By Michael Howell
Stevensville Mayor Jim Crews held a staff meeting at Town Hall last week to present some proposed personnel policy changes and get feedback from the town’s employees.
“I don’t like staff meetings, but we need to do one,” said Crews. He said he promised that there would be no changes for the first few months of his job. But now he wanted to present some proposals. He said the floor was open for complaints if anybody had any.
His first question to the staff was, “Does anybody know what to do if somebody gets hurt?” He said it was kind of vague in the town’s policy. He said the Personnel Manual has “got some big holes in it.”
The mayor, who served on a nuclear submarine and worked in the nuclear industry, said that he learned there the importance of contamination and control procedures.
“We need to come up with something for first aid,” he said. “Even a paper cut can be serious. It can get infected.” He said this kind of policy should have been in place a long time ago. He said two years ago he was hurt on the job and didn’t think it was too serious but it soon cost him his job.
“Other things are not quite working for me,” he said. He proposed a policy requiring a written request for time off two weeks in advance. He said even the mayor has to get approval from the town council to take time off.
Overtime was another issue. “I don’t care for it because it cuts into family time,” said Crews. He said overtime requests also must be written down and submitted.
“Another problem for me,” Crews told the staff, “is that I don’t know everybody’s duties.” He said the Utility Clerk is also working for the airport. He said everybody needed to study their job description and take note over the next few weeks of what they do that is not part of that job description. He said there were too many overlapping and unaccounted for duties.
“Brandon’s got five distinct jobs and four supervisors. That’s not fair to Brandon. It’s not fair to Denise to do the airport work,” he said. “I’m not a real personnel type of guy, but MMIA and the attorney are telling me we need to consolidate the jobs and divide them up.”
Utility Clerk Denise Philley said nobody wanted to do the job so she was doing it.
“Whatever needs to be done, you do it,” said Philley. “That’s how we run this town.”
“But we’ve got to annotate that,” said Crews.
“What’s it matter,” said Denise. “We do things for the Planning and Zoning Committee, for the Building Inspector, the judge, the police. We do permits. Whatever comes in the door, that’s our job.”
Crews said there was no way for the council to know if more manpower was needed without a handle on all this.
“If I have a broken valve, how do I know how to fix it?” he asked George Thomas, Water and Sewer Supervisor.
“From experience,” said Thomas.
“Ever heard of a work request?” said Crews. He said if something’s broken you put in a work request. He said that’s how it worked at the nuclear reactor.
Ed Sutherlin, Streets and Alleys Supervisor, said, “That’s with hundreds of people, not just four.”
“I know, but if something gets broke, you don’t know that it’s broken if no one reports that it’s broken,” said Crews. “And you can’t get it fixed if you don’t know it’s broken. So if we have a broken fire hydrant and only George knows it’s broken, how do we know to fix it if you don’t have a paper trail?”
Stacy Bartlett, Town Clerk, said, “Yes, you should know what we do. But in every detail? You couldn’t know that until you sat in for months. The longevity here is in the staff. It has never been with the mayor or with the council. What I’m perceiving here is that you are not trusting us to do our jobs. My perception is not what yours is right now.”
“I’ll tell every single one of you right now I trust everybody to do their job,” said Crews.
“That’s not what your actions are saying,” said Bartlett.
“Because I’m asking questions,” Crews shot back. “Okay, I’m going to be blunt. The very night I got appointed to this job I was told by an employee that I was not trusted and the Council was not trusted. I give my trust freely and I hope everybody does their job. Just because somebody asks questions doesn’t mean you are not trusted.”
“You are not asking those questions of us,” said Bartlett. “You are ramrodding these changes here and I’m sorry but I’m offended. I feel like a first grader being micro-managed and if that’s what you want to do you have the right.” She said he was going to turn working for the town into an 8 to 5 job where no one cares to put in any extra.
“Why should I give my time if this is being crammed down my throat?” said Bartlett.
Another person said, “You are accusing me of abusing the town by taking overtime that isn’t necessary, but sometimes we have to stay late just to get things done.”
Crews said that he would use the written vacation request as an example. He said as mayor he is supervisor of the town’s employees but just the other day he was informed by an employee that he would be leaving for vacation and it came as a surprise.
Thomas pointed out that the person’s vacation time was listed on the town calendar.
“The policy says nothing about it being put on a calendar,” said Crews.
“Did you tell that employee that you have a problem with the way he requested a vacation?” Bartlett asked.
“No,” said Crews.
“How would they know if you don’t tell them?” said Bartlett. “Instead you are coming through the back door at all of us in a personnel policy manual. And if you do it, the next mayor will do the same thing. It’s like you guys come in every few years and beat your chest and try to change the world and we have to keep the town running while you do it.”
“This is the town here, not you guys,” said Philley. “You have no idea what we do for the town and charge nothing for it. We do what’s good for the town, not good for you or the council and that’s how this town functions because we care. Otherwise we would get a real job. You can write it down, whatever you want, but we are going to just keep the town running. If it makes you feel good to write the manual, then write the manual.”
“All right, that’s all I got,” said Crews, and he abruptly left the meeting.