Employee Forum Minutes

June 9, 2005

HR Training Room

Members Present: Amy Harvey, Ann Brown, Beth Dean, Chelsea Laws, Deborah Squires, Dorice Johnson, Norman Clark, Terry Gearhart, Traval Watkins, Wendy Walsh, Will Quick.

Absent: Ceberettia Hinton, Charles Bynum, Chris Blue, Donnie Rhoads, Jackie Thompson, Jerry Neville, Jonathan Bell, Kristi McClellan, Lee Harris, Maggie Burnett, Wes Tilghman.

Guests: Lisa Edwards, Human Resources, Catherine Lazorko, Manager’s Office

Opened: 9:05 am

Minutes approved with minor corrections. The Employee forum is to remain neutral on the bi-weekly pay proposal. The original minutes stated that the Forum did not support the bi-weekly pay proposal.

Town Talk Newsletter:

Catherine Lazorko, editor of Town Talk and Town Information Officer attended the Forum meeting to discuss what type of information and in what format she would need from the Forum in order to publish information the Forum would like to convey to employees.

The ideas discussed were as follows:

• Come up with a standard format. The format may include a statement that defines the purpose of the Forum.
• Have a bullet list of topics.
• Suggested that submission types be quarterly for example.

1. Alternate articles with listing of reps.

2. Have a year end articles with the Chair of the Forum describing goals and accomplishments.

3. Have a place for announcements.

• Submissions must be “newsworthy.”

Even if a new format is established, the submission is not guaranteed to be published. It will depend on what space is available each month in the publication.

New Items:

On June 15^th at 5pm there will be a Budget Work session. In this meeting the Council will be discussing employee raises. The public will not be able to speak, but it has been suggested that employees to be present. It may show the Council that the employees are interested in their decisions and may assist in getting raises approved. The Forum has agreed not to make any more presentations to the Council regarding this matter. However, if the Council decides against raises, the Forum may draft a letter following the meeting expressing the concerns of the employees.

The Chair of the Forum thanks everyone for attending the Council meeting last month where we were publicly able to express our concerns and opinions regarding pay raises. He also encourages the Forum to attend the June 15^th meeting, and asks that members encourage all employees to attend.

Fitness Activities:

Last month, the topic of having paid time allotted to all employees for fitness activities was brought to the Forum. Firefighters and Police Officers have this allotted time in their schedules so the suggestion was made to propose having this for all employees.

The Forum discussed the fact that Fire and Police have 24 and 12 hour shifts where it is much easier to schedule this time. Also, it is a necessity for these employees to stay fit in order to perform their duties. It was also brought to the group’s attention that these employees still have to be available to answer a call during the fitness time, and it is not necessarily guaranteed that they will always have the time. The Forum agreed that it is not feasible to expect that a person who works 7.5 hours per day should have an hour allotted for fitness time per shift.

There are programs in place for fitness activity for all employees. The Transit department has a walking/fitness group. There is also a Healthy Balance team that meets monthly to come up with ideas and activities to promote employee fitness.

The topic was passed on to the Benefits work group to research what other municipalities are doing, and to find out what is already in place with the Town.

Work Group Summaries:

• Benefits:

Discussed discount program. Still contacting other municipalities to find out what they are offering to employees. Still waiting on ID badges before making a proposal

• Education:

Planning to meet with HR in the month of July to discuss Spanish Classes, Diversity/Sensitivity Training, Training for Supervisors on Performance Reviews.

• Communication:

Also discussed Diversity Training. Representative from this work group will attend the meeting with HR and Education group. Discussed Dell Computer purchase plan. Member will contact Dell to find out what they have to offer employees now. Proposal will be written and group will make an appointment with the Manager to present proposal.

• Policy:

Discussed shared leave proposal. Will research what other municipalities (Guilford, Greensboro, Durham County and City) are doing for donating sick time to co-workers. Also discussed allowing new employees to transfer their sick time from other state, county or government job. Proposal will reflect what comes of the research.

Agenda Items for July:

• Organize this years computer loan program
• Selection of four members to work on Employee Forum election process in December.

Adjourned: 11:05