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07-01-1985 Special ~ o Q CITY OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MERIT BOARD MEETING JULY 1, 1985, 4:00 p.m. MINUTES Mr. Gold called the Special Meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Walter Gross Frank Carignan Russell Gold Cecilia Stevens Excused Present Present Present Also present were Connie Martinez, City Clerk/Administrator, Sgt. Lenz, Demetricia C. Isaac, and Barbara Rufer, Secretary. The purpose of the meeting is to hear an employee's request for evaluation review. Mr. Gold asked Mrs. Isaacs why she felt her evaluation was not fair. Mrs. Isaac replied that at this time she had a lot more responsibility with dispatching and records. She feels as a dispatcher, she was a very good one. On records, she feels she does a pretty good job, but as a daily routine she is a dispatcher and has the responsibility of records also. She is maintaining both jobs and she feels she works hard at what she does. She has even offered to come in on weekends to work records to keep it caught up. Mrs. Isaac stated that her evaluation is unjust. Mr. Carignan questioned Sherry Read's job responsibilities when she worked for the department. Mrs. Martinez explained that her title was records clerk, however she also served as secretary to the Chief. Mr. Carignan asked what Mrs. Isaac's rating was, records clerk or telecommunicator? It was determined that she is serving a temporary assignment as records clerk and she is in a Grade 9 on the pay scale. She has been in this position since January, 1985. Mr. Gold asked Mrs. Isaac what specific areas she is in disagreement with. Mrs. Isaac spoke to the board on" the areas of Effectiveness Under Stress. She explained that she has a lot of stress to handle and she feels she does very well and deserves a 4 in that area. Consistency of Performance, she said she never slacks down her work, she felt this should also be a 4. Personal Relations with Public and Personal Relations with Co-workers, she stated that a 5 is pretty high, but she does a good job there. She listed the following categories, which she felt she should have received 4's in: Judgment, Dependability, Accepts responsibility, Commitment, and Integrity. She agreed with the top portion of the evaluation sheet. Sgt. Lenz was asked to give his comments. Sgt. Lenz voiced his opinion on Mrs. Isaac's handling of stressful situations, stating that he has received comments of concernfrom officers of the communications not being clear. He explained the seriousness of this category, due to the fact that an officer could get killed or a fire situation, and so forth. Mrs. Isaac stated that she has never been counseled for this nor have any of the officers mentioned it to her, and she has such a relationship with most of the men , they would have mentioned something like this to her. Her recollection was that she received a 4 on her six months evaluation in this area. Sgt. Lenz read from the Merit Ordinance, under the employee evaluation form explanation sheet: "The purpose of an employee evaluation is to take a p~rsonal inv~ntor~, to pin point weaknesses and strengths and to outllne a practlcal lmprovement program. periodically conducted these evaluations will provide a history, development and progres~." He went on to say that this is the purpose of an evaluat7on, when,a weak~ess comes to light, it shows up on the evaluatlon, we dlSCUSS lt and we decide on a plan of action. o Q Mr. Gold questioned the counseling forms. Sgt. Lenz explained when a problem arises on a shift, the supervisor of the shift communicates that to the employee, and it is straightened out. He stated that the last several months, a complete explanation of the merit plan has been given to the supervisors, as far as the use of performance logs, counseling statements, etc. There is a lack of paperwork, however he can bring officers over who have brought this to his attention. Mr. Carignan asked if this was brought to Mrs. Isaac's attention? S~t. Lenz replied he is not aware if it has or not, he has heard it h1mself and is aware of the problem. He said he has complied with the section of the merit plan evaluation with the explanation of pinpointing the weaknesses and everything else. Sgt. Lenz justified his giving her a 3 in Consistency of Performance by saying that he feels it meets standards, but is not above average. He does not think in six months on the job, with no formal training, no formal guidelines to follow that we could really say that the consistency of performance exceeds the standards. We are maintaining status quo. At this time there was conversation between Sgt. Lenz and Mrs. Isaac regarding insurance money, payroll paperwork and gas logs. Sgt. Lenz again stated he doesn't feel we are exceeding standards. Mrs. Stevens questioned the 3 on Integrity. Sgt. Lenz stated he did not wish to remark on this at this time, he would make that as his statement, with reservation. Sgt. Lenz justified his giving her a 3 in Judgment and Dependability by relating an incident to the board regarding Mrs. Isaac's not coming in on a Saturday or Sunday, after she had said she was. The board also heard Mrs. Isaac's comments on this matter. She explained at Sgt. Lenz's insistence, that she called in and told the dispatcher on duty that she could not come in, this is what all the employees in the department do. Sgt. Lenz justified his giving her a 3 in Commitment, by again explaining this goes hand in hand with judgment and dependability and he feels she meets standards but does not exceed them. Mrs. Stevens pointed out that Mrs. Isaac received 79 on her evaluation and 85 is required to be upgraded. Sgt. Lenz informed the board that Mrs. Isaac's salary has gone from $4.87 to $5.69 within the past year, explaining when the merit plan went into effect she was raised on the plan, an increase was received at her six months evaluation and then from telecommunicator to records clerk. Mrs. Stevens asked Mrs. Isaac if she felt, on a whole, that this job was too much for one person? Mrs. Isaac said it definitely is. Mr. Carignan asked Mrs. Isaac about her prior training for this job. Mrs. Isaac answered that she has basically trained herself, calling the appropriate businesses to obtain information. She explained that Mrs. Read had given her some training, as far as copying, and citations. She did not have any training on payroll. Mr. Gold asked Mrs. Martinez if she met with both of these parties before approving this evaluation. Mrs. Mar.tinez explained the procedure, that she only gets the evaluation after it has been completed and signed by both parties. -2- Special Merit Board Meeting July 1, 1985 Minutes o Q Sgt. Lenz expelled on a question from Mr. Carignan regarding whether the records clerk and the telecommunicator should be two separate jobs? The records clerk basically does the records clerk job, as people go on vacation, the records clerk fills in. This is approxi- mately nine weeks out of the year, presently Mrs. Isaac has been doing both jobs, however this situation is relieved as of tonight, with the new dispatcher coming to work. After tonight she will only have to dispatch when someone goes on vacation. Mr. Gold questioned whether Sgt. Lenz would be re-evaluating Mrs. Isaac. Sgt. Lenz explained that Sgt. Britain will be in charge. There was discussion regarding whether Sgt. Britain is familiar with the duties of Mrs. Isaac. Sgt. Lenz informed the board that he did tell Mrs. Isaac that she could request a re-evaluation within 90 days, however she preferred coming to the Merit Board. Mrs. Stevens asked Mrs. Isaac if she has any further comments. Mrs. Isaac expressed that it is nearly impossible to dispatch and get everything out that has to be done. She has been informed by Supervisor Garvey that dispatch comes first, records comes second. No one, except the Animal Control Officer, has offered her any assistance. There is no problem when she can fully do one job or the other, 40 hours a week records or 40 hours a week dispatch. She doesn't feel it is fair to be judged on both jobs. Sgt. Lenz stated both jobs parallel each other, you carry things like judgment from one job over to the other. He believes the merit plan is just what it says; it is based on merit. He doesn't feel that after only one year on the job, a person could be way above average. He feels he has correctly shown the areas of strength and weaknesses on this evaluation. There was further discussion about the plan and how it works, there was discussion about re-evaluating Mrs. Isaac, as per the plan. Mrs. Isaac commented that she would rather just be in one classification, she is just one persoh, it would be different if all dispatchers learned about records so they could help out there also. Mr. Gold commented that it seems to be an administrative problem. The matter at hand is whether or not you shold be re-evaluated within 90 days. Mr. Carignan explained to Mrs. Isaac that it is not the Merit Board's place to decide whether records clerk and telecommunicator should be two separate 40 hour jobs or whether you go back to telecommunicating. That is between you and your supervisor. We can only decide whether you should consider the re-evaluation. Mr. Gold recommended that she be re-evaluated in 90 days. Mr. Carignan said this is about all we can do. Mrs. Stevens added this will give her time to determine if all of this is too difficult for her, and she also will have the opportunity to start off fresh with a new supervisor. Mr. Carignan made a motion that Mrs. Isaac be re-evaluated in 90 days, effective from June 17, 1985 and go from there, being seconded by Mrs. Stevens. Motion CARRIED 3-0. No further business was scheduled for this meeting. a motion to adjourn, being seconded by Mr. Carignan. Mrs. Stevens made Motion CARRIED. Meeting adjourned. -3- Special Merit Board Meeting July 1, 1985 Minutes Minutes Submitted by: Barbara Kowall