MARLBOROUGH – Marlborough city officials are reviewing a consultant’s report aimed at helping prepare for an anticipated wave of retirements within city government.
As this report has made recommendations, officials in the mayor’s office say they remain hard at work in what is an “ongoing initiative.”
The Succession Planning Project was funded by a Community Compact Best Practice grant received from the state. It was then completed by Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management.
The report provides recommendations including suggestions to provide more comprehensive training for new and current employees.
The report also lays out ways to provide more potential promotional opportunities within city departments.
Study suggests removing positions from Civil Service
The study highlights deficiencies in employee training with Microsoft Office and MUNIS, a financial program for the public sector. The study also recommends the city promote managerial and cross-training among its employees.
Mayoral Executive Aide Patricia Bernard addressed those recommendations in comments to the Community Advocate on Tuesday.
“I can say that we’ve already completed management training for our supervisors and our department heads,” she said. “We have technological training that will be taking place over the next few months. We’ve done a lot of cross training and will continue to do that.”
The study further notes a need for updated job descriptions. Those descriptions have not been updated in decades, according to Mayor Arthur Vigeant.
The report suggests that the city remove positions from the state’s Civil Service designation.
The statute, which was established to reduce favoritism in municipal appointments, requires administrators to select eligible qualified candidates from a list of those who have completed “competitive examinations.” The intention of the statute is to promote the fair and impartial treatment of public employees.
The study, however, says a full transition away from Civil Service would provide the flexibility that the city needs in hiring a “highly qualified workforce.”
Bernard said the city has been working to make some of those transitions.
“We did move a number of positions out of the Civil Service, most of them, maybe one or two in City Hall and police and fire,” she said.
The project also noted that, in many departments, there remains no clear second in command. Seeing this concern, the study notes, the Marlborough Fire Department recently added a deputy chief position.
Department of Public Works officials have shared the Fire Department’s concerns, according to the study. They are currently considering whether or not to allocate resources for additional staffing in areas “where they see deficiencies.”
The study emphasizes, among still other things, a need to survey employees about their career goals and aspirations to identify where they may best suit the city in the future. Surveys would also gauge compensation expectations within the city.
“When we do have an open position, we do look at other communities for the payscale to make sure we’re competitive,” Bernard said. “We’ve been continuing to do that.”
The study found that, with the exception of the City Clerk, most departments lost an “assistant” position in the past as a cost-cutting measure during an economic downturn. The study recommends the reinstatement of assistant classifications to “train highly qualified and motivated employees to be promoted to department manager positions when opportunities arise.”
Bernard noted that the city is primarily focusing on internal hiring and movement to promote an effective and highly-trained staff.
“We’re looking at having staff be able to perform dual roles,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of cross training and will continue to do that.”
City Council responds
The report came before the City Council on Feb. 14. Discussing the matter, city councilors were divided on how to approach the study.
“It’s a great report and brings out a lot of information,” said Councilor Mark Oram during that Feb. 14 meeting. “Hopefully, by fall, we’ll see something.
Councilor David Doucette was hopeful the report would not be “put on a shelf.”
Councilor Kathleen Robey, though supportive of the Center’s findings, said she believed action on the study does not fall within the City Council’s jurisdiction.
“It is a great report, but I think as it was pointed out, the mayor asked for the report,” said Robey. “The mayor has got the statistics, it’s now the mayor’s time to decide what to do with it, it’s not the council’s decision unless you want to take something and write an order or change an ordinance.”
The study was forwarded to Marlborough’s Operations and Oversight Committee in a 7-4 vote, with Robey, President Michael Ossing, Councilors Christian Dumais and John Irish voting against the move.
Ossing weighed in on Monday, a week after this vote.
“We don’t get into the day-to-day operations of the city,” he told the Community Advocate. “So I’m curious as to what they plan to do with it.”
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