is employee advocate?
§ Anissa is this person. go to Pam until she is back, then if that doesn’t answer the question then seek assistance from Sonna, Flo or Cal
§ HR department is starting to get reorganized and able to run more smoothly
· Sonna is leaving in December to go to school to teach English as a Second language to Spanish students (could be a future resource)
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o EF is having an impact-
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Will continue to make more things happen as ti
Meeting Summary