Maybe there a good explanation. Maybe, I am wrong. But it seems the recently published Selectboard Statement presents facts that are at odds with those reported by the Town’s consultant, HR Matters. Disquieting, to my little mind.
I highlight two here. Further below, I provide the competing text.
First is the suggestion by the Selectboard, in the first line of the Statement, that the Town’s workplace issues are “like everywhere else.” In contrast, HR Happens indicates those issues relate to a “change in management style and substance.” In hiring a new Town Manager, the Selectboard is entitled to opt for the more hands-on style of Town Manager Roderick Francis. But don’t obfuscate the situation. Voters deserve an explanation.
Second, the Selectboard Statement indicates no “report or presentation has been offered to the Board to date” by HR Happens. But, the HR Happens invoice says, at page 4, the consultant emailed an “interim report” to the Selectboard. And it updated Selectboard Chair Roger Arnold. So, is the Statement playing word games? Or, is the invoice, paid in full, inaccurate?
H/T: S.R. and his Public Records Act request for uncovering these documents.
Employee discontent: Related to pandemic/structural problems or new TM?
What the Selectboard told residents.
The Town of Norwich, like everywhere else, is dealing with uncertainty and change after two years of making things work in the context of a pandemic and its aftermath. We have experienced turnover in nearly all our departments, particularly in the Public Works and the Police Departments. Staff have taken on increased workloads and have handled multiple jobs. Management has begun the work of addressing longstanding structural problems.
Norwich Selectboard Statement, September 14, 2022, paragraph 1.
What HR Matters said.
This proposal follows our conversation earlier this week regarding the Town of Norwich’s need for human resources support. We discussed the following:
HR Happens :letter to Selectboard members Arnold and brochu, April 22, 2022
…
• With the change in [Town Managers], came a different style of performance management and a more “hands on” approach to correct a general lack of accountability and other personnel issues that hadn’t been addressed satisfactorily by the previous Town Manager. There has also been significant turnover in the Department of Public Works.
• The change in management style and substance resulted in push back at the department leadership level as well as with some staff and several complaints have been made to the Selectboard regarding the behavior and overall treatment of staff and leadership by the Town Manager, including that some employees “do not feel safe.”
• While the complaints are serious in nature, legal counsel has advised they do not rise to the level of legal compliance issues and there is a need for an outside party to assist the Town with some conflict resolution and mediation between individuals and with groups of employees.
Did HR Happens provide a report to the Selectboard?
What the Selectboard told residents.
The Town hired Mark Heyman of HR Happens to interview staff and to provide the Town Manager with recommendations and informed analysis on how to strengthen and improve the Town’s ability to recruit and retain employees. No report or presentation has been offered to the Board to date
Norwich Selectboard Statement, September 14, 2022
What the invoice from HR Happens says:
HR Happens Invoice, at page 4, describing work performed on June 13 and 15, 2022
* * *
Some music to close …
Very interesting observation!
Why would the SB say they did not have a report when it is obvious that they did?
The honorable and professional thing to do at this point would be for the Chair to step down from the Chair role immediately and resign from the Selectboard effective year end so that the seat can become available in the March election. The derisive and dismissive attitude of the Chair has gone so far that residents refer to him as Emperor Arnold. Basic and fair questions from the public are being ignored and as much as the SB hates to hear the term, they are gaslighting the public. This isn’t the great resignation, this is allegedly workplace bullying. We have a new TM who openly moonlights at other Towns (Warren, Dorset, Hartford etc. via PlaceSense – his girlfriend, Brandy Saxton’s firm) and who allegedly lied about his “PhD” which was just awarded this summer in 2022 on Victorian age meatpacking in Campertown Australia. We have few Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL) at the DPW, we have a purposefully reduced police force and what appears to be rising crime. People want not only answers but action and a professional and respectful SB. This is why there are hundreds supporting a new grassroots organization to change things. It didn’t have to come to this but it has. Residents are calling for the SB to resign.
Nice work Norwich Observer!
While I empathize with the Selectboard’s difficult position — lot of workplace management issues that are treacherous to handle even in private, being pushed more and more into the public sphere — it should be clear their efforts to manage Norwich resident concerns are not working very well. Like most of us, I’m in the dark on specifics so have nothing informed to offer regarding management changes. However, as elected officials, it’s time for the Selectboard to clarify their goals and recognize March Town Meeting will be a referendum on their leadership.