Human Resources & Safety Committee Meeting Minutes – July 20, 2017

For your consideration, please review the minutes from the Human Resources & Safety Committee Meeting that was held on Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 10:00 am in the Commission Meeting Room.

Human Resources & Safety Committee Minutes with Attachments 7-20-17

to read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above, or you may see more below:

Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water & Sewer Commission

1703 Gloucester Street, Brunswick, GA 31520

Commission Meeting Room

Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 10:00 AM 

HUMAN RESOURCES & SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES

PRESENT:                          

Cornell Harvey, Chairman                                     

Donald Elliott, Chairman of Commission

David Ford, Commissioner

Jimmy Junkin, Executive Director 

ALSO PRESENT:               

Charles Dorminy, Legal Counsel

John Donaghy, Chief Financial Officer

Pam Crosby, Director of Procurement

Tom Boland, Sr., Deputy Director

Cindy Barnhart, TSI

Jeffrey Singletary, TSI

Baylie Lane, TSI

Daphne Gable, TSI

Catina Lewis, TSI 

ABSENT:                             

Cliff Adams, Commissioner                                       

Chairman Harvey called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM.  

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

There being no citizens that wished to address the Committee, Chairman Harvey closed the Public Comment Period. 

APPROVAL:

1. Minutes From June 1, 2017 Human Resources & Safety Committee Meeting

Commissioner Elliott made a motion seconded by Commissioner Ford to approve the Human Resources & Safety Committee Meeting from June 1, 2017.  Motion carried 3-0-1. (Commissioner Adams was absent for the vote.) 

2. Human Resources Policy Revisions – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented a package containing recommended revisions to the Human Resources Policies to the Committee for approval to move forward to the full Commission.  The revisions are a result of the changes in the Compensation Plan that were adopted by the Commission back in April of this year. He noted that most of the changes have to do with the revision of the employees’ introductory period from 6 months to one year.  Mr. Donaghy then briefly reviewed each of the revisions to the Human Resources Policies with the Committee. There were a couple of additional small changes recommended, regarding the use of the word “merit”. Committee Chairman Harvey noted a few concerns he has regarding some of the policies as he read them, and how they relate to the employees, and mentioned that he would like to meet with John Donaghy and Cindy Barnhart to discuss those concerns.

Commissioner Elliott made a motion seconded by Commissioner Ford to move the current changes to the policy to the full Commission for approval.  Motion carried 3-0-1. (Commissioner Adams was absent for the vote.) 

DISCUSSION:

1. BGJWSC Employee Health Benefit Package – C. Lewis, TSI and D. Gable, TSI

Catina Lewis from Teamwork Services, Inc. presented a brief review of the background regarding the selection of the new insurance carrier and benefit packages for the current year.  Due to savings and the type of plans offered this recommendation was made.  Ms. Lewis continued to provide the details of the two medical plans that are offered to the JWSC employees, and noted the deductibles offered of $1,000.00 and $500.00 of which are low in the current market as compared with the average deductible of $2500.00 to $3500.00.  Additionally mentioned was that due to the fact that this RFP was placed, bid and moved on properly, JWSC did not have any increases to pass down to the employees, therefore for this year the employees’ deductions either stayed the same or went down a bit. Ms. Lewis did note an issue that was found, which was that Southeast Georgia Health System changed its group of emergency room doctors as of January 1, 2017. This group of doctors is out of Florida, had a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, and it was thought that this contract would transfer, however it did not.  This caused an issue on some claims where even though the hospital was in network, the emergency room doctor was not, so they were considered out of network and the full deductible was going to the employee. Ms. Lewis worked with the CEO of the SGHS and resolved the issues with those claims and they have all been turned around.  As of July 1, 2017 this emergency room group did sign with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia.  Ms. Lewis also briefly discussed the Prescription Plan and explained some of the details of the workings of that plan.  Daphne Gable provided discussion regarding orientation process and working with the employees on familiarizing them with how the various plans work and details they may want to consider when the plans change from one carrier to another.

2. BGJWSC Education Assistance and Incentives Policy – C. Barnhart, TSI

Cindy Barnhart from Teamwork Services, Inc. presented a discussion to the Committee regarding the Education Assistance and Incentives Policy from Section 5.6 of the BGJWSC Employee Handbook.  She noted that it does provide learning opportunities and financial incentives for employees who have completed one year of regular employment. Ms. Barnhart continued to brief the Committee on the program provisions as stated in the policy.  She provided to the Committee a copy of the form which employees are required to complete and return for approval to participate in the education program, and briefly discussed it. Additional details of the requirements and provisions of the Education Assistance and Incentives Policy were noted and discussed as they are stated in Section 5.6.  Chairman Harvey questioned who has the final authority to approve or disapprove an employee’s request for the educational assistance.  Mr. Junkin advised that he has the final authority for approval.  There was additional discussion regarding superintendents’ approval for items coming from their division budgets, and their management of budgeted items such as educational assistance.  It was further noted by Chairman Harvey that if the Executive Director has the final authority for approving an employee for the education program and financial assistance, then that funding for reimbursement should come from the Executive Director’s budget.  Discussion continued that the money for higher education should be placed in and come from the Executive Director’s budget.  Licensing and certification courses and costs will continue to remain within the various division budgets and under the approval of the superintendents.  There was additional discussion regarding required licensing and the timelines for employees obtaining their licensing for continued employment.  Also noted were clarifications needed on the form that employees provide for the final request for higher education reimbursement.  This subject matter will be further met on.

3. Recruiting and Termination Statistics – B. Lane, TSI

Baylie Lane from Teamwork Services, Inc. discussed the Recruiting and Termination Statistics report with the Committee.  She noted that there were currently 8 positions posted, and gave the details of those positions as well as the sources of posting, the number of applicants for each, and closing dates where applicable.  Ms. Lane mentioned that there have been a total of 735 applicants year to date for various JWSC open positions. She also noted that there have been 3 new hires since the June Committee meeting, of which were the Wastewater Mechanic, Accounts Payable Coordinator, and the Customer Information Systems Analyst. The termination statistics were provided by division, of which there was a total of 3 terminations since the last Committee meeting in June.  Ms. Lane tracks various JWSC applicant information and provided two new visuals for the Committee.  The first was a line graph indicating the total number of applications received each month, and this graph shows a monthly comparison between the year of 2016 and the current year 2017.  The second visual was a pie chart indicating “Source Statistics” providing the sources where applicants find out about open positions and the percentage of applicants for each source.

4. Safety and Accident Statistics – J. Singletary, TSI

Jeffrey Singletary from Teamwork Services, Inc. presented the current BGJWSC Workers’ Compensation Claims Statistics to the Committee.  He noted that as of July 28, there have only been 2 injuries resulting in workers’ compensation claims.  Additionally, he mentioned that in 2015 and 2016, JWSC was already at 12 accidents at this same time of the year for each of those years. There are still 3 open claims from 2016, and one from 2014 that has been reopened.  At this time, this is all that is open for workman’s compensation claims.  The frequency of incidents is down significantly from previous years.  There was some brief discussion regarding safety equipment and the responsibility of using the provided and required safety equipment.

5. Director of Operations Position/Responsibilities
6. Deputy Director Position/Responsibilities
7. Superintendents Position/Responsibilities

As per Committee Chairman Harvey, the discussion on items 5, 6 and 7 above will be deferred.  He would like for the Committee to review the job descriptions of all of these positions for any similarities, and to consider if the proposed responsibilities of the Director of Operations may be shifted to the Deputy Director and the Superintendents.  This discussion is to be placed on the agenda for the next Human Resources & Safety Committee Meeting. 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Mr. Junkin advised that he has made a selection on the Deputy Director candidate.  More details regarding the selection process will be shared with the Commissioners in the Executive Session later in the afternoon.  After the time that the staff shared with the candidate, everyone had positive comments.  This person appears to be a very strong candidate with many outstanding qualities.  There was no further update.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:04 am.