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Lincoln HR director seeks assistant to manage benefits, retirees and payroll tasks
Summary
Christine Thompson, Lincoln’s HR director, asked the budget board to authorize an HR assistant to handle benefits administration, onboarding/offboarding and retiree support so the HR director can focus on strategic projects, compliance and employee development.
Christine Thompson, the town’s human resources director, told the budget board that the HR office supports roughly 170 active town employees (not including separate water and fire benefits), dozens of retirees and a complex mix of benefit and pension plans. Thompson asked the board to approve a new HR assistant position to manage benefits administration, onboarding and routine HR operations.
Thompson said the current workload — benefits, pension administration for retirees, workers’ compensation logistics, payroll overlap and routine HR casework — leaves little time for higher-priority strategic work such as a compensation and job-analysis review for union positions, comprehensive policy updates, performance-evaluation implementation and a planned transfer of the town’s workers’ compensation plan to a trust to reduce costs.
Why it matters: Thompson told the board that HR work touches payroll and finance, school retiree benefits and multiple municipal units; missing or incomplete administration has previously caused problems, including an instance where the town discovered insured vehicle records were incomplete and insurance coverage needed retroactive correction. Thompson said an assistant would allow the HR director to focus on organizational development, policy compliance and risk reduction.
Scope of the proposed position: the assistant would handle benefits logistics, onboarding/offboarding, leave administration, frontline HR inquiries and clerical tasks; Thompson said the person should have HR administrative experience and an interest in professional growth. Thompson suggested that shifting tactical work to an assistant would enable a cascade of projects — compensation review, policy refresh, updated benefits summaries, performance-evaluation rollout and employee wellness and engagement programs.
Board reaction and next steps: board members praised the presentation and the need for more HR capacity; no formal vote was recorded at the meeting. Staff said they will provide a formal job description and personnel-cost estimate for consideration during the town’s budget process.
Ending: Thompson and the town’s administration framed the request as a risk-reduction and efficiency measure; the board asked staff to return with a budgeted position description and cost estimate in time for the operating-budget deadline.
