Clifton council advances amendment to pay chapter, creating primary and secondary HRO roles

The Clifton Municipal Council on May 5 advanced an ordinance that amends Chapter 99 of the city code to establish primary and secondary human resource officer (HRO) stipends and to remove the titles "communications manager," "EEO officer," and an older HRO officer title from the salary schedule.

City manager (who briefed the council) said the municipal personnel change responds to state requirements tied to the domestic violence policy and that the communications manager title is not a civil‑service designation that can be used by the municipality as written. He said the responsibilities and stipends will be distributed between two employees and detailed in an updated personnel manual, and that administration plans to retain public information functions through a vendor arrangement while creating a proper civil‑service‑compatible title for any in‑house PIO work.

"That individual will be taking the secondary role," the city manager said, describing how the new HRO structure will satisfy state requirements without keeping an unusable title on the books.

Several council members pressed for clarity on how duties and stipends will be split. One council member objected loudly to eliminating a communications manager position she had supported, saying she would vote against the ordinance because she was not confident the replacement approach preserved a dedicated public information function: "So, mayor, I'm gonna be a no vote on this because I don't have confidence ... that PIO ... was the title that would replace it." (Council comment recorded in the meeting.)

Council members also asked whether the new HRO in‑house title would be a stipend tied to domestic‑violence policy responsibilities and whether the EEO responsibilities would be properly covered going forward. The city manager said the personnel manual update will spell out duties and that stipends remain in the budget, but that the specific civil‑service language required careful drafting.

On the council's roll call for the ordinance's first reading, five members voted yes, one voted no and one was absent; the ordinance will return for a subsequent reading as required by local rules.

What happens next: administration will draft the updated personnel manual language outlining the two HRO roles and proposed stipend distribution before the ordinance returns for final action. Council members asked for those details and for confirmation of how public‑communications duties will be provided while preserving civil‑service rules.