Town of Aquinnah

Personnel Committee
3-12-2018 Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Chairman Kathy Newman, Alex Taylor and June Manning
Also present: Town Employee Representative and Sargent Paul Manning, Town Administrator Jeffrey Madison and Board Admin Assistant Sophia Welch
The meeting began at 4:01pm.

- The Committee reviewed comments and proposed personnel bylaw changes sent by Jack Collins, Labor Attorney. Changes included bylaw enforcement to include the Town Admin. There was discussion regarding the current chain of authority within the bylaws: bylaw enforcement lies with the Personnel Comm and Board of Selectmen. There was discussion concerning the grievance bylaw process. The Committee discussed the following concerns and suggestions with the proposed bylaw changes: needing clarity of Town Administrator enforcement of bylaws, clarity on including elected board employees and striking the additional language from each bylaw “selectmen may delegate all and any of their duties under this article as well as the rest of this bylaw to the Town Administrator” and creating a blanket bylaw to address it. The Committee agreed to have Jeff and Kathy review the Committee concerns and suggestions with Jack (updated draft will be sent to the Committee).

- Next, the Committee discussed the Lighthouse Manager position. Kathy presented a draft job description for the position including duties that Betsey Mayhew, MV Museum, had been doing when she was the coordinator. The Committee reviewed the job description and made appropriate changes and specifications. There was discussion on the main duties of the Manager position including hiring docents/guides, oversight of docents/guides, setting up the functions of Lighthouse tours and the 2018 season and collecting and depositing funds. The Committee agreed to advertise the position as the Lighthouse Coordinator (Jeffrey will make suggested changes and advertise). There was discussion concerning the role of the Lighthouse Keeper in relation to the Lighthouse Coordinator position. Kathy presented the visitor docents/guides job description that she had received from Betsey as well. The Committee reviewed the job description and felt that it was still relevant to the Town’s operation of the Lighthouse. Changes were made to the description to make it specific to the Town and the Committee added that the docents/guides will report to the Lighthouse Coordinator.

- Next, Jeffrey discussed his job as the Town Administrator. He presented the Committee with a detailed report on what he does. Jeffrey noted that the 32 hrs. that he was hired at is not enough time to complete the job successfully and requested that the Committee recommend an increase to 40 hrs./week. The Committee reviewed the report and discussed the current projects Jeffrey is working on. Jeffrey discussed his rate of pay and reminded the Committee that he had been hired at the first pay step but with his background, experience and ability to do the job, felt that he should be at a higher grade. However, his rate of pay is a Selectmen issue and in addition to that, Jeffery noted that his inclination would be to stay within the step grade guidelines that have been approved by the Town. The Committee agreed that there are many projects that fall into the Town Administrators office since the Town does not have a large employee base. In addition, everyone agreed that because Committees are volunteer, they can only do so much and any project that they take on needs a full-time administrator/coordinator. The Committee agreed to Kathy writing a memo, based on the conversation and on behalf of the Committee, to the Selectmen and Finance Committee recommending the Town Admin hours to be increased to 40hrs/week (memo will include Jeffrey’s detailed report). June made a motion to submit a recommendation to the Selectmen to increase Jeffrey’s hours to 40 hrs/week and reevaluate Jeffrey’s wages. Motion was moved by Kathy. The Committee voted 3-0, the motion passed.

- Kathy asked if there was any other business to come before the committee. Hearing none, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The committee voted 3 – 0 in favor. The motion passed. The meeting ended at 5:05 pm.