Employee Forum Minutes
April 14, 2005
Public Works Break Room
Members Present: Beth Dean, Ann Brown, Maggie Burnett, Charles Bynum, Amy Harvey, Dorice Johnson, Chelsea Laws, Will Quick, Ceberettia Hinton, Deborah Squires, Jackie Thompson, Jerry Neville, Kristi McClellan
Absent: Jon Bell, Lee Harris, Chris Blue, Donnie Rhoads, Terry Gearhart, Norman Clark, Wes Tilghman, Wendy Walsh, Traval Watkins
Guest: Anissa Graham-Davis
Opened: 9:00 am
• Additional note to March minutes. The Payroll Tech. weekly hours may not be increased to 34 hours as recommended.
Follow up on March Issues:
•Chelsea followed up with Catherine Lazorko concerning the February issue of Town Talk. Chelsea with be submitting lengthier information to Catherine concerning the Forum. Catherine will distill the information to fit into the space in which she has for our group.
•Supplemental Insurance – at this time the supplemental insurance is in the process of being set up. However the employees may pay out of pocket instead of having it automatically drafted from payroll. More on this is to follow.
•Town ID tags – the current Town seal has been revised and is ready to be placed onto the Town ID tags. HR can now move forward on this. Details of when an employee can go have the ID made will be shortly forth coming. A $2 charge to each department per employee will be made by Parks and Rec. The employee will return with a receipt to give to a representative of each department. A list of representative is still being compiled at this time. The representative will inform a group of their employees when their allotted time to have the ID tags to be made has been arranged. If an employee already has an ID tag a new one will need to be made with the new Town seal. There is no expiration date on these ID tags. When the employee leaves the Town they will turn in their tag at that time.
•An Employee Appreciation Luncheon will be occurring in June, to be done by Parks and Rec. Parks and Rec. may be asking for assistance from other department when the lunch occurs.
•HR will have a Health Fair on Friday August 19, 2005. HR will also be requesting assistance from other departments. More information to follow on this.
•Spanish classes were discussed once again. It has been concluded that the following departments would benefit the most from having some one that speaks Spanish. They are Public Works, Inspection, Library, Finance and Transportation. This is based on the frequent contact with Hispanic citizens or employees. These departments would utilize Spanish on a regular basis.
•Sick to Sick was also brought up again as well. Will is currently checking into this further with other municipalities to see what their policies are on this issue.
•Employee Discount Program at this time is not finalized. A member noted that they were not comfortable with this proposal because this could present to be a potential problem if an employee did not receive a discount they thought they should, or if a participant decided to rescind the offer of services. The work group is willing to draft the proposal for an Employee Discount Program with the provision that if an employee does not act appropriately they will be disciplined. And to include language that services can be rescinded at any time, and proof of employment (ID tag) must be provided to participate in the program. Orange and Durham County both have a program and have had great success with them. The Benefits work group is still working on this proposal.
New Items:
•It has been recommended that the Forum attend the Wednesday May 18, 2005 Budget Public Hearing. The forum would like to encourage the Council to support the Manager’s recommendations, which hopefully will include pay raises, as well as, maintaining/improving current health benefits. Please also encourage other employees to show their support by attending the May 18 meeting, as well. The Manager’s recommended budget should be will be available online by Friday, May 6, at /agendas/agendas2005.htm listed on the May 9, agenda (copies are also available for viewing at the Chapel Hill Public Library and in the Town Clerk’s office on May 6). A special Forum meeting has been scheduled for Thursday May 5, 2005, to discuss the recommended budget and the BRAC recommendations. Copies of the BRAC reports are available on the Town’s website at /agendas/ca050411/AgendaFaceSheet.htm Items 6a and 6b. Look for further information from Anissa Graham-Davis, HR, prior to the recommended budget on recommendations from the HR department. Please read these documents, get feedback from other employees, and be ready to have a discussion at the May 5 meeting.
•The Manager asked HR to review health insurance. According to the Maximus report it is not typical for a municipality to pay for all of an employees’ insurance. HR disagrees with this and is in the process of gathering data to prove other wise. HR would like the forum representatives to get feedback from their departmental coworkers on how they would feel if the current Emergency Room visit went from $75 to $100? Also how would they feel if Hospital Admission went from a $0 deductible to a $200 deductible? These changes are minor compared to the changes that Maximus and the Citizen’s Subcommittee have proposed. These minor changes would keep premiums the Town pays for each employee from increasing as much as they are projected.
If the Town should choose to pay for only part of employees insurance a change in the current ordinance would be necessary. At this time the Town pays for 100% of employees insurance and 50% for family members.
Town Talk:
The items to be submitted for May Town Talk concern the upcoming Budget Public Hearing on May 18 and the proposal being sent to the Manager regarding Supplemental Insurance and Computer Purchase by Payroll Deduction benefits. Chelsea will have something to Catherine before the dead line.
Agenda Items for May:
On May 5, a special meeting of the Forum has been called to discuss and prepare a presentation for the Council’s May 18 Budget Public Hearing. We will be meeting in the Police Dept. Classroom at 9am on May 5, 2005. If additional time is need to continue preparing for the Budget Public Hearing then this will be the main discussion topic for our regularly scheduled meeting on May 12 to be held at the Library.
Adjourned: 11:10