HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-18-2024 Personnel Board MinutesCITY OF FAIRHOPE
Personnel Board Meeting
7:00 A.M. January 18th, 2024
161 N Section Street
Fairhope, AL 36532
Present were:
Members: Chairman Genie Frazier; Terry Ullrich; Tyler Garner; Jake O’Neil; Safety Coordinator
Donnie Grice; Human Resource Director Hannah Noonan; Mayor Sherry Sullivan; Councilman
Kevin Boone
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 a.m.
The November 16th, 2023 minutes were approved
Hannah Noonan discussed the reclassification of a GIS tech position. This job reports to the City
Engineer and currently is classified as a grade 10. The city engineer made a request to change
the pay grade and the title to be more consistent with the duties for the position. The position
will go down to a grade 8 and become known as “engineering technician.” The board approved
recommending this change to the council.
Hannah next discussed the “on-call” policies. This part of the manual highlights which positions
are on “stand-by” and which positions are “on-call.” On-call workers would be paid a weekly
stipend of $100. Mayor Sherry Sullivan explained and gave examples on the benefits of the
change to the city budget. In some scenarios an employee would be paid 16 hours for only 12
hours of actual work at time and a half rate. This change would diminish this expense.
According to the Mayor overtime and on-call worker pay has gotten out of control and this
change needs to be implemented to make things more equitable for everyone. To offset the
impact of this on the employees, hourly pay raises will be implemented to these particular on-
call departments. Tyler wanted to emphasize the importance of implementing good change
management to ensure employee retention.
Hannah next discussed the vacation buy-back policy. An employee can buy back unused
vacation time. This can be done once per year. A typical employee that works full time (2080
hours per year) can sell up to 40 hours per year. Patrol and corrections can sell up to 42 hours
per year. There are some conditions that must be met. The employee must have one year of
service, submit the request 30 days ahead of time, use only 8 hour increments, half of the
vacation must be used every year, and the request must be approved. These changes were
approved by the board.
The city employee manual was discussed. There were changes highlighted in different areas
(e. g. usage of city property, pay grade top out, interdepartmental transfers, reporting of
accidents, returning to work after accidents, recruitment incentives and comp. time)
throughout the manual that were approved by the board and will be fine tuned at the next
meeting, in anticipation of city council submittal.
Mayor Sullivan proposed increasing vacation days to three weeks sometime before the 10-year
mark to promote retention. Genie agreed. The board agreed to review amendments to the
manual before the next meeting. Time will be needed for further review and distribution to
leadership and council.
Donnie Grice updated the board on safety. Workers’ comp decreased by 68% in 2023,
compared to 2022. He attributed this to his support in the city and consistency. He feels like
this year can be better. The board congratulated him on his achievements.
Hannah mentioned that the Neogov system should be up and running by March.
A motion was made, and a second to adjourn.
Sincerely,
Jake O’Neil
Personnel Board Secretary