Back to Advisory Committee Minutes
March 4, 2010 Meeting Minutes
Hingham Town Hall
Present: Committee Members Seelen, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Ellison, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Johnson, Lauter, MacCune, Marwill, Mooradian, O’Meara
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1. Call to order
Chair Jerry Seelen called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:07 PM.
2. Approval of Minutes for March 2nd and March 3rd
The Committee reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes for March 2nd and March 3rd 2010.
3. Personnel Board
Personnel Board Chair Michael Puzo provided an overview of the Personnel Board’s responsibilities, including the following highlights:
• Except for School Department employees, the Personnel Board is responsible for all Town Municipal-department collective bargaining
o Police Patrolmen
o Police Superior Officers
o Dispatchers
o Firefighters
o Public Works employees
o Library staff
• The School Committee is responsible, under statute, for collective bargaining with School Department employees
• In most other Commonwealth cities and towns, the Mayor, Town Manager or Town Administrator does Municipal-department collective bargaining
• Current Municipal department contracts expire on June 30,2010, except for those with the Police Patrolmen and Police Superior Officers, whose contracts were extended for one year at the same rates as FY10
o Although not contractually obligated to do so, the Town has agreed to assume responsibility for any unreimbursed portion of Quinn Bill funding for FY10 and FY11
Historically, the State has provided a 50% reimbursement to the Town for Quinn Bill payments during the fiscal year; that reimbursement percentage is now estimated to be ~11%
In response to a question about structural budget deficits, Michael affirmed that ‘aging’ communities with declining New Growth tax-levy revenue are experiencing difficulty funding historic collective-bargaining salary-increase parameters within the Proposition 2 ½ Tax Levy Limit calculated annually by the State Department of Revenue.
4. Warrant Articles
The following proposed Warrant articles were reviewed and voted.
# Proposed Article Committee Vote
4 Personnel Board Reports Affirmative – Unanimous
5 Salaries of Town Officers Affirmative – Unanimous
61 Petition Article: Eliminate Administrative Positions No Action – Unanimous
63 Petition Article: Selectmen, Five-Member Board No Action – Unanimous
1 Hannah Lincoln Whiting Fund Affirmative – Unanimous
2 Plymouth County Cooperative Extension Service Affirmative – Unanimous
20 By-Law Town Clerk Fees Affirmative – Unanimous
5. General Business
The Committee will next meet at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, March 9th.
6. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 10:23 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Jonathan R. Asher, Secretary