Personnel Committee

MINUTES PERSONNEL COMMITTEE AUGUST 27, 2020 VERONA CITY HALL 5:30 P.M. 1. The meeting was called to order by Chad Kemp at 5:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call: Heather Reekie, Chad Kemp and Charlotte Jerney were present. Also present: City Administrator Adam Sayre, Human Resources Coordinator Mitch Weckerly, Library Director Stacey Burkart, and Fire Chief Dan Machotka. 3. Approval of the minutes from the July 14, 2020 Personnel Committee meeting. Reekie requested that the mention of “Step It Up” be amended to read “Step Up”. Motion by Reekie, seconded by Jerney, to approve the minutes of the July 14, 2020 Personnel Committee meeting, with the amendment requested by Reekie. Motion carried 3-0. 4. Discussion and Possible Action Re: Position description and reclassification of Library Assistant position. Burkart explained an employee is currently performing the duties of this position. She is requesting to reclassify the employee to this position and move the employee to Grade 6. This adjustment is accounted for in the 2021 budget. Discussion followed regarding the fact that this reclassification is a natural outgrowth of job duties. Reekie stated she will vote yes for this item, as no change to the City’s current pay scale is being requested as part of the reclassification. Motion by Kemp, seconded by Reekie, to recommend approval of the position description and reclassification of Library Assistant position. Motion carried 3-0. 5. Discussion and Possible Action Re: Proposed City of Verona Fire Department organization structure changes. Chief Machotka explained the types of calls to which the Fire Department responds, as well as the staffing required for each. The department also relies on Automatic Aid from surrounding communities when not enough personnel are available to respond to a specific call. The average Verona personnel response is four for the engine company, plus 3.27 personnel that are called from home. The current staffing organizational chart was reviewed, showing vacancies in the Deputy Chief of Support Services and Assistant Chief of Training positions. The proposed staffing organizational chart was reviewed. The proposal maintains the staffing for the engine company and creates three career Battalion Chief positions from the Deputy Chief positions and Assistant Chief positions. Part-time Assistant Chiefs, part-time Lieutenants, and part-time Firefighter positions would remain as they are. Additional personnel would also be added over the next eight years to begin staffing a second truck. These changes would help the department reach state and national firefighting standards.  Reekie asked if the Battalion Chiefs could substitute for one another by flexing their hours, rather than hire three new full-time positions. Machotka replied the career Battalion Chiefs would each work 24 hours on/48 hours off, which would cover six days of the week. Part-time staff would cover the seventh day. Jerney stated she likes the proposed organizational chart, and asked if new personnel would be added, or if this would just be a reorganization. Machotka replied the Battalion Chief of Operations would be a replacement for his former position. The other two Battalion Chief positions would be new positions. Kemp asked when the City would see the effects of the ask for a Battalion Chief of Training. Machotka replied January 1, 2021. Sayre stated the immediate need is to get the Battalion Chief of Operations position filled. The ask for the Battalion Chief of Training for 2021 would need to go to the Finance Committee during budget discussions. Kemp stated he is in favor of filling the Battalion Chief of Operations position now. Jerney asked if there are certain benchmarks regarding when additional equipment and personnel should be added. Machotka replied according to the state and national standards, they should already have been added. A large fire or line-of-duty injury could force the City’s hands. He wants to responsibly grow the department to the needs of the community. Reekie asked if the consulting company, McMahon Associates, Inc. put the proposed organizational chart together. Machotka replied he created the chart by considering the needs of the community, along with input from Jeff Roemer of McMahon Associates, Inc. It was helpful to receive input from someone looking in from outside the department. Jerney asked if the Battalion Chief positions could be filled by current staff. Machotka replied it is possible, but it is important to make those decisions based on who is best suited for each position. Motion by Kemp, seconded by Jerney, to approve the proposed City of Verona Fire Department organization structure changes. Motion carried 3-0. 6. Discussion and Possible Action Re: Position description, compensation and recruitment of Battalion Chief of Operations position. Machotka explained this would change the description of his former Deputy Chief of Support Services position to that of the Battalion Chief of Operations position. In addition, the pay scale would drop by two grades. Weckerly stated after Machotka updated the position description, he went through the PAQ process and determined that the position graded out at grade 16, which starts at $66,629.30 and tops out at $82,778.95 annually based on a 40-hour work week. Jerney asked if the other two Battalion Chief position descriptions would be similar to the Battalion Chief of Operations description.  Machotka replied they would be similar in terms of the leadership and managerial aspects of the positions. Staff in these positions will have the ability to help each other out as needed, as well. Motion by Kemp, seconded by Jerney, to approve the position description, compensation and recruitment of Battalion Chief of Operations position. Motion carried 3-0. 7. Discussion and Possible Action Re: City training opportunities. Weckerly explained members of the Employee Wellness Team piloted an employee training program led by Step Up: Equity Matters. To date, five members of the Wellness Team have participated in two of the three online training courses offered by Step Up: Equity Matters. The purpose of the pilot was to measure the effectiveness and impact of the courses. The four main takeaways from the Wellness Team were that the courses were relevant to their work, that the information and skills discussed in the courses were actionable both inside and outside of work, that the learning objectives of the courses were clearly defined and met, and that they would recommend the training to their peers. The City’s insurance company, CVMIC, has announced a collaboration with Step Up: Equity Matters. This is important because through that collaboration, employees will have access to training through Step Up: Equity Matters for no additional cost. Tentatively, CVMIC will offer one Step Up: Equity Matters course in November 2020, one in December 2020, and one in January 2021. After January 2021, CVMIC will be working with Step Up: Equity Matters on other courses and modes of training. Step Up: Equity Matters also offers courses to the public online for those employees that are unable to attend the training through CVMIC. Each course is approximately two hours in length. Reekie asked what the ongoing continual training will consist of. Weckerly replied employees could be assigned to take at least one of the courses, but they would be able to take all three through the CVMIC program, if they wished. Step Up: Equity Matters offers other courses, as well. Jerney asked if, once the trainings are completed, a report can be presented at a Common Council meeting for the purpose of informing the public of the City’s commitment to its Resolution to Decrease the Effects of Institutionalized Racism. Kemp replied that information could be posted in the same places where the City makes the rest of its public notices. Reekie stated this is a great start, but she is not sure that it will lead to the City hiring more people of color in higher level positions in the City, or that these trainings will be enough. She would like to see this program continue and expand into the future for existing employees and new hires. Jerney asked if this training should be compulsory. Weckerly replied it could be very easily implemented into the City’s orientation plan with new hires. Though he agrees that this training should be ongoing, the important thing initially will be to set expectations and deadlines. Reekie stated the Institutes for the Healing of Racism is offering online programming, and may be an additional resource for training in the future.  The consensus of the Committee was to move forward with the training program as discussed. 8. Discussion and Possible Action Re: Recruitment outreach practices. Weckerly updated the Committee on recruitment outreach practices. In reaching out to other communities regarding their outreach strategies, he found there are three strategies that are most common. One strategy is relying on building partnerships and sharing job opportunities with local organizations that represent under represented populations in the community. The City is maintaining a list of contacts from local and statewide organizations that support these demographics in the community, and sharing job opportunities with those contacts. Another strategy that communities are using is to utilize websites and recruitment services that help facilitate sharing postings with targeted demographics. The City is also using some of these sites already, such as the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) website. A third common strategy is to participate in job fairs sponsored by local community diversity organizations or DWD. This is something he will look at for the City’s participation in the future. Weckerly added that a company named Surface offers a subscription service called “The Local Recruiting Package”, which uses the website “Jobs in Madison.com”. All of our job postings will automatically be picked up and listed on their website. In addition, they have partnerships with over 950 community organizations throughout Wisconsin, many of which provide employment services and training to target demographics. Suitable postings job postings will be sent to those organizations, as well. The cost of a six-month contract is $2,300. The service provides report cards of their outreach activities. The report cards do not, however, show the results of the outreach efforts. The State of Wisconsin uses this service for nearly all of its diversity outreach. He anticipates an increase in applicants from using this service. Reekie stated she is concerned because it is difficult to measure the results of this service. She also believes that we have to work to make the City more enticing to people of color to want to live and potentially work. She asked if there are any efforts on the part of this service to aid in retention of employees once hired. She would be more interested in using this service for recruitment of higher level positions within the City. Weckerly replied the service does not delineate between the types of job positions. The City as a whole will need to work at making this an environment where people will feel comfortable and want to remain. Jerney stated since we are not hiring anyone at this time, and the City does not have a great deal of turnover, perhaps we should wait on this. Sayre stated he is not sure if the City has the volume of recruitment to justify the service. Kemp agrees that it may be worth looking into when there are some open positions to fill. Reekie concurs that the service may not be justified, and suggested that the City use the contacts already in place. 9. Adjournment: Motion by Reekie, seconded by Jerney, to adjourn at 6:57 p.m. Motion carried 3-0. Ellen Clark, City Clerk