Membership

 

All members of the Employee Forum will be full-time or part-time regular employees who have completed the probationary requirements and have 12 months continuous service with the Town prior to being nominated. Terms of office will be two years and will be staggered so that approximately one-half of the members are elected each year. For the first election, one half of the representatives will serve a one year term. Department heads may not be elected to the Employee Forum.

 

Each department will be represented. There will be one member for 50 or fewer employees, 2 members for

     between 51 and 100 employees, 3 members for between 101 and 150 employees and 4 members for between

151 and 200 employees. Departments with 1 representative will alternate between election of supervisory and non-supervisory employees. Departments with more than 1 representative will include members that are supervisory and non-supervisory.

 

Representation will be as follows:

Administration                                      1

(Legal, Clerk’s Office, Manager)

Engineering                                           1

Finance                                                 1

Fire                                                      2

Housing                                                1

Human Resources                                  1

Information Technology                          1

Inspections                                            1

Library                                                  1

Parks and Recreation                             1

Planning                                                1

Police                                                   3

Public Works                                         3

Transportation                                      4

 

Total                                                    22

Members of the Employee Forum engaged in regularly scheduled Forum activities will report time spent as work time. Supervisors and managers shall support participation, including necessary release time for Forum activities and committee meetings.

 

Meetings

 

Meetings shall be held monthly. Only Forum members will be allowed to vote on the issues discussed at the Forum meetings. The Forum may establish committees and these committees will meet in addition to the regular monthly meetings. Forum representatives will conduct Forum business within a reasonable number of work hours. All employees are encouraged to participate in Forum activities with the following provision. Attendance and participation by employees other than representatives in the Forum’s monthly meetings is on a volunteer basis, is not reported as work time, and must not conflict with work assignments.

 

Nominations and Elections

 

The Human Resources Department will provide staff support for the nomination and selection process for the original Employee Forum. Thereafter the nomination and selection process will be supported by a Governance Committee established by the Forum.

 

A nomination form will be sent to each regular Town employee and each employee may nominate up to four employees to be representatives to the Employee Forum. After the closing date of the nominations, Human Resources will certify the eligibility of the nominees and notify them that their names will be placed on the election ballots unless they withdraw by a specified date. Determination of eligibility will include review by the appropriate department head to insure that the nominated employee is meeting job performance requirements.

 

Ballots indicating the name of the department, the names of the departmental nominees in alphabetical order, the number to be elected, and instructions for voting will be prepared and mailed to employees. Elections will be by secret ballot. If the number of candidates running within a department is equal to or less than the number of seats for that department, those candidates will represent the department and an election will not be required.

 

Members will be selected based on the highest number of votes received. In case of a tie, there will be a run off.

 

Officers

 

The Officers of the Employee Forum will be a Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary. The Officers will be elected by the Forum at their first meeting. The term of office for officers is two years. (For the initial group, any member elected for a one-year term will still be eligible for selection as an Officer and will serve for the duration of that term.)

Non-voting (Ex-Officio) Members

 

The Director of Human Resources will provide staff support to the Forum and an Assistant Town Manager will attend meetings as requested to provide information.