z - Retired - Administration Committee

approved 2015­3­5 Administration Committee ­ Meeting Minutes Thursday, January 8, 2015 4:00 pm Call to Order: ​ 4:00 by Trustee Scott ­ as this was the meeting directly following the Finance Committee the Pledge of Allegiance was waived. Roll Call:​Chair­Sue Senicka, Bruce Barker, Jinny Szymski, Tom Mulhearn, Spencer Parker, Larry McIntyre, Steve May, Jill Ziegler, Bob Scott, Glen Liljeberg, Cathy Crane, Alicja Richards, Jim Gunther, Dave Weiss, and Ron Gunter. Guests:​Larry Forssberg­WCCTB, Julia Cohen­WPL, and Joellen Earl­GovHRUSA (4:50pm) Late Arrival:​Harold Barry (5:10pm) , Guest: Frank Trout(5:10pm). Pledge of Allegiance Minutes approved f​ rom the September 18, 2014 and the October 29, 2014 meetings:​ ​otion to M approve =​ ​st Senicka with a 2nd Barker 1 Old Business: N ​one New Business: A. Compensation Study ​ Presentation/Update:​This item will be postponed until last, as the consultant is stuck in the snowy weather traffic. B. Government Transparency Section on Website ​ Policy: T ​rustee Nero was notified by a citizen’s watchdog group that for transparency, the Village of Westmont has received a rating of F, for failure. Trustee Nero asked Communications Director McIntyre to work on improving the website so that the Village was not at a failure rate. Director McIntyre stated that the list was gone through and 80% of the items have been resolved ­ items not attended to are due to a previous board not wanting that information made available on the website. A specific, salary information and contract information. Trustee Senicka stated that she believed the salary ranges with positions were to be listed per last years review of this group’s requests, just not the name of the employee or the actual salary? Director McIntyre did not recall this direction being given. Director Parker believed that the direction was to have a notice on the website that salary information is available at the clerk’s office. Trustee Senicka replied that she remembers it being that the title and range were to be on the website, not the person’s name. Trustee Baker asked if anyone had asked for the information? Deputy Clerk Richards said that no one has asked to view the total compensation report. Manager May said that this was only an issue if we wanted a higher score from this group? Mayor Gunter said that we should put things online in phases, not all at once. Director McIntyre said that everything has been done already. IT Manager Liljeberg stated that some of the items have been fixed, not all. There were items that the group dinged us on that were there they just couldn’t find so it was made more obvious. The Mayor said that we are compliant by law, this is just a small group that has comments on transparency, not a legal matter. Discussion employee privacy rights compared to what this groups is asking to be public. Trustee Scott asked how we compared to other communities. Only 7 communities have 100% of this group out of the whole state. Trustee Scott asked if we have anyone calling up to complain about this? Director Parker asked for clarification as to the board direction regarding employee salaries being posted. The consensus was to leave it as it is, a listing in the clerk’s office. Manager Liljeberg would like to scan and upload all the older agenda packets, Director Parker stated that this would be a huge undertaking as the older packets were not public packets so that the necessary items were not redacted for resident privacy. It would be a large undertaking and a lot of staff time. C. Community Bulletin Board Publishing Guidelines ​ Policy L​ibrary Director Coen from the Westmont Library and Director McIntyre have been working on publishing guidelines for electronic signage/bulletin board notices. The initial guidelines of priority were decided that #1 is the Village and Library, #2 other taxing bodies, and #3 being service organization and nonprofits. Attorney Zemenak suggests that we do not include nonprofits. A not­for­profit can be a political party or organization that we would prefer not to promote but would be unable to refuse based on our policy. So what is being proposed is a priority #1 (about 1/2 the messages on the board) are from the Library or the Village or affiliated with the Village or Library. Trustee Senicka feels that we should open this up to Westmont service groups and charities, just have a locked up policy that protects us against outside organizations. An inclusive community builder is what the sign was to be and if we can’t have all the organizations post their information it is disappointing. Director Parker stated that the faith based organization’s items can be difficult in the separation of church and state lines. Trustee Barker said that many of the faith based items would not be appropriate based on that, however if it is something the Village is sponsoring it should be allowed on the sign such as Red White & BBQ and the St Patrick’s Day parade type of event. Mayor Gunter said that 75% of the items from Lions Club, Rotary, and so forth are sponsored by the Village so that they would be on allowable. Trustee Senicka still believes that Girl Scout Troops. Boy Scout Troops, baseball teams and School functions will be missed in the community building aspect of the signs. Village Manager May stated that we have to have guidelines to protect this from politics and controversial items, there is no way around it. Mayor Gunter reminded everyone of past problems with organizations looking to be included in things. Communication Director McIntyre asked Library Director Coen if the she was okay with the language being proposed. She agreed with the draft, reminding that it does need to formally go before the Library Board, as they have only seen the draft. The sign in front of the Library is being paid for by the Library, while the matching sign at Fire Headquarters is being paid for by the Village. Finance Director Parker believes that the next step is to have an intergovernmental agreement between the Library and the Village. To go out to bid it should be done in tandem to get the best price. Trustee Barker asked about the technology of the sign, is it expandable? IT Manager Liljeberg said that it is a long term sign not something that will need things changed out quickly, the panels are easily changed out. HR Manager Crane asked if this was an internal policy or an ordinance? Finance Director Parker stated that this is an internal policy with broader language in the intergovernmental agreement. Trustee Senicka wanted to make sure that we are not disallowing other taxing bodies? Finance Director Parker responded that other taxing bodies are part of the Village and will be allowed to promote their events. Police Chief Mulhearn asked about Amber Alerts? IT Manager Liljeberg commented that the direct feed of this type of alert will be a part of the RFP. Finance Director Parker stated that the sign policy will have state that there is no commercial advertising, private events (marriage proposals) etc... it will be community driven. That is staff’s recommendation at this time. There are no further questions. D. Community Gateway Signage ​ Policy (Service clubs, athletic champions, etc.) V ​illage Manager May discussed the desire for gateway signage on the north and south village boundaries on the large corridors would be more difficult as there is no village property. Wayfinding along downtown and Ogden Avenue we would like there to be similar features for all signage. At this time we would like decisions as to what we would like acknowledged on these signs? Local service organizations, athletic accomplishments, special citizen birthdays, etc... The basic question is what do we want to acknowledge and for how long do we want the signs up? Mayor Gunter asked where the athletic signage would be posted, along the Oak Tree area? Manager May responded that this is certainly a possibility. This question came up with a resident that wanted a athletic accomplishment sign to be posted again, after it was taken down. Guidelines need to be established, we can’t just say it needs to be posted by the school ­ as we cover 5 school districts in 4 towns we have no jurisdiction over the other towns. The Mayor stated that the state winner sign that was up for years on Cass Avenue was put up over 5 years ago. If we did that for everyone that wins state, without a policy on length of service, Cass Avenue would be littered with signage. At this time, we need a policy or process. Trustee Scott commented that we don’t want our gateway sign to look like Elmhurst’s ­ it is so crowded and sloppy that you can’t even see what each one says. Trustee Barker asked if someone could do the research to see how many Westmont resident student’s have won state at the various schools? Village Manager asked Communications Director McIntyre if he had reached out to the schools for that information? Director McIntyre said that he did reach out to the schools and he did not get any answers from the schools. Trustee Senicka asked how far back do we want to go? Mayor Gunter remarked that there use to be service club signs at the borders before we expanded, and the service clubs maintained those signs. So the question before us is do we want a policy, do we want signage around town? WCCTB Executive Director Forrsberg believes that a recognition is what is being requested, so a plaque at Village Hall might be a better way to recognize outstanding achievements than a street sign. The Mayor said that the community room would be a great place for that. HR Director Crane said we have a lot of wall space around, placards would be a great way to do it. Communication Director McIntyre said that you want to bring a sense of community and have street signs to promote your athletes to visitors. Chief Mulhearn said that you can’t commit to signs being up forever, it has to be taken down eventually, even the schools do that. Trustee Senicka said maybe we could put something up for 30 days. Mayor Gunter feels that the service clubs should be asked if they want a small sign up at the gateways representing their association, something nice for Rotary and Lions. Community Development Director Ziegler announced that we will be meeting with the designers next week and maybe they could recommend something. Trustee Senicka believes that there are a lot of ways to acknowledge the athletic accomplishments of our residents: channel 16, invite them to a board meeting, neighbors magazine and so forth. We do not have to have a permanent sign up for each team/athlete. Mayor Gunter commented that DG Boys Volleyball won state and a lot of Westmont residents were on that team. Trustee Scott said this all sounds like a good project for the Park District! Mayor Gunter would like a policy, as we will have parents that will push and push. At this time, we can only respond that we have a policy in the works. Ideas will be gathered and we will revisit this. Trustee Barker feels that the parent that is requesting the signage will need to be called to know that we are working on it. Communications Director McIntyre said that he has been in contact with the resident and will reach out again to let her know that the Village is in contact with a designer that will be working on the gateway signs and it will be a part of this. Mayor Gunter said that might be a part of the gateway, we are not committing to that, but it definitely will not be a part of our downtown. The signage of athletes is not to be up and down Cass Avenue. Trustee Scott commented on working it into the budget. Trustee Senicka remarked on Neighbors magazine and other options. Compensation Study ​ Presentation/Update:​The consultant is almost here. Reports: Chair: ​ The chair is not here today so there are no chair reports. Manager:​Village Manager May would like to make sure that everyone understands that we do shop local when the items are available ­ there is no formal policy however we have been doing this since Manager Botch implemented this in 1986. We have a relationship with Bales and will always shop there first, willingly paying 10% more than a vendor outside of town might charge, if they have what we need. If not, we go to Home DePot. Trustee Barker said that it came up at Westmont First. As he was not around when Ray Botch was Manager, he was not aware of this practice. It will be nice to go back to the committee with this information. Clerks: ​ Business licenses have gone out and the county has sent information that the economic interest statements can now be done online. Communications: T ​he survey that went out on the Village Motto has 56 people that want to change it, 28 that are on the fence, and 24 that want to keep it. This is part of our branding process so I wanted to give an update on that. The website has been updated through the end of April. This is due to the new trustees starting in May so we need to inquire of their availability. Information Technology: ​ The background of the homepage on the website is of Ty Park and has been up there for years so we would like to change it out. It was designed at the time, so it would be a minimal cost to change it out. Discussion of the pictures and the differences ensued. This background will be up for the last year of the design contract and we will be redesigning the website at that time. Communications: ​ We will have our next customer service meeting next week with staff and then we would like to have another inservice day after that. We have also had the employee awards for last year, so one employee will be chosen and honored at the community awards banquet. Compensation Study ​ Presentation/Update: J​oellen Earl of GovHRUSA arrived at 4:50pm, having been stuck in traffic due to the snow. Ms. Earl presented a status update on the compensation study. The survey went out on November 19th and the analysis is in process. The scope of work was reviewed. A survey instrument of over 40 positions was created sent to the comparable municipalities requesting salary data and position definitions. Each position is then reviewed for responsibilities/duties as like titles do not mean the positions are equal. The goal is to compare apples to apples. At this time the job descriptions and classifications are being reviewed and a recommendation will be presented with all the data in a draft form. The surveys were sent to communities with similar populations, proximity, financial factors, and other data. There are 14 communities that are an 85% match to Westmont, these were surveyed. Mayor Gunter asked if that was a large enough pool to issue? Ms. Earl said that to do any analysis requires 3 key data points, use to working with between 10 and 20 community matches. There are 4 communities that have not responded. The Fire Department is a challenge, and there are other positions that are unique in job title that will be analyzed by duties for comparison. If there are not enough data points, we will consider these positions to be inclusive and will not do an analysis on them. Mayor Gunter asked if in the case of a position that does not have a match in the 14 communities if GovHRUSA would go to other communities and find a match? Ms. Earl responded that that they would not. There were 2 ways to do a salary range for a particular position, 1 is to look at the market (the 14 communities) and the other is internal comparability. Ms. Earl stated that the job descriptions will be reviewed with HR Director Crane to confirm the classification salaries rank. Then, where the position falls on the classification plan will determine the High Mid and Low range of salary recommendation for the position. We have surveyed over 40 positions and there are only a few that are not comparable to the community pool information. Those positions were discussed and reviewed. HR Director Crane asked if the study would include any private sector information. Ms. Earl stated that can be a possibility, however you run into the problem that private sector is not always willing to share their information, it is not possible to FOIA, and in the private sector there is only a few positions that would have comparable duties in the private sector, such as some types of management, clerical or IT. Trustee Senicka asked if the private sector comparable would be from Westmont companies? Ms Earl stated that what they would do is look at the largest employers for proximity and employee population, financial information is not readily available. If anyone has relationships with companies that you feel would be comparable, your relationship with the company might make it easier for GovHRUSA to get information insuring the company that the information would be kept confidential. Mayor Gunter asked if it wouldn’t be beneficial to see what a larger community was paying for a comparable position? Ms. Earl replied that it would not be comparable as that community would have a different ability to pay. Mayor Gunter replied that it would be the same for private companies. Ms. Earl agreed and said that any private company information received would be informational, a caveat, and not worked into an analysis. Mayor Gunter stated that he would prefer a snapshot of a larger community, not worked into the analysis. It would be more valuable than the private sector. Chief Weiss asked if the Fire data was limited by the communities surveyed? Chief stated that only one of the communities on the list has a fire department. Ms. Earl replied that she had received a reply from that community, however she can not do an analysis with only one response. As it is not common, the analysis will focus on an internal comparable position. HR Director Crane would like a separate meeting with the Fire Department and the Finance Director to review. The analysis of positions and job descriptions have been reviewed with HR Director Crane. A review and recommendation on the classifications and the wage adjustment system. The final draft report will be presented after these steps are completed. HR Director Crane asked at what point will we talk about the performance management system, would that be Phase 2? Ms. Earl confirmed it would be Phase 2. Human Resources:​HR Director Crane updated the committee on the status of positions. There are 2 new hired employees, a police officer and a mechanic. There are interviews this week for the Building Commissioner position and will continue on into next week. The Records Clerk position will be posted this week. Trustee Senicka thanked HR Director Crane and Ms. Earl for the presentation and Ms. Earl for coming out in such bad weather. IT:​IT Manager Liljeberg gave an update on the new camera and alarm system installations. Motion to Adjourn​ : So moved Clerk Szymski and seconded Trustee Scott