Special Board of Aldermen 03-14-2018 Page 9
personnel meeting because we did have the HR person there as well as the personnel merit
employee board. But this project has been on-going for the last 10 years. And the people in HR as
well as Personnel Board have been working on this for the last year and a half. And | know there is
some concerns, nothing is perfect as Mr. Marcoux mentioned about contracts. But if we don’t put
something in place this is going to sit here for an even longer period of time. That means cost
analysis and raises are going to be a lot different. So my feeling is that we put this and take a vote,
approve this, and put some stipulations that the HR Department as well as the Personnel Board take
up these concerns from these half a dozen or so staff people and come back to the Personnel
Committee with their recommendations findings.
| have to say as the member of the Board of Alderman but prior to that | worked for the City for 40
years, and | know it’s difficult wnen we were dealing with this back when they started with the Hay
report, we were not always happy, but we also understood that the Board of Aldermen is not the
dictator of where people are in positions and salary scales and what have you. So | just want to make
sure that we are all working as a team, we certainly want to keep our employees, we want to keep
them happy, but we also have to think about the tax payers and our budget as a whole for the City.
So | hope that my colleagues will move forward with this so that we can take the next step to help our
merit employees, 122 people, get back on to a grids and pay raises and plans for the future. Thank
you.
Alderman Dowd:
So I’m not a member of Alderman Caron’s committee but | was here that evening and | know this has
been going on for many years. | was interested and asked several questions and they were all
answered to my satisfaction and | fully support this.
Alderman Harriot-Gathright
| was one of the persons that was receiving e-mails about this particular 18-008 and | do have a
concern and | think there was a gentleman that said he had a concern as well. So | did talk to
Alderman Caron and as she stated that she would like to see this pass but it’s really not the end
because it’s going to go back to the committee and HR to try to work out something with the people
who were very unhappy about the move and the pay scale change.
President McCarthy
Mayor Donchess do you want to address how that will be handled after?
Mayor Donchess
Well it certainly would be possible for HR, Mr. Budreau who happens to be here as well as the
personnel advisory board to go to the committee and discuss any issues. That would be no problem.
Now whether that would result in changes is a different matter, but certainly the issues that have been
raised can be discussed with the Personnel Committee.
Alderwoman Wilshire
| think with that said | will support this. | got a few phone calls today and some e-mails about this and
some issues that weren’t brought up before us when we met with the Personnel Advisory Board and
the HR manager Mr. Budreau. | agree with Alderman Caron, | think we need to get this plan moving
forward and | would welcome them to come to the committee and discuss any of the issues that were
brought up via e-mail or phone calls today because there are concerns. We are doing this so we can
keep people, have them on a level playing field with other communities. You know, you’ve heard that
we’ve lost teachers because some of the same issues and I’d rather not lose some of the good people
we have working over at Public Health and the Police Department, people that were affected and will
