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Public commenter tells personnel board SAP staff feel "vulnerable" amid budget talk
Summary
Katie Barry told the Personnel Board that select board budget discussions about hiring freezes and eliminating SAP positions have left employees "unsettled" and with low morale; the board chair said the personnel board has limited formal authority but can raise the issue in the warrant presentation and follow up.
Katie Barry spoke during the Personnel Board’s public comment period and urged the board to note conversations she said are occurring at the select board about a possible hiring freeze and the potential elimination of some SAP positions. “As a taxpayer in town, I understand that. . . we feel very unsettling and also very vulnerable,” Barry said, adding that morale among SAP employees was "a little low."
Barry asked whether the personnel board had a role or advice to offer staff who are worried about job security. The personnel board chair responded that the board had not been "pulled in" on select board discussions and that the board is limited to acting within the scope of the SAP. The chair said the matter could be raised during the personnel board’s warrant presentation that evening and offered to follow up on behalf of the board where their authority permits.
Vanessa (staff) later said she would provide a more complete employee transition report next month because two appointments — an executive assistant in the select board office and a program manager in the Council on Aging — were scheduled for the select board meeting that evening.
The personnel board did not take formal action on the public commenter’s request during the meeting. The chair encouraged the commenter to raise the issue at the board’s public warrant presentation and offered to have the board consider follow-up within its statutory authority.
