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Personnel Board approves repurposed FTE for human services generalist
Summary
The Town of Concord Personnel Board voted to repurpose an existing FTE into a human services generalist position to support HR, veterans services, community services and the council on aging, with a minor wording change requested to the job description.
The Town of Concord Personnel Board on March 12 voted to approve repurposing one existing full-time equivalent position into a human services generalist to serve the town’s human services divisions, the board announced at its meeting.
The vote formalizes moving an FTE previously assigned to the Council on Aging into a position that will provide administrative support across human resources, veterans services, community services and the Council on Aging. The board approved the position description with one editorial caveat: changing the job description’s use of the word “manages” to a softer term such as “facilitates.”
Board members said the new role is intended to free client-facing staff to concentrate on core social work and casework by handling billing, administrative projects and other routine tasks. The assistant town manager described that veterans services and community services are currently single‑person departments that lack dedicated administrative support and that the new generalist would handle monthly billing for veterans’ benefits, backing up payroll and drug-testing administration, and serve as the DEI commission liaison in place of the communications director.
The generalist will be graded at the same level as existing HR generalist roles (grade 6), the assistant town manager said, and the change is budget-neutral: the FTE will be transferred from the Council on Aging to the human services division, producing a net zero increase in town headcount.
Board members asked operational questions about where the new hire would be based (55 Church Street in West Concord) and discussed title consolidation and reporting lines. The board requested the single wording edit to avoid creating managerial language that might imply an exempt classification for a nonexempt role.
Votes at a glance • Approval: human services generalist position description (repurposed FTE from Council on Aging); amendment requested to replace “manages” with “facilitates.” Outcome: approved (unanimous among members present).
The assistant town manager said the position will initially concentrate on HR tasks while the town recruits to replace the departing HR staff member who recently moved to the Concord retirement office. The new generalist will also support recurring community initiatives such as holiday gift‑card and back‑to‑school backpack drives and the senior work program, a small annual stipend program that historically has provided about $10,000–$15,000 a year to hire a few participants.
The board approved the position description and asked staff to present a redlined clean copy showing the agreed edits at a future meeting.
Ending: Staff said recruitment will begin under the approved grade and that the position’s responsibilities may evolve as systems such as Munis and an employee directory are updated.
