Personnel Committee

1 PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Thursday, October 14, 2025 3 Approved 4 5 1. Call to Order 6 Chair Louise Howson called to order the Personnel Committee meeting on Thursday, October 14, 7 2025 at 2:00 PM. 8 9 2. Roll Call 10 Present: Chair Howson and members Kurt Harff & Brigid White. 11 Staff: Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer and Village Clerk Julie Thyssen. 12 13 3. Approve Agenda 14 Motion to approve the agenda by Harff, second by White. Motion carried – all ayes 15 16 4. Approve Minutes: September 10 & 24, 2025 17 Motion to approve the minutes of the September 10 and September 24, 2025, meetings by White, 18 second by Harff. Motion carried – all ayes 19 20 5. Comments, Correspondence and Concerns from the Public 21 No public comments, correspondence, or concerns were presented. 22 23 6. Discussion/Action Items 24 25 a. Personnel Handbook Revisions: Harassment Reporting 26 Schmelzer presented the revised harassment policy, explaining that after a harassment incident at the 27 marina, changes were needed to improve the reporting options for employees. The primary changes 28 included: 29 ● Clarification of payment in lieu of benefits, confirming it would be based on employer contribution 30 to a single plan rather than a family plan 31 ● Updated harassment policy that: 32 ● Provides options for employees to report harassment without requiring formal action 33 ● Creates Type I and Type II reporting designations 34 ● Includes harassment by members of the public 35 ● Adds provisions for confidentiality 36 ● Includes specific provisions regarding harassment of minors with reference to applicable statutes 37 White inquired if the recent marina situation involved a member of the public, which Schmelzer 38 confirmed, noting that a public member had touched an employee. 39 Harff expressed approval of the dual reporting system and the option for employees to simply 40 document incidents without requiring further action. 41 Motion to accept the amendments to the employee handbook as written by White, second by Harff. 42 Motion carried – all ayes 43 44 b. Employee Contracts 45 Schmelzer presented revisions to employee contracts which included clarification of when the 30-day 46 notice period begins in case of termination. The changes specify that termination would become 47 effective 30 days from the notice of termination, applying to both village-initiated and employee- 48 initiated termination. 49 White inquired about section 7c regarding termination for cause, confirming that this provision would 50 only apply to department managers, treasurer, and clerk positions, not all village employees.  Minutes of the October 14, 2025, Meeting of the Personnel Committee - Approved 1 Schmelzer explained that contracts would be offered to current department heads, treasurer, and 2 clerk but would not be mandatory for existing employees. New hires for these positions would be 3 required to sign the contract. She also noted that the employee handbook would need to be updated 4 to reflect these contract changes. 5 Motion to forward the contract to the Board and amend the handbook accordingly by Howson, second 6 by White. Motion carried – all ayes 7 8 c. Job Descriptions 9 Schmelzer presented several job description changes including: 10 ● Adding grant writing to the Village Administrator's job description 11 ● Replacing references to "Finance Director" with "Finance Specialist" in multiple job descriptions 12 ● Removing duties from the Utility Clerk position that were not actually performed 13 Howson questioned whether the Village Clerk was responsible for entering timesheet information, 14 which Schmelzer clarified belongs to the Treasurer's responsibilities. 15 Schmelzer also recommended a comprehensive reformatting of all job descriptions to create 16 consistency, noting that the current descriptions vary widely in format. She suggested updating skill 17 requirements, education requirements, and adding components addressing emotional intelligence 18 and job stress factors. 19 Motion to accept the updated job descriptions and direct clerk Julie Thyssen. to reformat all job 20 descriptions over the winter, with future review by the Personnel Committee to examine skill 21 requirements, knowledge requirements, emotional intelligence components, and other content by 22 Howson, seconded by White. Motion carried – all ayes. 23 24 d. Recruitment Assessment 25 Schmelzer presented the preliminary results of the village administrator assessment conducted by 26 Public Administration Associates (PAA). She noted that six staff members and three trustees had 27 completed the assessment, with results showing a focus on community development and zoning 28 experience. 29 Howson mentioned that a reminder had been sent to trustees who hadn't yet completed the 30 assessment. She also expressed interest in comparing staff responses versus trustee responses to see 31 if expectations aligned. 32 Schmelzer emphasized that the assessment would be valuable during the interview process to keep 33 the committee focused on the identified priorities rather than being swayed by personality. 34 35 7. Matters to be Placed on a Future Agenda or Referred to a Committee, Official or Employee 36 The committee referred to the Clerk the task of reformatting job descriptions to create a consistent 37 template. 38 39 8. Next Meeting Date: November 12, 2025 @ 2:00 pm 40 The committee tentatively scheduled the next meeting for November 12, 2025, at 2:00 pm, with 41 Schmelzer noting she would not be present. The committee acknowledged that a special meeting 42 might be called before that date depending on administrator recruitment progress. 43 44 9. Adjourn 45 At 10:37 AM a motion was made by White, second by Harff to adjourn. Motion carried – all ayes. 46 47 Respectfully submitted by Julie Thyssen, Village Clerk 48 2