Showing posts with label personnel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personnel. Show all posts
October 3, 2013
Rydingsward seeks info on every city worker
March 13, 2010
City workers need evaluations, councilors say
Thirty years ago, the city decided to create a merit pay system that would allow high-performing department heads to earn up to $1,000 extra every year for doing a stellar job.
What happened instead, perhaps predictably, is that everybody who could earn the extra cash got it after performance reviews showed they were uniformly terrific at their jobs.
When somebody got shortchanged one year, a political firestorm erupted, and officials agreed in the late 1980s to resolve it by dropping the evaluations completely while continuing to hand out the bonuses.
Read the whole story here.
*******
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
What happened instead, perhaps predictably, is that everybody who could earn the extra cash got it after performance reviews showed they were uniformly terrific at their jobs.
When somebody got shortchanged one year, a political firestorm erupted, and officials agreed in the late 1980s to resolve it by dropping the evaluations completely while continuing to hand out the bonuses.
Read the whole story here.
*******
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
February 17, 2009
A city board may be axed next month
City councilors are likely soon to eliminate Bristol’s Personnel Appeals Board.
Though the change would eliminate a layer of bureaucracy on paper, its practical impact is virtually nil.
The panel hasn’t met “in a very long time,” Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said, though it tried to hold a session about eight years ago but couldn’t muster a quorum.
The board’s purpose is to allow non-bargaining unit employees who want to appeal a firing or suspension to make their case, but most these days would simply use a union grievance procedure.
The proposed change would hand the responsibility for dealing with appeals to the Salary Committee instead.
“It’s a good idea. I think it makes sense,” city Councilor Frank Nicastro said
Nicastro said some might say the revision opens the door for councilors “to play politics.”
But, he said, “I don’t believe that” will happen if the three-person salary panel handles the appeals instead.
Ferguson has said it makes more sense for the appeals to go to a committee that at least meets regularly and knows how the personnel system operates rather than pleading to a panel that hasn’t met within memory.
“It’s a committee that has not been called on in many, many years,” Ferguson said.
The Salary Committee unanimously endorsed the proposal last week.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 2, 2008
Personnel Appeals Board to get the boot
The Personnel Appeals Board is likely to be abolished, but it’s doubtful anyone will notice.
The panel hasn’t met in at least 12 years, said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, a former mayor who chairs the city’s Salary Committee.
Officials are looking into the technicalities of dumping the board and letting the Salary Committee pick up the slack, such as it is.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said that axing the board would allow non-bargaining unit employees who want to appeal a firing or suspension to make a case to the Salary Committee.
She said it makes more sense for the appeals to go to a committee that at least meets regularly and knows how the personnel system operates rather than pleading to a panel that hasn’t met within memory.
It tried one time some years ago, Ferguson and Richard Lacey, a city lawyer, recalled. But the board couldn’t get a quorum so it gave up trying.
Nicastro said the proposal to dump the board “has a lot of merit” and deserves serious consideration.
One point that arose when the Salary Committee discussed the issue recently is that department heads are covered by a union contract that lays out who has the power to order them to do anything.
They would appeal grievances and punishments through their union, Ferguson said.
Several officials pointed out there is no role for the proposed chief operating officer in the union contracts, leaving it unclear how someone in the new job would have any clout over the municipal supervisors he’s supposed to oversee day to day.
“How’s the COO going to be able to do his job?” asked city Councilor Cliff Block, who opposes the position’s creation.
Nobody offered an answer.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
September 18, 2008
No fees for city job seekers
A proposal to begin charging job seekers at City Hall a fee fell flat this week.
“There’s other ways we can save money,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the Salary Committee.
The salary panel killed the request because its members feared that imposing a fee for those seeking to take the police and fire tests – the first step toward getting a public safety position in Bristol – could potentially keep good people from coming forward.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said that charging about $12 an applicant would bring the city about $2,000 annually, an idea she said was spurred by Mayor Art Ward’s request that department chiefs look for ways to bring in new revenue to cover costs.
Many municipalities in the state charge fees for entry level police and fire tests, Ferguson said, including West Hartford, which imposes a $20 charge; New Britain, which asks for $35; and Waterbury, which socks residents for $75 and out-of-towners for $100.
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski suggested that if Bristol opted to begin imposing fees, it should ask for $10 from residents and $15 from those hailing from other towns. He said it would probably average out to about $12 per applicant that way.
Ferguson said there are about 100 applicants annually for firefighter jobs and usually a bit less for police positions.
Hitting them up for the expenses involved would be “a way to cover some of the costs for the testing,” Ferguson said.
City Councilor Cliff Block said that he worries that if the city begins requiring a fee, some qualified people won’t bother to apply.
“I don’t want to deter anyone,” Block said. “I’d like as many people tested as possible so we get the best and the brightest.”
Block said that the $2,000 or so the city might get from test-takers is “not going to make much of a difference in the budget.”
“Not the way you vote,” Rimcoski responded.
But Rimcoski agreed that the $2,000 the city might gain is “peanuts” in the big picture.
Nicastro said he had “mixed feelings” about the issue, but that Block had made a good argument for leaving the system the way it is.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
“There’s other ways we can save money,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the Salary Committee.
The salary panel killed the request because its members feared that imposing a fee for those seeking to take the police and fire tests – the first step toward getting a public safety position in Bristol – could potentially keep good people from coming forward.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said that charging about $12 an applicant would bring the city about $2,000 annually, an idea she said was spurred by Mayor Art Ward’s request that department chiefs look for ways to bring in new revenue to cover costs.
Many municipalities in the state charge fees for entry level police and fire tests, Ferguson said, including West Hartford, which imposes a $20 charge; New Britain, which asks for $35; and Waterbury, which socks residents for $75 and out-of-towners for $100.
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski suggested that if Bristol opted to begin imposing fees, it should ask for $10 from residents and $15 from those hailing from other towns. He said it would probably average out to about $12 per applicant that way.
Ferguson said there are about 100 applicants annually for firefighter jobs and usually a bit less for police positions.
Hitting them up for the expenses involved would be “a way to cover some of the costs for the testing,” Ferguson said.
City Councilor Cliff Block said that he worries that if the city begins requiring a fee, some qualified people won’t bother to apply.
“I don’t want to deter anyone,” Block said. “I’d like as many people tested as possible so we get the best and the brightest.”
Block said that the $2,000 or so the city might get from test-takers is “not going to make much of a difference in the budget.”
“Not the way you vote,” Rimcoski responded.
But Rimcoski agreed that the $2,000 the city might gain is “peanuts” in the big picture.
Nicastro said he had “mixed feelings” about the issue, but that Block had made a good argument for leaving the system the way it is.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
July 11, 2008
Ax city's Personnel Appeals Board?
Whatever the Personnel Appeals Board may be, it's safe to say it isn't busy.
City Councilor Frank Nicastro said the panel hasn't met in at least 12 years.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson and Richard Lacey, a city attorney, said there was a time when it tried to have a meeting, but members couldn't get a quorum so the session never happened.
Nicastro said that the Salary Committee - which consists of three city councilors -- should look into taking over the functions of the appeals board to simplify city government.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
City Councilor Frank Nicastro said the panel hasn't met in at least 12 years.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson and Richard Lacey, a city attorney, said there was a time when it tried to have a meeting, but members couldn't get a quorum so the session never happened.
Nicastro said that the Salary Committee - which consists of three city councilors -- should look into taking over the functions of the appeals board to simplify city government.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)