The Select Board and Personnel Board met jointly yesterday to discuss personnel bylaws and personal contracts. The town currently has 21 personal contracts with employees. Last year, the DOR reviewed Dartmouth's government and recommended that personal contracts be limited in number. The discussion yesterday was which positions should continue to have contracts. The Personnel Board has pointed out that ...
... there is no particular advantage to the town in having people with contracts rather than at will. The Select Board voted 4-1 to limit personal contracts to the Executive Administrator, Budget Director, Police Chief and Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW). I voted against the motion. I have no problem with the first three as I believe that multi year contracts for those positions are specifically allowed by statute. The DPW director is not and I do not support giving a multi year contract to that position. The Library Director is also allowed by statute to have a multi year contract if approved by the Library Board of Trustees. The remaining 16 positions which were previously offered contracts will continue as at will employees under the previous terms of their contracts and the Personnel bylaws. There was some discussion as to how to transition them to different terms and it may require an interim contract but that was only briefly mentioned. The problem is that some contracts have automatic renewal clauses and these would seem to carry their provisions forward unless superceded by a new contract which changes the terms of employment. Other contracted employees have differing terms in their contracts and in order to get all to the same terms may require the interim contracts. Those could then be allowed to lapse and the employees would become at will. More discussion is needed on these issues.
On the issue of the Personnel bylaws, it was generally agreed that the benefits provided by the current bylaw exceed those generally afforded to private company employees and should be brought in line with current practices. The Select Board will work with the Personnel Board through the summer and get a revision of the Personnel bylaws ready for the Fall Town Meeting. I'll keep you updated on the progress of that effort in future posts.
The Select Board also agreed to retain Mr. Greenspan as a labor negotiator for talks with represented employees. The Police Chief and Executive Administrator have been handling the negotiations with the Police Brotherhood and Dartmouth Town Employees Association currently. These two unions have been without contracts for FY08. Mr. Greenspan will probably not be involved in those talks as they are on going. The town is trying to align the termination of all contracts for the end of FY09 and Mr Greenspan would take up his role at the beginning of future contract talks
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Personal Contracts Limited
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16 comments:
The government employees, police employees and the school department employees need to take a pay freeze for a year.
The contracts could have 1%-2% raise year after freeze, less than 3%. Although it would be nice to give 4-6% we can't afford this. Everyone needs to work 40 hours, 35hours is not enough for the benefits and the work load. We need longevity, sick buy out, vacation time looked at carefully. Pensions are the perks, people don't have to divert their cash to 401Ks. Health insurance needs to be cheaper for all?
Thank you for attending School Committee and for assessing and evaluating all town matters.
One thing that struck me at town meeting--Mike Gagne stated that employee benefits equal 30-35% of payroll. With a town side payroll in the neighborhood of $10-11MM, the pension liability alone is $3.4MM. That means pensions alone are over 30% of payroll. Did we start getting health insurance free and nobody told me?
what is the latest on health insurance Bill?
What to do about pensions?
How many town workers work 35 hours but get full benefits?
Anyone know?
Bill, Asst. Supt to make 108-115,000 with 3 yr. provisions and increases yrly, yikes.
Why do people get disenfranchised with local government? Here's an example. Last year at this time there were people coming to my house at least twice daily to commit larceny and vandalism aimed at hindering my right to participate in the political process. I called the police about it and was told that due to short staffing, it was not a priority. At the time, this was understandable. Eventually, I caught two of the culprits myself and held them until police arrived.
Fast forward one year. I am an avid kayak fisherman (eco-friendly and physically demanding) and launched my kayak one evening at Round Hill beach. Due to success with some striped bass, I returned to the beach after the four o'clock posted time limit. Of course there was a police officer waiting for me to tell me that even though the gate is open, the sign says that permission must be granted from the Park Board to be at the beach after hours. He was courteous and encouraged me to apply because it was obvious that I was not causing any problems for anyone. Still, I could not understand why kicking me off the beach would have priority over my situation the previous year. The Park Board has now flatly denied my request to use the beach that I pay dearly in property taxes for. Now I wonder, are they still selling beach stickers to out of towners? These are the types of things, as trivial as they may seem, that just piss me off. Sorry to change the blog subject, but I needed to get that off my chest.
The police are everywhere now, speeding along, swarming. Hopefully there mission is to curb gangs, drugs, violence, bad stuff more than give tickets for nothing.
What goes around comes around Barry.
What do you refer to as far as what comes and goes around? Is it that those thieves and vandals got caught and charged after all?
Very curious about the comment containing "what goes around comes around Barry". What does that mean? Because he was willing to participate in the political process he is now being paid back for doing so??? That's certainly what it sounds like to me.
Don't take things personally guys let's stick to tough issues we must solve.
Barry-
Are you saying that you are being singled-out for retribution by the Park Department? Are other individuals allowed to use Round Hill for any purpose similar to kayak fishing?
dont forget the well after posted hours
The sign at Round Hill says to be there after posted hours you must have permission from the Park Board. I don't know who or how many people have been granted permission or for what reasons. My request was denied. I don't think that I am being singled out but I do think that permission should have been granted. Also, why can't a Dartmouth taxpayer go for a sunset walk on the beach? We paid for it. You can expand the use of this resource to include more people. Anyone caught abusing the beach should be a seperate issue. When I use a beach, the only evidence left that I have been there is footprints in the sand. Kayak fishing is a physically demanding sport. I will still get to the fish but will have to paddle 3 or 4 extra miles now. This will increase fatigue and decrease the safeness of my trip. Thank you Dartmouth Park Board. I think most people would agree that there is not the greatest access to our shoreline for the general public in MA. So if I pay for a beach and I am respectful of it and the other folks using it, I think I should be able to use it. I also think that thieves and vandals should be a higher priority for the police than enforcing the time limit for the beach, especially when people are not abusing it. We are adding 7 more officers so why not send one of them down every couple hours at night in the summer and extend the hours so that people can use it at their own risk. Hope this answers your questions. One more thing, for a mere $35, you can get a season pass to both Horseneck and Demarest Lloyd State Parks. I believe kayaks are allowed at Demarest. We constantly hear from school people that children should be well-rounded and persue their individual interests. Now as adults, the message is that the beach is only for frying in the sun at high noon. Kayakers need not apply.
To Anonymous, June 13, 8:10 p.m. What do you feel are the "tough issues we must solve" and do you have any suggestions how to solve them?
It seems to me that no matter what the people say or how they vote, the administrators and officials are going to do whatever they want to anyway, with complete disregard for the residents of this town. We are in a financial crisis, but the salary spending continues, for example. Witness Mrs. Riley, the latest to benefit from our happy spending, and without the credentials, besides.
Bill, what do YOU suggest residents do, and how should we go about doing it?
Clearly individuals and groups have tried to make a difference in town, regardless of what positions they may have held, and we know there were differences all around. But the intent of all, individuals and groups, was for the betterment of our town.
Can residents come together and unify to make some changes? How does ANYONE make administrators and officials listen to make changes, and then TO SEE the CHANGES MADE?
I, for one, am frustrated and discouraged.
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