City Council

City of Salem, Massachusetts “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Committee on ____Government Services co-posted with Committee of the Whole______________ met remotely via zoom on __ Wednesday, February 2, 2022________________ at ____6:00 P.M._______________ for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on _____January 31, 2022________________ at __12:18 P.M.____________________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE ABSENT WERE: __________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUBJECT(S) #23 – Meet with HR Director to discuss comparative salaries of the City Clerk for the upcoming budget season___________ TH: Opens meetings LC: typically we have put together a salary survey, contacting other municipalities for what their range is, what they pay their employees LC: Disusses what they ask for, not all municipalities have the same info, some have not updated ranges if they have them. Salem has not updated ranges since 2000 LC: Since I have been here we perform a survey and look at ranges LC: Look at employees one by one and compare to averages to see who needs adjustment LC: It's not a science, but it's comparable to what other municipalities do. Need to think about retention, what we would pay if we were to lose an employee. LC: We try to be mindful of what the budget is, what can we afford LC: NO strict performance appraisal process in city hall, we're working toward that, but it's informal LC: has information that is accurate as of today LC: Shows salary survey from surrounding communities, explains spreadsheet CW: Do you have overview of which of these roles include election responsibility and election staff? LC: I don’t have that info in this spreadsheet, city clerk has sent that out AV: Revere's clerk doesn’t oversee elections LM: Thanks Lisa, there is a wide discrepency, do you know why that is? LC: Some municipalities work with consulting firms to set wide ranges TH: How do you look at Cost of Living? LC: No COLA in middle of covid. However we have been fortunate, the mayor has recommended Cost of living adjustments. We could be looking at 3-3.5. Some have said 7%, but data is showing 3-3.5 on average IS: 5 new councillors, last year I asked for a salary increase. Have been working with my colleagues to try to understand where some are at. Stipends can be different. Asking for an increase based on what I had accomplished. Many city clerks left or retired after last election. Many clerks salaries have gone up, particularly those looking for new city clerks. My job is not getting easier with some early voting changes. PM: it sounds like you need more help, has there been discussion about hiring? IS: I'm down a half a person, I have contemplated asking for more. Hoping to ask for an increse in pay along with an extra without asking for too much. Years ago we had 10 employees in the clerk's office, now we have less PM: Raising pay wont change number of hours, this is a two pronged issue. If your office needs more bodies to get through the work, we're not going to make elections easier, it's not going back. IS: that was my thought process, to see about making the part timer full time. I agree. At least this will compensate LM: Can you describe who does report to you and what their roles are in supporting IS: I have two assistants, one is clerk to council and another who works with elections, that only happened for one election. 2020 was all hands on deck it didn’t' matter what your role was. It's a lot of work, it's easy for residents but hard for clerk's office staff. Many titles are not definitive anymore. IS: I have an assitant clerk for elections, assistant registrar. We have a role posted for electiosn that speaks spanish. Room 3 and 5, those are my vital records people. I do some cross training with new people. There are lines in that office every day. JC: I hope you ask for more employees, working the polls is very eye opening. We should just based on competence and commitment. Competenant committed people are rare. You exemplify it. AM: need to be proactive, let's look at hiring CW: Minimum or maximum in Salem? LC: WE don’t right now, we look at what we can afford, what the job entails etc. CW: incredible institutional knowledge that is of high value TH: We need a motion LM: We should discuss goals first BM: My question is, are we changing the ordinance, we have competing ordiances JC: Moves to accept Second by AV CW – Yes JC – Yes LM – No AV – Yes TH - Yes 4-1 BM: all dept heads had 3%, what was the ask IS: not sure MR: dept request was 105 vs. 100 MR: want to circle back on staffing. Need more people, I fully support a staff increase along with whatever comes out of the council this evening. The workload has changed. A goal of efficiency is very important. CW: Would also support staff increases, there is an opportunity for digitizing records, use of technology IS: To respond, I have begun looking at agenda management companies, I have attended class. This was a large undertaking. There are some other options that are more adaptable to me. Councillor Morsillo and Ricardi will be joining me. I have some money in my budget for this, 23k. Open to learning, we have some rules we need to abide by, need balance, not against change. We need to balance what the software will do, leave paper trail CW: Is there a line item for the clerk particular to educational opportunities for clerk? Is there a dedicated line item? IS: There is not CW: Where does the money come from for training, conferences, classes? IS: I pay, sometimes there is money leftover that I can ask for reimbursement, generally it's out of pocket PM: Looking into agenda software, making things more efficient, the way clerk works with council. There are things we can and should be doing ourselves as a council. Sharedrive. We should all be able to find these items ourselves JC: old guy the room. Happy that some councillors are tech savvy. I have a suggestion, quarterly show on SATV to educate public about voting and access. PM: With new agenda software will come need for iPads, understanding we will not be printing, Ilene should not be printing. LM: appreciate the update from Councillor Morsillo. Great to be able to track what is happening in committee. Engaging Latino/Latinx community. Double down on this. We are in a very difficult hiring moment. No guarantees that we will find staff, work still needs to get done. BM: What are we trying to accomplish tonight? JC: motion 109k LM: Motion to increase by 3% to 102k, add 1,000 Stiped, CW: Looking to add a stipend for education. Trying to bring the clerk to where she needs to be JC: Move salary to 109K, 1.5k for education and travel BM: education and travel comes from a different part of budget BM: this is difficult, sorry for Ilene, she was at 97, last year looking for 105, asked for 9%, receive 3% BM: maybe you're looking at 7.5%, we need a rationale when we present to Mayor as to how we came up with our number, maybe 7.5% is the right number. State came through with lots of mandates that now fall on Ilene JC: 107.5K with $1000 elections stipend CW: 108K, seconded by councillor Cohen JC: compensate based on what value is not percentage IS: will I still receive the % increase from the mayor TH: not based on my undetstanding of the ordinance CW: did council recommend increase last year? IS: No, only from mayor CW: Despite the ordinance, you have always received the non union bump? IS: Yes LC: that's my understanding of why we're here, the council is setting CW: My motion is all inclusive of the increase JC: withdraw my motion LM: Councillor Watson Felt's motion is reasonable, second CW: Want more clarity, what does Ilene want? IS: I'm looking for 10% CW – Yes LM – Yes JC – No AV – No TH - Yes Vote: 3-2 CW – Motion – Pay increase recommended due to 3% Cost of living increase plus 5% increase based on Clerks ability to execute in complicated election processes, and her ability to execute remotely during COVID, and in gratitude based on her years of service to the city. Second by LM CW – Yes LM – Yes JC – Present AV – Present TH - Yes Vote: 3-2 Councillor Watson Felt Motion to recommend that goals set for the city clerk in FY23 include 1. Continue to make use of current technology in order to streamline processes and procedures in the clerk's office 2. Continue to work within her duties to ensure accurate, fair and accessible elections within state guidelines. 3. Continue to carry out all duties of the city clerk as prescribed by city ordinance 4. This is inlcusive of annual and ongoing goals outlined and set by city clerk Seconded by Councillor Varella IS: I abide by state guidelines when it comes to accessibility, LM: Much of what we have here is already in her job description which is why we love our City clerk JC: Many don’t have the same access that we think, the clerk has done so much within her own tools, we can all do better. CW – Yes JC – Yes LM – Yes AV – Yes TH - Yes On the motion of C. Watson Felt the meeting adjourned at ___________8:46____P.M. ________________________________________________________ (Chairperson)