Transition task force discusses logistics of municipality employment

The meeting started with comments from the Center for Governmental Research Vice President and Director of Public Finance Joseph Stefko, who, addressing the TTF committee over the phone, discussed the role of subcommittees within the TTF, stressing the importance of prioritizing objectives.

“We need to make sure that we have not missed something that is mission-critical,” Stefko said. “We need to look at all these tasks through the lens of what we need to do immediately, what we need to do secondarily and the longer-term things.”

Members of the TTF were presented with the timelines of all the subcommittees and were given the chance to question and comment. Most comments were directed toward the personnel subcommittee as it presented its findings and recommendations for letting employees go.

TTF member Gary Patteson introduced several options the subcommittee considered, including voluntary separation, involuntary separation and an early retirement incentive plan. The personnel subcommittee recommended the involuntary separation option for non-police personnel from redundant departments within the municipality.

For the police personnel, the subcommittee is eliminating the early retirement incentive plan but could not make a clear recommendation at the time of the meeting. The subcommittee is also recommending that severance options be more generous than current policy but no more generous than two weeks per year of local service. The motion to pass this recommendation by the subcommittee was unanimously endorsed by the TTF.

Next on the agenda was the draft of the TTF budget by the joint finance subcommittee. The budget was estimated to be $149,050 for the TTF. The budget is primarily derived from costs of the Center for Governmental Research, KKS Architect — which is working for the Facilities and Other Assets subcomittee — and clerical support, among other miscellaneous costs.

“I don’t think we should take action on this draft right now,” TTF vice chairman and chair of the finance subcommittee Scott Sillars said. He said the finance subcommittee wanted to present the draft to other members of the TTF with the hopes that they would report back by email within the week to the finance subcommittee with their concerns or plans.

Finally, the various subcommittees reported on their meeting agendas and statuses. The communications and outreach subcommittee announced its intention to attempt to plan a meeting with the public so as to give them an opportunity to ask questions and comment on the status of the TTF. The public safety subcommittee also gave a report, as Chairman of the TTF Mark Freda commented on the ongoing communication between the University and the TTF with regards to policing and public safety.

“We need to make sure it is crystal clear what to do [regarding] public safety,” Freda said. “The University offered to help with dispatching. Public safety is going to look into what the options are for outsourcing dispatching.”