Personnel Committee

1 PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Monday, March 3, 2025 3 (Approved Version) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order 6 The March 3, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee was called to order by Chair Louise 7 Howson at 10:00 A.M. 8 9 Agenda Item No. 2. Roll Call 10 Present: Chairperson Howson and member Nate Bell. Lilly Orozco was excused. 11 12 Staff: Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer and Clerk Heidi Teich 13 14 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of the Agenda 15 A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Howson that the Agenda for the March 3, 2025 meeting of the 16 Personnel Committee be approved as amended to move item C to the front. Motion carried – All ayes. 17 18 Agenda Item No. 4. Approval of Minutes 19 A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Howson to approve the minutes of the February 5, 2025 and 20 February 19, 2025 meetings of the Personnel Committee as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 21 22 Agenda Item No. 5. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 23 Bell shared correspondence received from Nick Deviley, 10438 Orchard Dr, in which he 24 requested that Personnel meetings be recorded. No additional comments were shared. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 6. Discussion/Action Items 27 c) Discuss Contracts for Employees 28 Howson stated the purpose of this discussion is to arrive at a consensus that the committee 29 would like to move forward with the development of employment contracts for staff. In doing 30 so, they need to make it clear to the Village Board why employee contracts are necessary and 31 which employee positions, besides the village administrator, should be offered a contract. 32 33 Bell articulated that a contract offers employees certainty in their positions and lessens the 34 pressure they may feel to act for fear of losing their position. It also provides continuity of 35 government. He added that the contracts should spell out the terms that would cause someone 36 to lose their position and provide for a severance package. 37 38 Howson read from a statement that an employment contract cannot replace the “at-will” 39 condition of employment for a municipality. The committee will pursue a legal interpretation 40 of this statement. 41 42 The committee discussed various terms that could be included in a contract, such as 43 commitment of time in the position if the employee received specialized training, varying 44 timelines for providing notice when someone leaves a position, and the possibility of a 45 departing employee to provide training for their replacement. 46 47 Bell suggested that each contract contain general language outlining the terms of a severance  Minutes of the March 3, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee - approved 1 package and suggested that it be a multiplier of the time notice is provided. For example, a 90- 2 day notice would result in a 6-month severance, a 60-day notice would result in a 4-month 3 severance, or a 30-day notice would result in a 2-month severance. 4 5 Schmelzer suggested that the contracts contain language that prevents a departing employee 6 from speaking disparagingly of the village after leaving. It was noted the Employee Handbook 7 contains many expectations of employee behavior so that should be clearly referenced in the 8 contract. 9 10 The length of a contract was debated, with options to offer a set number of years or leave it 11 without an end date entirely. The contract could auto-renew or simply continue if no action is 12 taken by either the village or the employee. Either party can give notice of non-renewal of the 13 contract by providing a minimum of 90- or 120-days’ notice. 14 15 The committee will seek examples of employee contracts from neighboring municipalities and 16 use those to draft a contract for their use. They will also seek assistance from the municipal 17 attorney’s office to ensure that a contract is legal and enforceable. In the meantime, the 18 committee recommended a general discussion with the village board at its meeting in March. 19 In addition to explaining to the board how a contract would provide security for staff and 20 continuity for the village government, the committee would like to explore if there are 21 employee incentives to offer along with it. The contracts would be offered to staff in 22 supervisory or managerial positions, or holding a state-mandated position. The committee will 23 consult with the village’s counsel to see if contracts can be offered retroactively to current staff. 24 25 a) Review Personnel Handbook Updates 26 A proposed draft of the Sister Bay Employee Handbook was included in the meeting packet. 27 Howson asked if this discussion could be delayed until Orozco is able to participate and Bell 28 agreed. Schmelzer did request that staff revise the document in such a manner to replace 29 personal pronouns with more general references such as “the village” and “employee” as 30 applicable before it is formally addressed by the committee. Howson and Bell concurred. It 31 was noted that going forward this document will be referred to as the Employee Handbook. 32 33 b) Review Personnel Committee Bylaws 34 The committee has been working over the past couple months to revise the description of the 35 Personal Committee as appears in the Rules of Order & Organization for Sister Bay 36 Committee/Commissions. A final draft was included in the meeting packet. After a brief 37 discussion, it was the consensus of the committee that the following changes be made to the 38 description presented: 39 40 Personnel Committee* (A Standing Committee) 41 The Personnel Committee shall consist of three trustees. The Personnel Committee shall: 42 (a) Consider and review all matters relating to wages, hours, fringe benefits and conditions of 43 employment for Village employees, including discipline, promotion and job descriptions; 44 (b) Act on grievances submitted by employees and be the arbitrator between the employees and the 45 Village Board; 46 (c) Review requests for new positions from committees; and, 47 (d) Prepare an annual budget and submit it to the Finance Director to present to the Finance 2  Minutes of the March 3, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee - approved 1 Committee. 2 The committee shall also: 3 1. Approve, implement, and maintain a mechanism for the performance evaluation of 4 employees as outlined in the Employee Handbook. 5 2. Review and establish employee recruiting, hiring and retention procedures, including 6 review of resumes, observation of interviews of department heads by a member of the 7 committee (typically the Chair) or their designee, and participating in all Department 8 Head Exit Interviews. 9 3. Recommend compensation schedules to the Finance Committee. 10 4. Develop, approve and annually update personnel policies in the Personnel Employee 11 Handbook as needed. 12 5. Consider recommendations from the Village Administrator for the organizational 13 structure and staffing levels of Village departments. 14 6. Review departmental requests for creation, deletion, reallocation, and changes in 15 position (not an individual). 16 7. Periodically review employment application forms and hiring guidelines. 17 8. Responsible for recruitment and hiring of the Village Administrator. 18 9. Conduct an annual performance evaluation of the Administrator and make 19 recommendations to the Board as outlined in the Employee Handbook. 20 During the discussion, it was noted that additional details of the role of the Personnel 21 Committee beyond this description should be included in the Employee Handbook to prevent 22 the possibility of future discrepancies between the two documents. 23 24 This description will be forwarded to the village board for final approval. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 7. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, official 27 or employee. 28 It was the consensus of the committee that the following items be addressed at a future meeting: 29 • Continued discussion on employee contracts 30 • Review of the revised Employee Handbook 31 • Review drafts of revised staff evaluation templates 32 33 Agenda Item No. 8. Next Meeting Date 34 The next regular meeting of the Personnel Committee has yet to be determined. 35 36 Agenda Item No. 9. Adjourn 37 A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Howson to adjourn the March 3, 2025 meeting of the Personnel 38 Committee at 10:54 A.M. Motion carried – all ayes. 39 40 Respectfully submitted, 41 42 Heidi Teich 43 Village Clerk 3