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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPersonnel Board - Minutes - 07/17/2001PERSONNEL BOARD MINUTES July 17, 2001 12:00 Noon Council Liaison: Ray Martinez, Mayor Staff Liaison: Rick DeLaCastro, Human Resources Director Telephone: 970/221-6845 Board Chair: Chuck Washington Telephone: 970/226-5493 A regular meeting of the Personnel Board was held on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 in the Civic Center Office Building in Conference Room 2D. Board Members Present: Jim Alderden, Gail Shellberg, Valerie Remington, Peter Shoshak, and Chuck Washington City Staff Present: Rick DeLaCastro, Human Resources Director Joan Busch, Admin Support Supervisor (Recorder) I. Role of the Board Chuck Washington opened the meeting with a discussion of the Board's role and function. Gail Shellberg read from the Boards and Commissions Manual the summary of the City Charter which states that: "The Personnel Board advises the City Manager on matters of personnel policies and problems and in accordance with applicable administrative policy, hears appeals from any decision of a Service Director regarding employment actions if requested to do so by the affected employee and, upon completion of the appeal process, to forward findings and recommendations to the City Manager." Rick DeLaCastro, Human Resources Director, defined personnel issues to include such things as benefits, hiring issues and compensation. Peter Shostak stated that this discussion was prompted from the May meeting where he asked if the Board was doing its job based on the current meeting schedule of every other month. Gail agreed you have to involve a board to get the benefit of having a board. If members are not informed, they are not able to advise. Chuck replied that the Personnel Board was able to provide feedback on the benefits changes. Gail stated that he would like to see the City Manager attend the Board meetings occasionally. Peter raised the question as to whether or not a meeting with the City Manager would be beneficial to ask him if the Board is meeting his needs or if they could be more contributory by meeting with him a couple of times a year. Chuck suggested that the frequency might depend on the significance of an issue to discuss with the City Manager. Jim Alderden said that it has been his experience that the Board's role was to get information from the Human Resources Director and to provide feedback. The Board is Personnel Board Minutes July 17, 2001 Page 2 not going to be a driving force in getting changes through and they are not a decision - making board. Their role is primarily the appeal board and to make sure employees are treated fairly. Chuck asked if there are some areas that need to be addressed and could they advise the City Manager. Rick explained that so far the Board has been in agreement with the City's stand on some issues such as productivity savings included in the city's budget. Chuck then asked if there is anything on the horizon that the Board should be aware of in order to advise. Rick replied that there isn't anything that hasn't been discussed with the Board such as skills based pay and job evaluation system. Peter suggested that if there is an issue that the Board feels strongly about then the Board should communicate directly with the City Manager in written form in addition to the minutes. He also proposed asking the City Manager if the Board is meeting his needs, and if so how can we do it better. How can the Board be responsive to his needs and if they aren't, and what are the issues that the Board can focus on for the coming year. Jim said that the Board really hasn't been directly advising the City Manager and that maybe it needs to be restructured as it really advises the Human Resources Director and the City Manager indirectly through Rick. Chuck moved that the City Manager be invited to the September meeting so the Board may get his feedback on meeting his needs and expectations and then if there are issues can the Board help him with a sense of direction. Peter seconded the motion. Rick will present the minutes from this meeting and a proposed agenda for the next Personnel Board meeting on September to the City Manager as a suggested date to meet. Rick will also get a number of dates and times that may work for the City Manager to meet with the Board. Rick and Joan Busch will work with Board and the City Manager's Office to get this meeting scheduled. II. Job Evaluation Project Summary Rick reported that eleven employees were selected to participate on the Job Evaluation Task Force. These individuals will be working with a consultant from Public Sector Inc. to create a formal system to evaluate jobs and place them in the City's pay plan. Currently, the City is lacking a tool to rank jobs that aren't benchmarked positions. Members of this task force will be asked to be ambassadors of the project and to help explain the process. There will also be an appeal process in place for employees to appeal the results of placing their job in the pay plan. The appeal will be made to the employee's service director. Personnel Board Minutes July 17, 2001 Page 3 III. Benefits 2002 Members moved the meeting to the Training Room to view a video narrated by John Fischbach, City Manager which explained employee benefits changes to be effective Januaryl, 2002. Rick reported that there have been very few comments from employees up to this point, however, there could be more during open enrollment later in the fall. Information regarding these changes has also been posted on the City's Intranet. Peter commented that the one thing in the City's favor is that there are so many private companies who are laying people off. The impact on employees shouldn't be too much. Rick noted that employees who will no longer receive money back on their paychecks are most impacted. IV. Minutes/Agenda The minutes from the May 15, 2001 meeting were approved as written. V. Other Rick offered to give members a tour of the new City office building. VI. Adjourned There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.