The Personnel Department serves all of the employees of the Town that are appointed by the Board of Selectmen, the Town Manager, the Comptroller, the Town Treasurer, the Town Clerk, and the Board of Assessors. The Department administers the Town’s compensation and benefits programs, deals with a wide variety of issues relative to quality of life in the workplace, and seeks to improve the effectiveness of town services by recruiting the best employees and reviewing and improving the Departments’ organizational structure.
The Department handled personnel transactions relating to sixty-four positions that included: retirements, resignations, promotions, vacancy postings and advertisements, interviewing, selection, and enrollment of new employees.
The Town only had eleven new hires and six promotions in the year 2002. Bracing for the poor economic forecast, the town elected to leave many positions vacant. In the summer the Director of Personnel worked closely with the Public Works Director on the creation and implementation of an organizational restructuring of his department. This reorganization resulted in the promotion of 6 individuals with minimal budgetary impact to the Town.
In October of this year, the Board of Selectmen voted to adopt the state’s early retirement incentive. The adoption of this plan enabled ten individuals to retire with an extra three years of service to their credit. Regular retirements and the early retirement incentive resulted in twenty-seven individuals leaving the Town. Among those who left under early retirement were Town Manager Philip Farrington and Public Works Director Richard Bento. The staff of the Personnel Department looks forward to playing a vital role in the recruitment and selection of exceptional candidates to fill current vacancies within the town when our resources allow for it.
In 2003 the Department of Personnel intends to be supportive to the administration and employees of the Town during these financially difficult years. The Department will also look to play a larger role in the evaluation and analysis of health insurance matters for the Town. The Department’s new Benefits Administrator, Anne M. Milici will be working with the Director to ensure the Town’s compliance to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that are set to go into effect in the spring of 2003. The Department will also be busy working through the expiration, adoption, and implementation of six collective bargaining agreements.
Affirmative Action Advisory Commission
The Town of Arlington has established the following mission statement relative to Affirmative Action:
The Town of Arlington recognizes its legal obligation and moral responsibility to provide Equal Employment Opportunity to its employees and potential employees.
The Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, a volunteer committee appointed by the Town Manager, is committed to the Affirmative Action program to prevent discriminatory employment practices. The Committee assists the Town in implementing its Affirmative Action Plan that creates the mechanism and sets the standards by which Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action will be assured.
The Committee received and reviewed monthly reports from the Director of Personnel/Affirmative Action Officer regarding the Town’s hires. The principal focus of the Committee is to ensure that people of all races and ethnic backgrounds are given equal opportunity to apply for and receive positions of employment with the Town of Arlington.
The Committee continues to try to increase the number of minority and female applicants for positions of employment by posting positions in publications that serve different minority communities in the area. The Committee is always seeking new ways to improve outreach and welcomes input from any party who may have an idea about how to move forward in this goal.
The Committee closely monitored the Peirce School Elementary School Project to ensure that the Contractor and all sub-contractors are making a good faith effort to be in compliance with minority participation goals of the State and Town. The Committee spearheaded the passage of a five percent female participation goal in town construction projects at the 1999 Annual Town Meeting and continues to be very concerned about the low rate of female participation on the Peirce School Project.
The Committee has begun to monitor minority and female participation in all construction projects of over $200,000. The Committee looks forward to monitoring the Reed’s Brook, Water Rehabilitation and Town Hall Gardens projects in 2003.
The Affirmative Action Advisory Committee (AAAC) ordinarily meets at 7:30 P.M. on the second Wednesday of each month in the Town Hall Annex. These meetings are open to the public and attendance is encouraged. The Committee is currently seeking to fill two vacancies. Dr. Franz Browne retired from the Committee in November. Dr. Browne had served on the Committee from its inception and he will be missed greatly.
Any person interested in the issue of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employment is encouraged to contact the Affirmative Action Officer at (781) 316-3121 or cmalloy@town.arlington.ma.us.
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