MEETING MINUTES

Title: Compensation Committee 2^nd Meeting

Date: Tuesday, September 5^th, 2006

Location: Westport Island Town Office Conference Room

Subject: Compensation Committee Compilation and Review of Data.

Pre-Work: Actions assigned at start up meeting.

Objective: Review and approval of this meeting agenda. Review & approval of minutes from start up meeting. Elect deputy chairman. Review information collected by each of the members (and alternates) tasks, integrate and compare data with Westport’s current salaries and stipends. Determine a reasonable salary range for Westport’s Town Office Staff duties. Decide and Approve salaries/stipends for all but Selectmen and Town Office staff. Determine objectives, strategies, and actions for next meeting.

Topic	Type	Responsibility	Time
Review agenda and approve any changes.	Discussion Consensus	All	7:00 10 Min.
Review of minutes from Start Up meeting; make changes and approve.	Discussion Consensus	All	7 :10 10 Min.
Nominate and Elect Deputy Chairperson	Discussion Consensus	All	7 :20 pm 5 Min.
New Items	Discussion Consensus	All	7 :25 5 Min.
Present findings on MMA “best practice towns’ search, through Web Site and other means. Discuss findings.	Information Discussion	Presenting : Richard & Dennis Discuss : All	7 :30 15 Min.
Present information on revised MMA search. Compare data with Westport’s current salaries.	Information Discussion	Presenting : Richard & Dennis Discussion : All	7 : 45 30 Min
Present information on COLA/ inflation factors; discuss integration into Westport’s salaries & stipends.	Information Discussion	Presenting : David Discussion : All	8 :15 pm 20 Min.
Present results from (phone) interviews with other town employees.	Information Discussion	Presenting : Joelle Discussion : All	8 :35 15 min

Topic	Type	Responsibility	Time
After integrating above data, determine & approve salaries/ stipends for all but the office staff and Selectmen.	Discussion Consensus	Members	8 :50 30 min
Determine Objectives for next meeting; Assign any Tasks needed to Committee Members	Information Discussion Consensus	All	9 :20 15 min
Public Comment	Discussion	Public	9 :35 15 min
Wrap up	Information Discussion Consensus	Scribe	9 :50 10 Min.

REQUIRED: All Compensation Committee members (Including Alternates)

FACILITATOR: Dennis Dunbar

SCRIBE: Richard DeVries

Attendees:

Joelle Webber, Sarah Rhinelander, Dennis Dunbar, Dave Bertran, Richard DeVries

Missing due to other pressing requirements Reggie Lee and Tom Cromwell

Public Attendees:

Mort Mendes, Benjamin Crehore, Norma Dreyfus

Attachments:

1. State and local government average inflation factors.

2. Draft compensation warrant pending further review of committee member’s data.

3. List of Coastal Towns to be added to the database.

oPEN aCTION iTEMS FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

1. Contact MMA to determine if they have assessed the MMA community for best practice towns. Action: R DeVries 090506 Complete: Answer No, however, ICMA.org has done some work in that area.

2. Conduct Web Site search for any information on best practice town governments. Action: D Dunbar 090506 Complete: No, however, MMA articles on “Best Practice” have been provided to the committee.

3. Develop draft performance criteria for recognizing selectmen for superior performance. Action: D Dunbar Post 09/28/06

4. Contact the Town of Westport Island office staff and review job description and tasks as part of the benchmarking criteria. Action: S Rhinelander 091206

5. Develop inflation factors/Cost of Living Adjustment data. . Action: D Bertran 090506 Complete: Data for State and Local governments was found on the internet and provided to the committee.

6. Assemble MMA salary data for selectmen, appointed officials, and office staff using 2005 MMA Salary Report. Action: D Dunbar and R DeVries 090506 Dunbar Presentation Complete: Pending: DeVries presentation. Not presented due to time constraints.

7. Contact appointed town officials thanking them for their service, assessing their satisfaction with their method of reimbursement, and asking them for any suggestions on changes in the future. Action: J. Webber 091506 In process: Summary report of findings to date presented. Final report due at next meeting.

NEW aCTION iTEMS:

1. Determine what positions that are a part of the Town of Westport Island municipal government are mandated positions. Action: J. Webber and Dave Bertran, 091506

2. Develop the management structure of elected, appointed, mandated, standing committees, and ad hoc committees for the Town of Westport Island. Action: TBD, Post 09/28/06

3. Complete a more detailed look at the MMA data. Action: D Dunbar and R DeVries 091506 In-process: Held meeting with Jeri Holt at MMA offices on Friday, September 8, 2006. The raw data is used in developing the MMA Salary Analysis. There is no “regional factors” applied to the data. Some towns separate the data if a single person does the work in other cases multiple positions are captured under one heading. MMA does not attempt to segregate the amounts that are under one position into the fields that are included under that single position. When multiple positions are supplied with data the hours cannot be added up because one person is sometimes filling multiple positions and only the office hours are given. There is an annual Town Report competition and thus MMA has in their library many of the coastal towns we want to include in out database. Richard will go back to MMA and gather that data. Jeri Holt MMA has reserved the MMA library from 0800-1200 for Richard’s use on Tuesday, September 12, 2006.

4. Pull together data on municipal government costs for towns with total commitments + 25% of the Town of Westport Island Commitment with consideration given to student population/student costs and roads maintenance. Action: Richard DeVries, 091506

5. Complete the draft list of cost items for running a town and send to committee members for concurrence of the list. Action: Dennis Dunbar, 091306

6. Review and mark-up the draft list of cost items for running a town and send to Dennis Dunbar. Action: All, 091406

7. Complete the cost items for running a town and report findings. Action: Dennis Dunbar, 091506

8. Complete the draft list of towns to be added to the database and send to committee members for concurrence of the list. Action: Richard DeVries, 091306

9. Review and mark-up the draft list of towns to be added to the database and send to Richard DeVries. Action: All, 091406

10. Complete the data (as much as possible) for towns to be added to the database and report findings. Action: Richard DeVries, 091506

Minutes:

The meeting opened at 7:00 pm. Due to the absence of Tom Cromwell and Reggie Lee the alternate members Dennis Dunbar and Joelle Webber served in their place.

The agenda was reviewed and the COLA presentation by David Bertran was pulled to the front after “New Items”

Dave Bertran was nominated as Deputy Chairperson by Dennis Dunbar and seconded by Richard DeVries. The vote was unanimous.

The inflation factors for state and local governments (Attachment 1) were reviewed. It was unanimously agreed that the average of the last four factors 3^rd and 4^th quarters for 2005 and 1^st and 2^nd quarters for 2006 should be averaged and that factor rounded to the nearest ½%. It was unanimously agreed that the value of 3% should be used. It was noted that this number reflects the increases looking back 1 ½ years and is not a forward looking estimate as previously proposed. It was unanimously agreed that this should be the standard used in the future.

In the preliminary report by Joelle Webber it was noted that the Health Officer spends about 2 hours per week. The 911 Officer spent about 60 hrs last year and will probably spend more than 70 hrs this year because of the Disaster Recovery Plan development. The question arose as to what positions are State of Maine mandated positions – the questions will be investigated. A future project of the committee should be to develop a town structure of elected, appointed, mandated, standing committees, and ad hoc committees. Joelle plans to complete the report by the next meeting.

Dennis presented some summary numbers of $s/hr for various positions from the MMA Salary Survey covering averages for 2004. Richard pointed out that the MMA data is somewhat skewed due to the various presentations of the data and the fact that some positions have significant other duties and the amount is lumped under one position. It was agreed that a more detailed look at the data should be accomplished.

David Bertran provided a draft compensation warrant (Attachment for consideration. A motion to accept the draft compensation pending further review of additional data being developed by the committee members was put forth by David Bertran and seconded by Richard DeVries. The draft compensation warrant pending further review of additional data being developed by the committee members was unanimously accepted.

David Bertran proposed that the Selectmen’s position was an honorary position and not a position accepted for the money. Sarah Rhinelander stated there has to be compensation that would allow persons from all income levels to serve. Compensation for extra effort should be awarded and there needs to be a balance. Joelle Webber stated that a part of serving by all the Town of Westport Island municipal government was result of there love for the town. David Bertran agreed there needs to be a balance and that the volunteer aspect needs to be taken into account. There should be an extra stipend for the extra job they do. Richard noted that the tasks required of all the Town of Westport Island municipal government have grown because of state mandated requirements. He related that there is a new Federal Law called HAVA (Help America Vote Act) that is requiring additional work on the part of the Registrar of Voters and will require a fax machine at the Town Hall to allow persons somehow to vote from their homes. There is also a national database being developed that is to be completed by the November 2006 elections that his neighbor Donna Grant as an assistant to the District Attorney has been working on that is now requiring all registered voters to be entered into a new database that takes about 10-15 minutes per voter to be entered. In addition Donna has been tasked to “fix” the Maine Drivers License database/system that is so badly structured it will take 3-4 years to unravel. The Municipal Agent currently has to enter data into the system that can only be done when she does not have clients in her office. Richard also noted that in some towns the Board of Selectmen wear two hats and in others they are just the Selectmen.

At this point public input was allowed although not all items on the agenda had been completed.

Benjamin Crehore

Some towns rotate the position of Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. Here on Westport Island the position .of 1st Selectman has been chair for several years. If we ever lose George Richardson the town would have a lot of catching up to do.

Mort Mendes

The position of Administrative Assistant was originally envisioned as a position to do the routine work to lessen the burden of the Selectmen. I believe you will find that the Administrative Assistant is not well utilized by the selectmen.

Benjamin Crehore

Eugene Huskins related to him that Southport had a secretary 4 days a week and the selectmen’s meetings were so well organized by her that the meetings were ½ to 1 hour long. The position of the Board of Selectmen has changed over the years with a lot of work coming down from the state. When I started as a selectmen the things from the legislature were ½ inch thick, when I stepped down they were 3 inches thick.

David Bertran noted that cross-training of positions is important. It appears there is some of that with the deputy structure in the office. In Edgecomb the budget committee takes some of the load off of the Selectmen. The comment that Ben made about rotating the Chairman provides a training opportunity for person to become future chairman.

David Bertran noted that Jack Swanton had sent out an email that we were not to consider any extra bonus items. Richard noted that he had checked with the other Selectmen and they did not concur with that statement. Richard did agree that if there is additional monies to be provided to any Selectmen the Board of Selectmen are the best group to know what extra effort is required.

Dennis broached the question as to what the committee requires to come to a consensus on the selectmen’s stipend. We could break the amount into base stipend plus selectmen stipend for activity based effort. It was agreed that we should pull together data on municipal government costs for towns with total commitments + 25% of the Town of Westport Island Commitment. In addition the draft list of cost items for running a town should be completed.

Public Comment

Norma Dreyfus

What the committee is doing looks great. I am somewhat concerned that Tom Cromwell and Reggie Lee were not present for the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:50 pm.

Attachment 1: State and local government inflation factors

Attachment 2: Draft Compensation Warrant

Attachment 3: Towns to be Added to Database

Coastal	Town/*= No MMA Data	County
Coastal	Blue Hill*+	Hanc
Coastal	Boothbay Hbr*	Linc
Coastal	Boothbay*	Linc
Coastal	Bremen	Linc
Coastal	Bristol*	Linc
Coastal	Brooksville	Hanc
Coastal	Camden*	Knox
Coastal	Cranberry Isles*	Hanc
Coastal	Damariscotta*	Linc
Coastal	Dedham	Hanc
Coastal	Deer Isle*+	Hanc
Coastal	Edgecomb	Lkinc
Coastal	Franklin	Hanc
Coastal	Friendship*	Knox
Coastal	Harpswell*+	Cumb
Coastal	Hope	Knox
Coastal	Isle Au Haut*+	Knox
Coastal	Lamoine	Hanc
Coastal	Mariaville	Hanc
Coastal	Matinicus Isle Plt*	Knox
Coastal	Monhegan Plt*+	Linc
Coastal	Newcastle	Linc
Coastal	Nobleboro	Linc
Coastal	North Haven+	Knox
Coastal	Otis	Hanc
Coastal	Owls Head*+	Knox
Coastal	Penobscot	Hanc
Coastal	Pownal	Cumb
Coastal	Rockland*	Knox
Coastal	Rockport*	Knox
Coastal	Sebago	Cumb
Coastal	Sedgwick*	Hanc
Coastal	South Bristol	Linc
Coastal	South Thomaston*	Knox
Coastal	Southport*	Linc
Coastal	Stonington*+	Hanc
Coastal	Trenton	Hanc
Coastal	Verona Island	Hanc
Coastal	Vinalhaven+	Knox
Coastal	Westport Island	Linc
Coastal	Winter Harbor+	Hanc
Coastal	Wiscasset	Linc

Signatures

Sarah Rhinelander

Richard DeVries

Dennis Dunbar

Tom Cromwell

Dave Bertran

Joelle Webber,