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Town of Lunenburg 
Personnel Committee 
 
Minutes:  March 8, 2021 – Zoom Meeting 
 
 
Attendees: 
 
Eric Arnold, Dave MacDonald, Joanna Bilotta, Donna Fortune, Susan Andrews 
 
Also Present:   
Heather Lemieux, Town Manager; Julie Belliveau, Asst. Town Manager/HR Director 
 
Casey Burlingame, Building Commissioner, Susan Doherty, COA Director, Barbara Lefebvre,  
Sewer Business Manager, Nancy Forest, Payroll & Benefits/Risk Manager, Myleen Mallari, 
Treasurer/Tax Collector, Rob Oliva, DPW Director 
 
Meeting began at 5:04 pm with all attendees present, Eric Arnold Committee Chair presiding 
 
Approval of Minutes: 
 
Minutes of the February 24, 2021 meeting reviewed 
Motion by J. Bilotta to accept and approve the minutes as presented  
Second D. Fortune 
Roll Call Vote:  All in favor 
 
Old Business 
 
SAP Longevity Amendment  
 
J. Belliveau prepared a spreadsheet that represented the impact this amendment would have on  
  town employees.  She explained the process and justification that supported the need of the 
amendment.  She outlined the positions impacted over time in the spreadsheet, comparing the 
potential change with both the Police/Fire Longevity Benefit and the Clerical Longevity Benefit as 
outlined in their respective contracts. The proposed amendment would change the benefit from a 
percent of salary to a flat rate. The Personnel Committee previously recommended approval of the 
changes, but because they received a request by town employees to re-examine the change, they 
requested a review of the impact this change would have on employees. 
 
A general discussion regarding all the elements of this potential change was reviewed.  It was 
clarified that two contracts had changed the longevity benefit from a percentage to a flat dollar 
amount during their last contract negotiations and that no employees were grandfathered into the 
old benefit.  Some employees in each of those groups may have experienced some decline in their 
annual longevity amount due to this change.  It was unclear what, if anything might have been 
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traded off for this change during those negotiations.  The SAP town employees are not represented 
under a contract, so they have no similar negotiation process. 
 
Two disputed areas were reviewed (1) should the Clerical Longevity Benefit be the comparison to 
the SAP Longevity Benefit or should it be the Police/Fire Longevity Benefit (2) should current 
SAP employees be grandfathered in the current Longevity Benefit and only new employees would 
be placed in the amended benefit. 
 
Several of the visiting attendees expressed their belief that the benefit should not be changed for 
current employees, and that the comparison to the Clerical Longevity Benefit was not a reasonable 
comparison, as some of the SAP jobs were a higher level of responsibility then clerical roles. The 
committee agreed that the department heads should be more closely compared to the Police/Fire 
longevity amounts which were approved at a higher benefit.   
 
Motion by J. Bilotta to grandfather current employees in existing SAP Longevity Benefit, with any 
new employees participating in the amended benefit, and that the amended benefit utilize the 
Police/Fire Longevity Benefit for SAP Department Heads and all remaining SAP employees 
receive the Clerical Longevity Benefit. 
 
Second: D. MacDonald 
 
Roll Call Vote:  Three in favor of motion; two not in favor of motion 
Motion Passes 
 
New Business 
 
Town Meeting Article 
 
The Article incorporates the addition, into the SAP, the following positions: Assistant to the Sewer 
Business Manager be added and assigned to Grade 8; the position of Intermittent Heavy 
Equipment Operator be added and assigned to Grade 9; Reserve Officer to be added and assigned 
to Grade 10; the position of Network Administrator be added and assigned to Grade 13; and to 
amend Chapter 70 Section 26, entitled “Longevity Pay”. This Article will be presented at the May 
Town Meeting. 
 
Motion by J. Bilotta to amend the article to reflect the Personnel Committees current 
recommendations as noted above. 
 
Roll Call Vote:  All in favor of motion 
 
Motion by J. Bilotta to adjourn the meeting at 6:00pm    
Second:  D. Fortune 
 
Roll Call Vote:  All in favor