Employee Forum Minutes

September 9, 2004

Public Library Conference Room

Members Present: Than Austin, Chris Blue, Ann Brown, Maggie Burnett, Charles Bynum, Lisa Edwards, Dorice Johnson, Mona Nazir, Will Quick, Iris Schwintzer, Deborah Squires, Wes Tilghman, Traval Watkins, Maryjean Williams

Members Absent: Jon Bell, Felix Bloch, Amy Harvey, Norman Clark, Kelly Stokes, Jackie Thompson, Susie Whaley

•The minutes from the Aug. 12, 2004 meeting were approved.

•Status report for new Public Works Director: Candidates will interview with employee group, citizen committee, work group and Department Heads.

•Than collected suggestions from Employee Forum representatives for a list of ideas for supplemental insurance. The list consists of the following:

Additional life insurance coverage – a higher ceiling

Cancer coverage – additional from health insurance

Long term medical care

Supplemental long term disability

Specific health event insurance

Reduced rate homeowners and car insurance

We requested that Anissa contact the Insurance Representative to meet with us at the October meeting to go over this list and present our options. It was also requested that Anissa update the benefits list.

•TOWNtalk – the Town newsletter made its debut in September. The newsletter was received very well. The representatives were asked if they were aware of their department representative to give Catherine the information from their department. Forum members indicated they did not know. On the last page of the newsletter Catherine has listed deadline dates for the next issue for reference. At the end of every meeting, the Forum will submit ideas through the Communication work group for a brief article to go into the TOWNtalk. The web page address and encouragement for employees to bring issues to their forum representatives will be in each month. Ideas for October’s newsletter were information on the upcoming representative election for new members.

• The following members volunteered for the election work group: Maryjean William, Will Quick and Jackie Thompson. The work group members will meet soon to organize the election process with HR.

The following departments will be electing new member to the forum:

Administration

Engineering

Finance

Fire – 1 person

Inspections

Police – 1 person

Public Works – 1 person

Transportation – 1 person

More on this topic will be covered in October.

•New Hire Biweekly Payroll was a new issue discussed. The new procedure for all new hires to be paid bi-weekly was somewhat unclear, as well at the effective start date, and the reason. The HR forum representative was not present at this meeting to answer any of our questions. The documentation for this policy is absent compared to policies of the past. The main concern for this issue is that current weekly paid employees will be required to become biweekly payroll at some future time. This could present a financial hardship for many employees who are in the lower pay range. These employees are accustomed to being paid weekly to meet their financial requirements. The Forum feels that weekly paychecks are a benefit that no other large employer within the Chapel Hill area offers. This benefit helps in keeping with the “Town’s” philosophy that both citizens and employees are important. The idea that the Town of Chapel Hill is a unique character and not part of a large conglomerate may be lost with a monetary conversion for existing employees.

•The Dell ECP2 (Employee Computer Purchase Program) was also discussed. Based on the great interest from the computer lottery 45 employees submitted their names to their representatives for this drawing. With this type of interest in getting computers in their homes, the Forum feels that this program would be an opportunity to assist employees in achieving this goal. Dell is currently offers a discount purchase program such that an employee may purchase a computer with a 1-2 year warranty package and receive a 5% discount. It the employee chooses a 3-4 year warranty package they receive a 10% discount. The ECPP2 will allow an employee to purchase a computer with payroll deduction payments. There would be no credit check and there would be no interest for 12 months. If the Town partnered with Dell in this program it would create more work for Finance. The question was raised if MUNIS could accommodate this action. This topic will also be brought back to the Forum possibly next month. Mona will be in touch with a Dell representative to answer some Forum questions. She will report back to the group.

•The meeting adjourned at 11:00.