10/21/1970 Special Town Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 4 Special Town Meeting October 21, 1970 Article 9 Ctd. : Garland speaking. It is our feeling, however, that this request, along with others which we feel will come, should be delayed until annual town meeting in March. K. O'Connell : The Board of Selectmen went along with the request in this article , because if Article 13, approved by the Personnel Board, is passed, as I believe it will be , you will have persons on the Highway Department working at a higher salary than the Surveyor. Floor : ( ?Fitzgerald) What is the PersonnelBoard' s recommendation? Bode : (Chmn. Personnel Bd. ) Ladies & Gentlemen, I am Henry Bode , Chairman of the Personnel Board. Our Board had a discussion of this matter. The Personnel Board deals mainly with appointed personnel. We don' t think the By-laws clearly define who takes care of elected officials . This is an elected official. There- fore we bow out in this case of an elected town official. Garland: We are talking about a matter of a few weeks only wherein members of the Highway Department will be making more money than the Surveyor himself. Therefore, we feel that any increase in the salary of an elected official should be postponed until annual town meeting in March. z K. O 'Connell : This inequity has been in existence for some time, it will not just now be happpening. Members of the highway department get paid for overtime, for,., nstance, and if the chief works around the clock, he gets no more. The inequity already exists. Bode : This is true in the Police Department also. Members of the Police Department had take home pay amounting to more than the chief; . We still feel, however, salaries of elected officials should be voted on in March, after in-depth counselling between the Personnel Board and the Finance Committee prior to annual town meeting. Floor : (Woman) Why wasn' t all this considered at a previous time? K. D. O 'Connell : Consideration of these matters has been given, previously, all town employees were given raises once this year - a 5% increase across the board for everybody - which was to suffice until the newly organized Personnel Board had a chance to go over wage scales and make their determinations . No definition was given, however, between elected and appointed town personnel. All accepted the 5% increase across the board. This is why it was not done then. Moderator : Article 10 has been moved and seconded to be accepted as read.