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Home My Public Portal AboutSelect Board -- 2021-10-18 Minutes (2)MINUTES Or THE SELECT BOARD DATE: October 18, 2021 TIME: 5:30pm PLACE: RemotelTeleconference Town of Brewster 2198 Main Street Brewster, MA 02631-1898 Phone: (508) 896-3701 www.brewster-ma.gov Office of: Select Board Town Administrator REMOTE PARTICIPANTS: Chair Bingham, Selectperson Hoffmann, Selectperson Chaffee, Selectperson Whitney, Selectperson Chatelain, Town Administrator Peter Lombardi, Susan Broderick i Call to Chair Bingham called the meeting to order at 5:32pm. All Select Board members present were announced, and a quorum was declared. Chair Bingham read the meeting participation and recording statements. Executive Session: • To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personn6l (Personnel Bylaw) • To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares;�(OPEIU Local 6) The Select Boar will be returning to open session. Selectperson Chaffee moved to enter executive session. Selectperson Hoffmann second. A roll call vote was taken. Selectperson Chaffee -yes, Selectperson Hoffmann -yes, Selectperson Whitney -yes, Selectperson Chatelain- yes, Chair Bingham -yes. The Board vote was 5 -Yes, 0 -No i; All remote participants declared "No other persons are present or able to hear the discussion at this remote loca, ion." Mr. Lombardi sli`ared that the Town has come to an agreement with OPEIU, noting they were one of the unions that we didn't get to the finish line with last Spring with the new two-year contracts in time for Town Meeting action. At the time, OPEIU wanted to see the results of the Compensation and Classification Study. In reaching the agreement, it essentially supports the methodology and recommendations of the consultant with the new grades and ranges. OPEIU which can be a challenging bargaining unit, has agreed to almost all of the recommendations. A couple of the highlights include: E t BoS 10-18-2021 www.brewster-ma.gov Page 1 of 3 r x- Doc ID: b6155afdeabaf65f41f5315ea33fecb20add8e12 1 Town of Brewster 2198 Main Street Brewster, MA 02631-1898 Phone: (508) 896-3701 www.brewster-ma.gov Office of: Select Board Town Administrator • There were three positions that were moved up a grade, assistance department heads, payroll 'Position and everyone else eligible to move to the next available step in the new system,, This does have an incremental cost impact which has been accounted for. • Agreedto the COLA of 2% for FY22 and 2.75% for FY23. • There are about 23 employees in this bargaining unit, and about half of them were stepped out in the old system. With the new system about half, of those who had stepped out, are now on a lower step by a grade or two. They now could see increases outside!the COLA in the next couple of years. • There are 5 employees, based on longevity, that have reached the top step, which are lookin&for additional compensation. We have agreed to a onetime 3% equivalent increase. The 3% is the same increment between steps. They will be eligible for this if they are still employed at the end of FY23. • Added vacation notice language that was not there before. • Added an explicit reference about 5% differential for the Assistant Health Director if they are a registered sanitarian. This is to memorialize something that had been in place previo"sly. Mr. Lombardi noted that when working with other unions in implementing the Comp & Class pIan, it will be easier since OPEIU has accepted the recommendations. Mr. Lombardi noted that about two-thirds of the Town's Department Heads are Personnel Bylaw, and there are a handful of contract employees. Department heads technicalyl work 35 hours per week`according to their compensation. The data that was assembled in the Comp & Class study wasbased on hourly rates, not the number of hours worked per week. In reviewing data collected ft<om comparable communities, an overwhelming majority assumes that department heddds work 40 hours per week, with a few exceptions. This was not directly addressed in the Comp & Class study but something that the Town sees as both an internal and external equity.' The Select Board reviewed a spreadsheet that shows how many hours department heads assume to work`versus what their staff works. The Town has tried to align the department heads work hour assumption with the amount of hours their staff works. Mr. Lombardi noted there are two outliers to this, the Assistant Town Administrator and the Natural Resources Director, who each technical work 35 hours and their staff works 40 hours per week. Mr. Lombardi stated that it is fair to say that department heads work well beyond 35 hours per week. Or. Lombardi stated that the impact of costing is not insignificant with 14 positions, in a full fiscal year to increase department heads to 37.5 hours per week is almost $100K. There have not been any discussion with the Personnel Bylaw working group at this point. Mr. Lombardi noted that he let Lisa Vitale know that conversation about department head hours has been had BoS 104 8-2021 www.brewster-ma.gov Page 2 of 3 Doc ID: b6155afdeabaf65f41f5315ea33fecb20add8e12 i Town of Brewster 2198 Main Street Brewster, MA 02631-1898 Phone; (508) 896-3701 www,brewster-ma.gov Office of; Select Board Town Administrator with the Select Board. This is one significant issue that was not addressed in the Comp &Class study. Mr. Lombardi acknowledged that there is some flexibility with the $100K line item for the study, in terms of implementation. The Select Board discussed possible scenarios of the cost implementation to increase department head weekly hours. One suggestion is a phased approach in half fiscal year increments. Th6l Board sees this as a situation that needs to be rectified and believes the Town is in a good place.' Noting that there has been some turnover in those positions and newer department heads are earning less that those who they had replaced. In terms of morale, it should be considered to make the transition in over a two fiscal year period. Even adding an hour every six months would be realistic and fair. Mr. Lombardi sNiared that if we implemented up to 37.5 hours per week this fiscal year the costs would be just under $50K, then move to 40 hours halfway through next fiscal year, the annual impact on the budget would be closer to $145K rather than $190K if the Town were to go from one fiscal to the next. The Board agre6d to propose implementation over the next two fiscal years and not retroactive back to the start of this fiscal year and see where the conversation goes. This will impact all department heads both current and incoming. 'r Adjournment Selectperson Chatelain moved to return to regular session at 6:01 pm. Selectperson Whitney second. A roll call vote was taken. Selectperson Whitney -yes, Selectperson Chaffee -yes, Selectperson Hoffmann, Selectperson Chatelain- yes, Chair Bingham -yes. The Board vote was 5 - yes, 0 -No i Respectfully submitted, Erika Mawn, Executive Assistant i Approved: Signed: Date i Date Released; X01 / 23 / 2023 k r 9 'r. BoS 10-18-2021 Select Board Clerk, Kari Hoffmann www,brewster-ma.gov Page 3 of 3 Doc ID: b6155afdeabaf65f41f5315ea33fecb20add8e12