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Board agrees to study employee policy and incentives for highway crew
Summary
Selectboard members urged a written employee policy to lock in benefits and recognize long service for highway staff, discussing bonuses, comp time and vacation accruals; the board asked staff for existing handbooks and a follow-up work session.
Board members spent substantial time discussing employee policies for the highway crew, saying staff are on call "24 hours a day, 7 days a week" and that the town should consider incentives to retain long-serving employees.
One Committee member pressed for concrete policies: "Maybe if you've been here 10 years, you get x amount of days off," arguing veterans deserve locked-in benefits and incentives rather than mere verbal thanks. Members suggested options including bonuses, a benefits package after a set tenure, earned-time or comp-time options for overtime, and clearer written employee handbooks. The Chair asked staff to send the existing employee policy materials so the board could schedule a work session to draft formal language.
The conversation emphasized recruitment and retention: members said local salaries and benefits must be competitive to prevent turnovers, and noted training requirements and the town's reliance on a small crew for critical winter work. The board directed staff to provide the employee handbook and related documentation for review and to consider scheduling a dedicated work session to develop a policy.
