Town to hire an HR professional to “investigate complaints”

What is up with the work environment provided by Norwich town government to its employees? In addition to problems at the DPW garage, other personnel issues have apparently attracted the interest of the Selectboard. I say ‘apparently’ because the Selectboard is saying little, after an executive session lasting more than an hour on April 13.

The problem is serious enough that the Selectboard plans to hire “an HR professional to investigate complaints” and “to assist the town in building a positive work environment for all,” according to the draft meeting minutes from April 13. Interestingly, the Selectboard delegated to two Board members the decision to “contract” with the HR professional.

Another executive session to discuss personnel is on the Selectboard agenda for the meeting on Wednesday, April 27.

Workplace issues beyond those at the DPW?

I thought that the Town had in hand the existing workplace issues at the DPW garage. A March 27 Valley News column by Jim Kenyon described the work environment at the DPW garage as “dysfunction junction.” Town Manager Roderick Francis acknowledged “longstanding issues” beset that workplace in his email to Daybreak published on March 28. However, he added that the Town is “implementing an action plan to bring about long-needed improvements.”

The issues at the DPW garage “became more apparent,” said Town Manager Francis, as a result of the investigation by Burgess Loss Prevention Associates. That investigation cost the Town over $5,000, according to the Kenyon column.

So why hire an HR professional now? Do workplace issues go beyond those at the DPW? No official said. But one of the consultant’s tasks is to investigate (other?) complaints. Moreover, the need to “build” a positive work environment suggests a systemic problem currently exists.

The Selectboard statement that followed the executive session reads like a press release. Although well intentioned, it is too generic to inform the public The Norwich Selectboard “takes seriously the concerns of all town employees [and] is committed to ensuring a safe, healthy and welcoming work environment for all employees,” said Selectboard member Marcia Calloway when the Selectboard returned from executive session. See YouTube video here at approximately 2:33:00.

Transparency

What the heck is going on? And, why won’t the Town Manager and the Selectboard be more up front with the public?

It is good policy to treat individual employee complaints as confidential. But it is secretive for the Selectboard to not acknowledge publicly the existence of general workplace issues. It should not take a Jim Kenyon column for the Town Manager to barely and reluctantly acknowledge that improvements were overdue at the DPW garage and an action plan was in place. As it stands, the matter has yet to be discussed at a public meeting.

Now, it appears that the Town ‘may’ lack a positive work environment for employees. At all worksites? I don’t know. It is also striking that the Selectboard is acting on this, for employees, rather than authorizing the Town Manager to hire someone. Is that significant? I don’t know. Residents should not have parse Selectboard statements to guess what is going on.

I think the Town Manager and Selectboard need to do a better job communicating with the public. One place to start is more judicious use of executive session. The April 13 draft meeting minutes say the Selectboard entered into executive session under 1 V.S.A § 313(a)(3). That provision is for the “appointment … or evaluation of a public officer or employee.” That does not seem to be a catch-all for general discussion about workplace issues. Perhaps a tad more public detail is in order before entering executive session.

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Note: This post edited at 9:15 PM on April 25, 2022.