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Andover board weighs cellphone stipend, personnel-policy workshop and GA coverage
Summary
The Select Board discussed a draft cell-phone stipend and victuals-and-lodging policy, planned a workshop to update personnel policies after the holidays, and reviewed state requirements to provide General Assistance clerk coverage for 10 hours per week; no final policy changes were adopted.
Select Board Chair Brian Mills and member Justin Thacker led a discussion Dec. 2 on a draft cell-phone stipend policy and related personnel rules, saying the board wants clearer procedures before adopting any payments to employees who use personal phones for town business. "My concern is with the Air BNB language in it - we may need to have it checked to see if the State will allow the Town to regulate them," Chair Brian Mills said while the board reviewed a separate victuals-and-lodging draft.
Justin Thacker told the board he circulated the draft stipend policy and said employees would request a stipend with a form documenting estimated business use and call logs. The board discussed an example local stipend of about $40 per month and that the town currently pays $30 monthly for one town cell phone used by the Road Commissioner. Select Board Secretary Susan Mills noted that if the town pays a stipend the device and records could be subject to state legal access rules and warned employees cannot delete documents or emails when the town pays a stipend.
On personnel policy changes, Thacker proposed a post-holiday workshop with Town Office staff to consider revisions to comp time, Family and Medical Leave, earned paid leave, and other personnel provisions; the board agreed to invite interested employees to participate. The board also approved a motion to add contract language permitting employer-funded driver’s-license verification for employees required to operate town equipment; the board noted the town’s Personnel Policy Ordinance already addresses testing and that the Fire Department verifies licenses in other contexts.
Board members also discussed compliance with a state requirement that towns provide General Assistance (G/A) clerk coverage for 10 hours a week (or shared coverage among staff). Justin Thacker said smaller towns typically assign the duty to a Town Clerk, Tax Collector, assistant or Treasurer and that Andover receives one to five referrals per year. The board agreed to explore shared coverage (Treasurer or Secretary) and noted a General Assistance audit is scheduled for April; if the town is not in compliance there could be consequences.
No final vote was taken to adopt the stipend policy; the board asked staff to return with clearer procedure language and a form for stipend requests at a future meeting.
