Personnel Committee

1 PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Tuesday, May 13, 2025 3 (Approved Version) 4 5 The May 13, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee was called to order by Kurt Harff at 1:22 6 P.M. Nate Bell was present in an Ex-officio role as there is a vacancy on the committee. Also 7 present were Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer and Clerk Heidi Teich. 8 9 Due to a lack of voting members at the start of the meeting, Schmelzer proceeded to provide an 10 overview of the committee activities over the past several months to inform Harff, who is new 11 to the committee, of the current business at hand. Louise Howson arrived at 1:53 P.M. and the 12 following motions were then made: 13 14 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Bell that the Agenda for the May 13, 2025 meeting of the 15 Personnel Committee be approved. Motion carried – All ayes. 16 17 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Howson to approve the minutes of the April 8, 2025 meeting of 18 the Personnel Committee as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 19 20 21 Agenda Item No. 6. Discussion/Action Items 22 a) Review Employee Handbook 23 The committee has spent some time reviewing and updating the Employee Handbook for the 24 Village of Sister Bay. A final revision was prepared after the April Personnel Committee 25 meeting and then shared with staff for feedback. Suggestions suggested by staff were reflected 26 in the draft included in the packet for this meeting. 27 28 During discussion on the draft employee handbook, Bell questioned the inclusion of gossip and 29 offensive behaviors as part of item 5 under the heading “Inappropriate Behavior,” retitled as 30 “Misconduct,” as those are not clearly defined terms and can be viewed from various 31 perspectives. Schmelzer explained that any report of harassment from an employee must be 32 investigated and felt comfortable leaving the terms in this section. Howson provided 33 information she researched from the National Labor Board, and the term “gossip” was removed 34 from the draft. 35 36 Discussion continued on those sections of the handbook referencing “Gifts and Gratuities,” the 37 removal of a specific company name under “Timekeeping,” the value of donated time in the 38 event an employee receives PTO hours from other staff under “Family and Medical Leave,” the 39 addition of “Bereavement Leave” and the removal of the redundant language referencing long 40 distance phone calls under “Personal Communications.” 41 42 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Howson to recommend to the village board that the employee 43 handbook be approved as presented and amended at this meeting. Motion carried – all ayes. 44 45 b) Contracts for Supervisors 46 The committee has been considering developing employment contracts for village 47 supervisors/department heads. President Bell presented the idea at a recent Department  Minutes of the May 13, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee - approved 1 Head/Manager’s meeting on April 16, and comments shared by staff were included in 2 Schmelzer’s staff report provided in the packet. It appears that staff are not opposed to 3 contracts but would like to see how they are presented before making any firm decisions. The 4 committee discussed how contracts would include standard language that applies to all, but 5 each department would have additional language specific to their roles. 6 7 The committee identified the need to research a legal interpretation of employee “at-will” 8 status. Schmelzer shared a League of Wisconsin Municipalities interpretation that stated “at- 9 will” status can be replaced by an employment contract depending on the wording of that 10 contract. 11 12 Howson would like to gather some sample contracts, and Bell has several administrators 13 contracts already, to share at a future meeting. Schmelzer also has access to a ListServ that she 14 can inquire of for other types of contracts, not necessarily those of an administrator. 15 16 c) Parks Staff Temporary Wage Increases 17 The Parks Department staff lost an employee to an interagency transfer at the start of the year. 18 Rather than filling the position, the Parks Director and his staff requested that they try to 19 complete the season without an additional full-time staff member in exchange for an increase in 20 wages. The department currently has four full-time staff, which includes the Director, and two 21 part-time staff. Schmelzer noted that one of the challenges of filling another full-time position 22 is the seasonality of the job, in which the winter months hold far less work than in the summer 23 months. 24 25 Discussion on an appropriate wage to compensate the three full-time Parks Maintenance 26 employees for added work during the summer months (through October) ensued. A minimum 27 suggestion was made to offer at least $500 to $750 per month. Bell suggested calculating a rate 28 based on the charge-out rate of the vacant employee divided among the remaining full-time 29 staff. 30 31 Staff was directed to do some calculations based on the current charge-out rate (salary plus 32 benefits) of the vacant Parks Technician position and provide those to Howson for review. The 33 committee agreed that Howson would make the final determination of the temporary wage 34 increase if the calculations are not found to negatively impact the amount budgeted for this 35 year. 36 37 A motion was made by Howson, seconded by Harff to temporarily increase the wages of the full-time, 38 non-exempt, Parks Department employees, retroactive to April 1, 2025, as determined by the Personnel 39 Committee Chair after reviewing the calculations requested of staff. Motion carried – all ayes. 40 41 d) Administrative Assistant Update 42 The village received multiple applications for the vacant administrative assistant position. Two 43 applicants were interviewed, and both were found highly capable of filling the role. An offer 44 was extended to one candidate, and a background check is pending. 45 46 Agenda Item No. 7. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, official 47 or employee. 2  Minutes of the May 13, 2025 meeting of the Personnel Committee - approved 1 It was the consensus of the committee that the following items be addressed at a future meeting: 2 • Review and discussion on sample employment contracts 3 • Continuing discussion on employee evaluation forms 4 • Possible bonus for administration staff assuming duties of former administrative assistant 5 • Preliminary discussion on 2026 budget considerations 6 • Approval of the employee handbook will be referred to the Village Board 7 8 Agenda Item No. 8. Next Meeting Date 9 The next regular meeting of the Personnel Committee will be Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 11:00 10 A.M. 11 12 Agenda Item No. 9. Adjourn 13 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Howson to adjourn the May 13, 2025 meeting of the Personnel 14 Committee at 2:38 P.M. Motion carried – all ayes. 15 16 Respectfully submitted, 17 18 Heidi Teich 19 Village Clerk 3