Employee Forum Minutes

December 11, 2003

Library Conference Room

 

Members Present:  Than Austin, Felix Bloch, Ann Brown, Maggie Burnett, Jeff Clark, Amy Edwards, Lisa Edwards, Lois Jean Houpe, Chelsea Laws, Bernard Leach, Leanne Mikles, Mona Nazir, Iris Schwintzer, Deborah Squires, Traval Watkins, Susie Whaley, Mary Jean Williams

 

Members Absent:  Norman Clark, Amy Harvey, George Long, David Sasser, Kelly Stokes

 

Ex-officio Members Present:  Carol Abernathy, Chris Blue, Charles Bynum, Dorice Johnson, Jackie Thompson, Wes Tilghman

 

• The 11/13/03 meeting minutes were changed to reflect the absence of Lisa Edwards, and then approved.
• Items for discussion today were approved with the addition of reviewing how the EF proposes changes to Town policies.  Felix requested that the item "Thank you to outgoing Employee Forum members" be deferred to the end of the meeting.
• Meet and greet new Employee Forum Members:  Felix welcomed all present and asked that everyone introduce themselves and mention the department they work in and for current members to mention which EF work group they have served on. 
• Felix proposed the EF review at its next meeting the elections just held to determine what went well and what may need to be done differently to improve the process.  He expressed the hope Deborah Squires could oversee the process again in 2004.
• Felix said it had been suggested to him that the EF may not be proceeding the most productive manner in reviewing and proposing changes to town polices.  The latter involved both budgetary and philosophical issues where changes could perhaps be best effected by an indirect approach. After much discussion on how the EF should proceed, including reference to the Manager’s views as expressed at an earlier meeting to the effect that the EF should not feel inhibited that nothing is off limits it was decided that the EF make proposals regarding town polices whenever it believed appropriate.  To discuss this matter at greater length and assure mutual understanding, the EF decided to request a meeting with the Manager. Carol Abernathy, representing Amy Harvey, said that she would set up a session for sometime after the EF Jan. 8^th meeting.  Finally a motion was made, seconded and approved to forward the recommendation regarding health insurance coverage during extended, approved leaves of absence.
• Felix requested new and continuing members to come up with specific ideas for changing town operations/procedures analogous to the Public Works Employee Committee’s proposal regarding sealing paycheck envelopes and deleting Social Security numbers from pay stubs to ensure town employees’ privacy and security.  Such ideas if they are worthwhile and capable of implementation could kick-start the EF’s work in 2004.
• Members broke into work groups.  Newly elected members were invited to go around to different work groups and listen in.

 

Work Group Discussion

 

            Benefits:

Ø       Reviewed, for new members, work done over the last year.

Ø       The group will re-draft a previous proposal on a comprehensive wellness program for Town employees.  The revised draft will be presented at the next meeting.

Ø       The chairperson will draft a proposal to look at instituting an employee discount program to encourage town employees to support local businesses.

Ø       Deborah Squires requested that the Benefits WG look at having the yearly benefits statements that employees have received in the past reinstated.

Ø       Lisa Edwards requested that the Benefits work group consider proposing employees have 4 hours paid time off per year to perform community service in the area.

 

            Communication/Employee Relations:

Ø       Discussed requesting information from HR about service awards for senior employees that were not issued awards the first time around in December, 2003.  We would like to know how many employees would be effected if service awards were given for 5 years or more of service for employees on payroll as December 1,2003.

Ø      Discussed when the awards could be presented to the employees and we all agreed that the Employee Appreciation Day would be a great time.

 

            Promotion/Hiring:

Ø Progress in the last couple of months has been slow due to the slow communication between members of the group, and also due to the fact we have been absent a member of this WG for most of the year.

Ø Continuing to work on gathering information reference staffing levels throughout the town ref. shortages/vacancies. Most of this seems to be ruled by the town population/borders/budget etc..., but we were attempting to get an actual # in some areas.

Ø Discussed putting together a proposal for career opportunities for all town employees. Due to the diverse nature of the town in would need to be broad rather than dept. specific.

Ø To date to our knowledge we have received no feedback from the Town manager or HR on the copy of the Hiring Process Survey we provided them with in October meeting.

Ø If this particular group/focus is continued after the new forum members join, it is our desire to see at least 3 members involved in the group.

 

            Education/Training

Ø Reviewed issues that had been presented to Cal in the past few months.

Ø Discussed proposals with budgetary implications needed to be presented now in time to include in the next fiscal year, and the best way to propose them to HR so they will be met.           

 

            Policy

Ø Decided not to propose any changes to the Adverse Weather Policy at this time.

Ø Brought forth the issue of the health insurance policy which has been forwarded to the Manager.

 

• There was a discussion of regarding the size of the EF, the composition of its members and their allocation among and within Departments.  At present each has one per 50 or fewer employees. Some departmental divisions are not represented and this could be a problem when departmental employees are physically or otherwise separated, considering the EF objective of being truly representative of the towns workforce.  The EF needs to consider these matters early in 2004 with a view to effecting changes if warranted. 
• Felix concluded the meeting stating that he has enjoyed working with all of us and getting to know us.  He feels that while it has been a learning experience we have made substantial progress at the same time we have dealt with the challenge of organizing the EF in its inaugural year.  He recognized the contributions of members and presented certificates of appreciation for dedicated service signed by the manager and by him, to EF members who had participated in a minimum of 6 meetings in 2003.