Committee Report - Legislative Matters - 9-10-12 — File 193665

September 10, 2012 Legislative Matters Committee Page 1 of 3 Printed 9/11/2012 REPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE MATTERS COMMITTEE MEETING AS A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Rebekah Gewirtz Chair Present John M Connolly Vice Chair Present Bruce M. Desmond Alderman At Large Absent William A. White Jr. Alderman At Large Present Thomas F. Taylor Ward Three Alderman Present William M. Roche Ward One Alderman Present Maryann M. Heuston Ward Two Alderman Present Tony Lafuente Ward Four Alderman Present Sean T. O’Donovan Ward Five Alderman Present Robert C. Trane Ward Seven Alderman Present Dennis M. Sullivan Alderman At Large Present Omar Boukili Administrative Assistant Present Sarah Kloos Director of Personnel Present Frank Wright City Solicitor Present Tony Pierantozzi Supt. of Schools Present Mary Jo Rossetti Ward 7 School Committeeman Present Tom Bent Advisory Board Member Present Phil Ercolini Advisory Board Member Present Rob Haley Collins Center Present Mary Aicardi Collins Center Present Stephen McGoldrick Collins Center Present Sandra McGoldrick Advisory Board Member Present Ed Bean Finance Director Present Gerald McCue Advisory Board Member Present Isaac Machado Machado Law Firm Present 193632 - Requesting the amendment of Ordinances 2-322 and 2-323 pursuant to the Municipal Compensation Advisory Board recommendations: The Municipal Compensation Advisory Board (MCAB) was charged with the task of providing oversight and final approval of a project, undertaken by the Collins Center at the University of Massachusetts, to design a classification and compensation system for non-union employees working for the City of Somerville. The project was initiated to comply with an ordinance

Committee of the Whole September 10, 2012 Legislative Matters Committee Page 2 of 3 Printed 9/11/2012 requirement to convene the MCAB in every even numbered year and to update job descriptions and compensation too recruit and retain qualified staff and to reward high employee performance. For the FY07-FY13 period, the average base increase for union employees ranges from 9.33% to 27.34%. From FY07 to the present, non-union employees have not received a salary increase. The project involved • interviewing employees, • reviewing job descriptions, • rating/grading positions based on difficulty, complexity and responsibility, • surveying salaries in comparable communities to develop salary ranges (Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Lowell, Malden, Melrose, Newton, Quincy and Waltham), • assigning pay ranges, • implementing pay scales based on an employee’s current pay, years of city service and years of service in the position, • establishing years of service adjustments, • recommending adjustments to bring salaries to market ranges, • tying movement through pay scales to performance appraisals, (requiring new city policy articulating standards and training to assure accurate and standardized performance appraisals). The effective implementation date of this proposal is July 1, 2012, with future step increases on July 1 of subsequent years. (New hires would follow a different schedule.) The following information was requested by the committee: • a breakdown of the number of non-union employees who have left the city’s employment (Alderman White), • information regarding whether exit interviews were conducted (Alderman White), • the operating budgets of the compared communities, the number of employees in each of those communities, including a breakdown of union vs. non-union employees in each (Chairman Gewirtz), • information on where employees who left the city’s employment went to work (Chairman Gewirtz), • a breakdown of departments showing the number of employees who left the city’s employment during the past 5 years and where those individuals went to work (Chairman Gewirtz), and

Committee of the Whole September 10, 2012 Legislative Matters Committee Page 3 of 3 Printed 9/11/2012 • a salary benchmark from the cities/towns within Route 128, from the Mass Municipal Association, to measure this study’s recommendations (Alderman White). RESULT: KEPT IN COMMITTEE