===PAGE 1=== Town of Lunenburg Personnel Committee Minutes: March 2, 2021 – Zoom Meeting Attendees: Joanna Bilotta, Susan Andrews, Eric Arnold, Wendy Bertrand, Not in Attendance: Donna Fortune Also Present: Heather Lemieux, Town Manager, Julie Belliveau, Asst. Town Manager/HR Director, Nancy Forest, Payroll & Benefits/Risk Manager, Barbara Lefebvre, Sewer Business Manager Meeting began at 5:03pm with all attendees present, E. Arnold Committee Chair presiding Public Comment: No comment from either committee or the public attendees. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Feb 16, 2022 meeting reviewed Motion by J. Bilotta to accept and approve the minutes as presented Second: E. Arnold Roll Call Vote: All in Favor New Business: J. Belliveau presented a new hi re form for hiring a new principal assessor. She recommended that we consider hiring this candidate at Grade 15 Step 3, due to his extensive experience which included some familiarity with Lunenburg. He had previously worked on a project in town as a consultant. His resume was reviewed and his experience discussed. Motion by E. Arnold to accept the recommendation of the HR Director to hire the presented Principal Assessor at Grade 15 Step 3. Second: W. Bertrand Roll Call Vote: All in Favor Ongoing Business: Group continued to review and assess the recommendations for changes to the Salary Administration Plan by-law. Section 18 covers Paid Holidays. There were several areas that the legal counsel recommended be examined. He also noted that the state had mandated that towns recognize Juneteenth as a holiday and all town halls would be closed on that day. That would require adding Juneteenth as an additional holiday in Lunenburg. A lengthy discussion covered ===PAGE 2=== the issue of how holidays that fall on Saturday should be managed, given that the town hall no longer was open on Fridays and therefore employees were not scheduled to work the day before a Saturday holiday. Motion by J. Bilotta to amend the language of paragraphs A, B, & C to reflect that all employees who are eligible for paid holidays would receive a Floating Holiday if a designated holiday fell on Saturday. Rewording: Paragraph A: Employees shall receive paid holiday leave on the day the Town observes the holiday based on the base hourly rate of the employee for the number of hours the employee is regularly scheduled to work on the day of the week on which the holiday is observed. Paragraph B: Eliminated Paragraph C: Employees shall receive a floating holiday for any holiday that falls on a day that they are not regularly scheduled to work. Holiday leave will be granted on the day the Town observes the holiday, when possible. If the holiday falls on a Saturday, it will be observed on the preceding Friday. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. If an eligible employee is required to work on the day the Town observes the holiday, they will be entitled to a Floating Day which has to be used within 30 days, by agreement of the supervisor and employee. If the department head determines that holiday leave cannot be granted, the employee shall receive payment at one and one=half times the base hourly rate for all hours worked on the holiday, in addition to his or her holiday pay. Final determination is to be made by the Town Manager. Second: W. Bertrand Roll Call Vote: All in Favor Motion by J. Bilotta to add Juneteenth as an observed Paid Holiday to the Lunenburg SAP bylaws Second: E. Arnold Roll Call Vote: All in Favor The recommendations for several areas that were to clarify the Section 19 Sick Leave were generally acceptable, with the exception of adding language that implied employees might be required to see a town appointed doctor. This would have been a new requirement and the group generally felt was not necessary. Motion by E. Arnold to accept the recommended changes by Legal Counsel in Paragraph A, B, and C as noted, and amend recommended changes in Paragraph D, to remove the recommendations suggested regarding seeing a town appointed doctor, leaving the previous sentence regarding providing a doctors note . Second: S. Andrews Roll Call Vote: All in Favor The recommendations for Section 20 Personal Leave were generally acceptable with the exception of reducing the number of days employees were eligible for. The recommendation to reduce the number to offset the addition of Juneteenth was reviewed and the committee did not support this change. The group also clarified the expression of what Personal Leave time was, by recommending the timing be noted as days rather than hours. ===PAGE 3=== Motion by J. Bilotta to amend Paragraph A noting the entitlement of personal leave be 3 days rather than 24 hours, and that other recommendations in Paragraph A, B, and C be accepted. Second: E. Arnold Roll Call Vote: All in Favor The recommendations for Section 22 Bereavement Leave were discussed at length. The group identified what other groups within the Town did with this benefit and ultimately determined that they felt that both the length of time allowed and the types of relationships supported in this section needed to be updated. Motion by J. Bilotta to amend this entire section and update it to the same language that the Clerical Group now has in place, with the number of days and the relationships covered changing to the same benefit. Second: W. Bertrand Roll Call Vote: All in Favor The recommendation from Legal Counsel was to entirely eliminate Section 27 from the SAP bylaws. This is because Discipline is clearly outlined in the Town Charter and does not fall into the purview of the Personnel Committee. Motion by E. Arnold to accept the recommendation to eliminate Section 27 from the SAP by laws. Second: S. Andrews Roll Call Vote: All in Favor The recommendations for Section 28 Definitions was generally acceptable, with just an expansion of types of benefits noted in Paragraph C and the reference to the Benefit Formula noted in Paragraph D. Those words seemed to need clarification as to what was included in such a formula. We determined it was referencing just vacation or sick leave, so decided we should note it that way. The statement of the use of a “Benefit Formula” might also be utilized on other sections, so any change in the use of this term should be reexamined. (Section 17 and Section 19, perhaps others) Motion by E. Arnold to accept the recommended changes to Paragraphs A, B, E, F, and G of the Definitions Section 28. Second: J. Bilotta Roll Call Vote: All in Favor Motion By J. Bilotta to amend the changes in Paragraph C to add Holiday in the explanation of what benefits were covered, and in Paragraph D amend the term “Benefit Formula” to Vacation/Sick Leave Formula. Second: S. Andrews Roll Call Vote: All in Favor ===PAGE 4=== The recommendation for Schedule A was to update all references to the Board of Selectman to Select Board. This would also be updated anywhere it might be referenced throughout the SAP by laws. Motion by J. Bilotta to accept the recommendation for Schedule A or any other area in the SAP by laws to change the reference to the Board of Selectman to Select Board. Second: E. Arnold Roll Call Vote: All in Favor There was a discussion about whether the listing of actual job titles in the SAP be reviewed and any roles that were no longer utilized be removed. We determined that due to the formal approval of jobs by the Select Board, and the possibility that any of those roles might be filled at another point in time, that it was best to leave all job titles in place. Public Comment Both the committee members and the public attendees agreed that much had been accomplished during this meeting with productive collaboration by all.. Next Meeting: We would begin reviewing the salary grid recommendations and review a final SAP by law document that covers all the approved changes. Wednesday, March 9, 2022 Zoom Meeting 5:00pm Motion by W. Bertrand to adjourn meeting at 6:34pm Second: J. Bilotta Roll Call Vote: All in Favor