Seymour selectmen gave First Selectman Kurt Miller the go-ahead last week to “move forward” negotiations with a candidate to be the town’s first human resources director.
Selectmen discussed the matter for an hour in executive session last Tuesday (Aug. 14), according to draft minutes of the meeting.
Miller said Wednesday that he is discussing the position with a candidate and hopes “to have things finalized in the next week or so.”
The non-union, part-time position — for which $40,000 is allotted in this year’s budget — attracted about 15 applications, Miller said this month.
Miller declined to name the candidate, but said the person was well-qualified for the job.
“We’re doing this the way that a normal, professional operation would do it,” Miller said. “This is not somebody’s friend, this is not a cousin or something like that.”
He first floated the idea for the position in February, when a human resources audit performed by a local company found a number of shortcomings.
For instance, some Town Hall employees haven’t had annual reviews in years. And though half the town’s work force is nearing retirement age, there’s no long-term plan for replacing them.
Miller said the new human resources director, if hired, would work to correct such issues and be an advocate for town employees.
“It’ll truly benefit our employees because it’s going to give them a resource,” he said. “It’s going to allow us to do proper employee evaluations. It will help with hiring, disciplinary (matters), and training.”
“And if they have problems or issues that they might not feel comfortable coming to me, they’re going to have an advocate for them,” Miller added.
“The better the work environment we create, the better the employee,” he said. “The better the employee, the better the product we put out to residents.”
The human resources director would report directly to Miller.
Selectmen had discussed the idea of paying a consultant to perform the same tasks — incidentally, the only proposal they received for such an arrangement was from the company who performed the human resources audit — but during their regular meeting last month, most indicated they’d prefer to have someone working in-house.
“It’s a more personal, positive approach,” said Gary Bruce, one of the selectman. “The people know what they’re being asked to do and the rules that apply. If there’s any problems there’s somebody to go to.”
Another selectman, Al Bruno, said having a part-time person at Town Hall instead of a consultant would help in terms of familiarity.
“HR is not just for accountability’s sake or for punitive purposes or to draw performance plans and corrective action, et cetera,” Bruno said. “HR is there for the employees, too. The HR representative has to be building relationships with employees.”
“Granted, I’m not saying it’s going to be all peace and happiness,” Bruno added. “You’re going to have conflict.”
“I’m stunned that we haven’t had one in the history of our town,” Bruno went on. “It’s shocking to me.”
Click here to watch a video of the meeting recorded by town resident Frank Loda. The human resources discussion begins around the 27-minute mark.
