General Counsel Commission

MINUTES GENERAL COUNSEL COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING OF DECEMBER 14, 2023 Present: Council Member Blackwell, Council Member Nocera, and Council Member Salafia, Council Member Sweeney, and Council Member Pulino. Staff: Deputy General Counsel, Kori Wisneski; HR Director, Justin Richardson; Chief Erik Costa, Chief Jay Woron Public: Jen Hobart, Kelly Robinson, Nick LaRosa, Mayor Ben Florsheim, Faith Jackson 1. Call to Order: Meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Public Comment: Mayor Florsheim first spoke in support of the labor management changes on the agenda. He also spoke in favor of the two police department positions. He explained that the job descriptions have been the product of a lot of hard work, deliberation, and negotiations between the administration and the union representatives, as well as the clinical partners at River Valley Services. Lastly, the Mayor spoke in support of the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management job description. He explained that this job description has been something that has needed updating for a long time due to closures of some departments at the state level whose work as transitioned to this office. Director Faith Jackson spoke in support of her job description on the agenda. She explained that it has been an uphill journey. She explained that some of the work that has been placed in her office, she wasn’t hired for and she should be paid for that work. She serves as the Fair Housing officer, the Affirmative Action officer, and the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management. She explained that her office is the main hub to resolve citizens’ issues or complaints. Chief Costa spoke in favor of the two caseworker positions for the police department. He explained that these positions do not have the ability to diagnose or determine incentive for evaluation, but they will follow up on the next day and deal with “the root causes of the problem”. The caseworkers will be able to get people to the services that they need, whether its consultant or counseling. They will also be able to help support our seniors and provide them resources within the city. The caseworkers will also be able to support domestic violence victims by helping with next day counseling or identifying resources for families. Chief Costa also explained that the case workers can support the opioid program and provide services to minimize our overdose fatalities in the city. Jen Hobart, President of 466, spoke in support of the labor management agenda items. Chief Woron spoke on behalf of the Budget Analyst position at the Fire Department. He explained that a large part of this job is to help the chief with the budget and purchase orders, which is now bigger than it was back in 2006. 3. Approval of Minutes Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the meeting minutes and Council Member Salafia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4. New Business A. Welcome to GCC Attorney Wisneski introduced herself to the new GCC members. She explained that she and the HR Director, Justin Richardson, staff this commission. She provided the ordinance 23-20 and explained that this commission used to be two separate commissions, Ordinance Study and Personnel Review Commission, which were combined when the offices merged together in 2013. She explained that his commission reviews ordinances, which go to the substantive committee before coming the GCC for a review as to form. The bylaws state that an ordinance cannot go to Council without coming through GCC. The commission also reviews job descriptions which was previously under the purview of the former Personnel Review Commission. B. Vote on 2024 GCC Meeting Schedule Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the meeting schedule and Council Member Sweeney seconded the motion. Council Member Nocera stated that he cannot make the 6:00pm meetings and proposed a 6:30pm meeting time. Council Member Salafia stated that 6:30pm would be better for her and Council Member Sweeney agreed. Council Member Nocera made a motion to change the meeting times to 6:30pm and Council Member Sweeney seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The commission voted on the first motion to approve the meeting schedule with the revision and that motion passed unanimously. C. GIS Technician – IT Director Richardson read a note from Director Briana Skowera dated, December 13th. The note explained that GIS combines map generation and customizable data sets that the assessor’s office uses as well and the water & sewer department. The city could do so much more with GIS but there is no staff trained to use it and we paid consultants 2 to make the changes. Council authorized to bring this work in-house and have worked with HR to propose a job description that covers the responsibilities and expectations. Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Salafia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. D. Police Department Caseworker – PD Council Member Sweeney made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Pulino seconded the motion. Discussion ensued regarding this job description. Council Member Blackwell questioned if these positions are connected to the police accountability act and the Chief confirmed. The motion passed unanimously. E. Director of Equal Opportunity & Diversity Management Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Sweeney seconded the motion. Discussion ensued and Council Members Nocera, Sweeney and Blackwell spoke in support of the job description, as well as thanking Faith for her hard work and patience. The motion passed unanimously. F. Labor Management By way of background, Attorney Wisneski explained that two of our contracts, 466 and UPSEU, have a process set forth within them called labor management. It provides a review of certain job descriptions each year. There is a committee of five, which includes 2 individuals from management, 2 individuals from labor, and 1 neutral. Employees have to file an application if they believe that something in their job description has changed that would require an upgrade. The application is reviewed and signed off by their supervisors. Those individuals who have applied are then chosen out of a lottery system and then interviews are done in front of the 5 person committee. If the job description is moved forward, Director Richardson will update the job description and put it through the Maximus system to figure out the appropriate salary grade. The committee votes on the proposal, then it goes to GCC, and ultimately to the council. Attorney Wisneski explained that the vote has to go to council and be seen by the full council per the CBAs. Director Richardson read his executive summary, which has been provided as part of the meeting packet. 1. Administrative Assistant to the Fire Chief Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Salafia seconded the motion. Discussion ensued and Council Member Nocera, spoke in support of all the labor management job descriptions. The motion passed unanimously. 3  2. Building Superintendent I Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Pulino seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Custodians Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Salafia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Lead Master Mechanic – Parks Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Sweeney seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 5. Heavy Equipment Operator – Water & Sewer Council Member Nocera made a motion to approve the job description and Council Member Pulino seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 5. Other A. Recruitment Efforts Director Richardson explained that Maria Scarlett has been out and about making connections within the community. Connections have been made with both community partners and partners across other towns such as West Hartford and Meriden. Justin passed out an excel spreadsheet to the commission of the current outreach efforts. Most recently, HR has gone to Wesleyan, the Middlesex Career Fair, Minority Business Happenings in West Hartford, and a Hispanic Heritage breakfast. B. Baker Tilly Update Attorney Wisneski explained that the office met with Baker Tilly and should be receiving a proposed pay scale from them soon. The pay scale with have 7 steps, as opposed to the current six step payscale. She back tracked and explained to the new commissioners that Baker Tilly is a vendor the city hired to do a classification and compensation review. The current Maximus system we have now is outdated. Baker Tilly have been working hard to collect data on the market study. She explained that the intent is to put everyone on an equal footing so there will be one pay scale. The steps after that are finalizing the job descriptions. More discussion ensued regarding the council seeing whatever is received. Attorney Wisneski stated that the intent would be to ensure that everything is properly aligned before presenting it to the Council Council Members Nocera, Salafia, Sweeney, and Blackwell stated that waiting to give the Council the final report won’t be a good idea and they should receive whatever is sent. Attorney Wisneski clarified that she wanted to make sure she is not prematurely giving out 4 information that might require impact bargaining and hasn’t been vetted yet. She stated that she would be willing to share information with the Council as appropriate and would be in touch to do so. The intent is to have a transparent process so that this review is successful. C. Fair Rent Commission Update Attorney Wisneski explained that back in July, council approved the Fair Rent ordinance required by state statute to create a fair rent commission within the City of Middletown. The commission will review complaints filed by people within the municipality as to their rent. OGC has worked hard to get the website running and the complaint form up on the website as well. Philip Kent will be the outside attorney handling matters for the Fair Rent Commission. The commission has been set up as a 7 person commission with 3 alternates. 6. Adjournment: Council Member Nocera made a MOTION to adjourn and Council Member Salafia seconded the motion and the meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m. 5