Sagadahoc County



Sagadahoc County Commissioners

Meeting Minutes

November 10, 2020

A regular meeting of the Sagadahoc County Commissioners was held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 11, 2020 via Zoom.

Present: Commissioners Charles Crosby III, Carol Grose, Brian Hobart; Administrator Pamela Hile; Sheriff Joel Merry; Brett Strout, Chief Deputy; Tammy Shiers, Director of Communications; Sharon Hinckley, Human Resource Director; Sharon Gaworski-Holman Assistant to the Administrator and HR

Public: Amanda Campbell, Georgetown

I. Chair Crosby called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. and established the presence of a quorum.

II. Public Comments

There were no public comments

III. Consent Agenda

1. Approval of Minutes for October 13, 2020

2. September Financial Statements

3. Warrants

4. Departmental Reports (Written)

5. Upcoming Meeting(s)

a.) Regular Meeting at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8, 2020

b.) Meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 (IF NEEDED)

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda as presented.

IV. Department Reports

1. Sheriff’s Department/Jail – Sheriff Joel Merry

The Sheriff congratulated both Commissioner Crosby and Commissioner Grose on their re-elections. Sheriff Merry thanked Commissioner Hobart for standing up for the County with the Times Record and Social Media on the unfortunate incident in Bowdoinham. The Sheriff did bring on extra Deputies due to other elected individuals reaching out to the Sheriff wanting to know what was going to be done to insure a peaceful election. The Deputies monitored the activity to make sure the lines and traffic kept moving accordingly.

The Sheriff reported that the calls for October were up by 5%. October was not an overly busy month. The County gets a lot of traffic complaints and the deputies try to respond to them. The Deputies are being asked to sit and run stationary radar on some of the back roads. These back roads are getting a lot of operations complaints. There has been some success, and the Deputies are visible and hopefully it gives the citizens some reassurance that we are out there doing our job.

We are seeing an uptick in scams, and it has affected a couple of residents within the County. The

grandparents scam is where an individual says s/he is a lawyer, and is calling on behalf of a grandchild who has been arrested on a trumped-up charge We are asking the public to verify the information before doing anything.

The Sheriff reported the jail has 23 Sagadahoc inmates and 16 of them are pretrial. Two out of seven inmates have been sentenced to the Department of Corrections. The two inmates are not able to go to the Maine State Prison due to the facility being in lock down due to COVID. There are a number of inmates that are pending a jury trial with no dates in the near or distance future. TBRJ has a total of 70 inmates: two are part of the inmate exchange program with Cumberland, two Federal inmates, 9 from Lincoln, 23 from Oxford, 11 from Penobscot.

The Sheriff stated that this department continues to move through staffing changes. Transport Deputy Carl Fleck has retired, and both Patrol Sergeants Dale Hamilton and Greg Siegel have given their notices as to when they will be retiring. One will be at the end of December and the other will be at the beginning of December. It’s a time of mixed emotions as we say good-bye, thank you and welcome new Deputies.

V. Business Items

1. Authorization to Award Contract for Communications System Consultant

The Administrator presented the following summary: As discussed at last month’s Commissioners’ Meeting, staff immediately prepared an RFP for a Communications System Consultant. In addition to being advertised, the RFP was also sent to a number of firms specializing in this type of work. You have bee provided with the Bid Opening Sheet, which shows that three (3) responses were received (two from Virginia and one from New Hampshire), ranging from a high of $42,809 to a low of $12,000. Communications Design Consulting of New Hampshire (Norm Boucher) submitted the low bid, which has been reviewed by Communications Director Tammy Shiers and found to include all of the tasks that were outlined in the RFP. The agreement provides that a draft report be submitted to the County within three months of the issuance of a notice to proceed. As this firm has successfully handled similar reviews in Penobscot and Oxford Counties, as well as for Lewiston-Auburn 911, we respectfully recommend that the Commissioners authorize the County Administrator to execute a contract with CDCG.

Director Tammy Shiers added that the contract was very thorough right down to the inspections and the open lines of communication. CDCG are will to reach out via zoom due to the pandemic.

Commissioner Grose commented that she wants to go with a reliable company not just someone who is cheap. Director Shiers reassured the Commissioner that CDCG is the County’s best choice, and the bid document has some great references. They are also able to start immediately.

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously to award the contract of Communications System Consultant to Communications Design Consulting of New Hampshire in the amount of $12,000.

2. Authorization to Hire Patrol Deputy

Administrator Hile advised that Sheriff Merry has respectfully requested that the Commissioners authorize the hiring of David Brown II as a Patrol Deputy, contingent upon his successful completion of required exams, testing and background check. (This hire is in anticipation of an opening that will occur with the retirement of Sgt. Greg Siegal on December 4, 2020. Mr. Brown’s start date is anticipated to be sometime after December 1st). Mr. Brown is a resident of Sabattus and currently works for the Lewiston Police Department.  He has been a full-time police officer since 2012, the last five years with Lewiston.   He currently serves in the United States Navy Reserves and is a Master at Arms working in counter terrorism, patrol functions, and post security.  He has an Associate degree in Criminal Justice as well as doing course work at Husson College. 

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously authorize the hiring of David Brown II to the position of Patrol Deputy contingent upon his successful completion of required exams, testing and background check.

3. Adoption of Policy Allowing Leave for Part-Time Employees

Administrator Hile advised that the Legislature recently enacted LD 369, “Earned Paid Leave.” The legislation, a copy of which is included herewith, becomes effective on January 1, 2021 and requires that ALL employees must accrue paid leave at a minimum rate of 1 hour for every 40 hours worked, up to a minimum of 40 hours/year. HR Director Sharon Hinckley has taken the lead on this and, after consultation with our attorney, has prepared a summary of the legislation; the available options for implantation; and her recommendation.

HR Director Sharon Hinckley presented:

Summary of Regulation: Employers must allow ALL employees to accrue paid leave to use for sick, vacation, or personal reasons.

• Accrual rate: At a minimum, needs to be 1 hour of EPL for every 40 hours worked up to a maximum of 40 hours per year.

• Commencement of earning EPL: Employee is to start earning as of January 1, 2021 for current employees or on Date of Hire for those hired after January 1, 2021.

• Use: Employee must wait 120 days to start using EPL. Employee must give the employer 4 weeks’ notice when requesting use of their EPL, except in the case of emergency, illness or other sudden necessity.

• Carry over: Employee may be allowed to carry over unused leave time, but are only eligible to use a maximum of 40 hours in a given year.

• Payout: Needs to follow employer’s payout policy. When reviewing our options, we may or may not have payout. If embedded within the vacation policy than Sagadahoc would need to payout vacation upon leaving employment. If

Like many employment laws an employer is allowed to make the benefit richer than required.

How this affects Sagadahoc County

This law only affects our non-union staff (30 employees, 21 FT and 9 PT). There are three options that we could do to come into compliance, only options two and three are viable options for Sagadahoc.

1. Overhaul the entire time off policies blending vacation, sick and personal into a PTO plan.

• Not a viable option

• This would be a philosophical shift in how the county administers time off

• Would require a considerable amount of work to transition

• Likely a large increase to unfunded liability for payout upon termination

2. Revise the Personal time policy to fit the law.

• Would be an increased benefit to all 30 of eligible employees

• Personal time is already in line with the intent of this law

• Would change from a front load benefit to an earned benefit

• Would need to increase the maximum from 3 days to 5 days

• As a separate policy would no need to require payout balance at termination

• Additional annual cost up to $11,870

3. Adjust the Vacation policy to fit the law.

• Would be an increased benefit to only 9 employees

• The accrual rate would be higher than required

• Eligible for payout of balance at termination

• Eligible for carryover of up to 1 week

• Additional annual cost of up to $2,910

Human Resources is recommending Option 2. Although not the least expensive option, it gives a slight benefit boost to the whole non-union group, who have not seen any adjustments to their benefits in quite some time.

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously to adopt revising the personnel time policy to fit the Maine Earned Paid Leave Law “Option 2”.

4. Oath Ceremony for Newly (Re)Elected Officials

Administrator Hile informed the board that the County generally holds a ceremony to administer the oath of office to newly elected officials. Family and friends are encouraged to attend, and light refreshments are served. Unfortunately, COVID 19 precludes large gatherings, which means that this year’s oaths will need to be administered under different circumstances. As Deeds Registrar Lynn Moore is also a Dedimus Justice, one option would be for each official to contact her and make arrangements to be sworn in individually. This can be done in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room, where social distancing can be practiced. It is respectfully requested that the Commissioners consider this matter on Tuesday.

Commissioner Crosby would like to have the paperwork sent to the individuals, so that the (re)elected officials can figure out what they want to do. Commissioner Grose agrees that the paperwork should be sent to the individuals.

5. Acceptance of Audit Agreement for FY 2019-20

Administrator Hile requested that the Commissioners authorize signature of a Letter of Engagement between Sagadahoc County and RKO to undertake auditing services for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. The maximum cost, not to exceed $16,250 (the amount included in the approved FY 2020-21 budget), has increased by $450 over the previous year primarily due to anticipated GASB reporting requirements.

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously to authorize Commissioner Crosby and Administrator Hile to sign off on the FY 2019-20 agreement, and to exceed $16,250.

6. Approval of 2021 Holiday Schedule

Administrator Hile presented, it is respectfully requested that the Commissioners consider approval the following holidays for 2021:

|Jan 01 |New Year's Day |Sep 6 |Labor Day |

|Jan 18 |M L King Day |Oct 11 |Indigenous Americans/Columbus Day |

|Feb 15 |Presidents’ Day |Nov 11 |Veterans’ Day |

|Apr 19 |Patriots’ Day |Nov 25 |Thanksgiving Day |

|May 31 |Memorial Day |Nov 26 |Thanksgiving Friday |

|Jul 5 |Independence Day (Observed) |Dec 24 |Christmas (Observed) |

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted unanimously to approve the 2021 Holiday Schedule.

VI. Commissioners Comments/Announcements

No comments

VII. Executive Session(s)

Request to enter into an executive session pursuant to Title 1, Chapter 13, Section 405, 6., A. of the M.R.S.A. for the purpose of discussing personnel issues.

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Chair Crosby, the Board voted to renew the Administrator’s contract from January 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021.  Yes:  Commissioners Hobart and Crosby.  No: Commissioner Grose.  Motion carried.

The Commissioner left executive session at 3:49 p.m.

VIII. Adjournment

Upon motion by Commissioner Hobart and second by Commissioner Grose, the Board voted by unanimous acclamation to adjourn at 3:50 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted

___________________________________

Sharon Gaworski-Holman

Assistant to the Administrator and Human Resources

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download