MOVED That the Town vote to approve the funding of a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the Needham Police Superior Officers, and to recommend amending the necessary line items in the 1998 Operating Budget under Articles 20 to fund same.

MOVED That the Town vote to approve the funding of a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the Needham Fire Union, Units A, B and C, and to recommend amending the necessary line items in the 1998 Operating Budget under Article 20 to fund same.

Discussion 9:23 - 9:48, May 5: Mr. Daniel Matthews, Chairman of the Selectmen, discussed this contract. According to state law, Town Meeting's role in ratifying labor contracts consists of approving or disapproving funding for the first year of the contract. The Selectmen have worked hard in the negotiations of all contracts to stay within the spirit of last year's resolution to restrict raises to 2.5%. In the case of Article 9 (a three-year contract), there is an extra expense at the beginning which the Selectmen firmly believe will result in significant savings in later years. This consists of training money to allow certain firemen to be certified as a higher level Emergency Medical Technician. This will increase their income and job satisfaction as well as allowing the town ambulance to achieve higher billings. Another change in this contract is a move to 24-hour shifts (scheduled so that each fireman works a 42-hour week on average). This is not much of a change since many have often worked back-to-back 12-hour shifts. Mr. Matthews also spoke of 3-year contracts as an advantage because the time of contract negotiations is stressful for all parties.

MOVED That the Town vote to approve the funding of a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the Needham DPW / NAGE, and to recommend amending the necessary line items in the 1998 Operating Budget under Articles 20, 21 and 22, to fund same.

Discussion 9:48 - 9:53, May 5: Mr. Daniel Matthews, Chairman of the Selectmen, discussed this contract. Because a 0.5% hazardous exposure differential is being given to these employees in the third year of the contract, this is effectively a 2.5% - 2.5% - 3.0% contract.

MOVED That the Town vote to approve the funding of a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the AFSCME, and to recommend amending the necessary line items in the 1998 Operating Budget under Article 20 to fund same.

MOVED That the Town vote to approve the funding of a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the Independent Town Workers Association, and to recommend amending the necessary line items in the 1998 Operating Budget under Article 20 to fund same.

MOVED That the Town vote to fix the compensation of the following elected officers of the Town as of July 1, 1997, as required by the General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 108 and as recommended by the Personnel Board and subject to, in the case of the Town Clerk, the longevity provisions of Section 9.11.12 of the Consolidated Personnel By-Law.

Amendments: Ms. Meg Hale moved to amend the compensation for Selectmen to match the compensation for Assessors, using an "elected before" date of May 1, 1997.

Defeated.

Discussion 10:20 - 10:53, May 5: Mr. William Miles of the Personnel Board discussed the history of this article. The Assessors' stipend was reduced or eliminated last year because of the feeling that they can use expense reports for the kinds of expenses they incur for the town, but the Selectmen have expenses (e.g. attendance at testimonial dinners) that cannot be reimbursed in this way. Also, sinc3 state law states that any person receiving a stipend from the town is eligible for benefits and pensions, the town's actual expenditures because of these stipends is much more than it would at first appear. (Few of the Selectmen and Assessors take advantage of the opportunity for benefits, but the expenses for those who do is about $23,000).

Mr. Daniel Matthews, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, spoke on the value received from these expenditures. He discussed a continuum between a very small town where the Selectman Chairman basically runs the town on a day-to-day basis through a large one with a Town Manager in which the Selectmen are advisory. Needham, in the middle of this continuum, receives major leadership from the Selectmen even though much of the day-to-day work is done by the Town Administrator. A stipend is therefore appropriate, in his opinion.

Ms. Hale proposed her amendment because she felt that elected members of the two boards should be treated similarly.

In response to questions from town meeting members, it was stated that a Selectman or Assessor must choose to use benefits before retiring, so that there is no possibility of an unexpected jump in the cost of these benefits.

MOVED That the Town vote to amend its Consolidated Personnel By-Law (Article VIII of the General By-laws of the Town of Needham) by:

1. Deleting Section 9.16 Vacation and re-numbering succeeding sections accordingly;
2. Deleting Section 9.21 and re-number succeeding sections accordingly;
3. Deleting Section 9.22 and re-number succeeding sections accordingly;
4. Inserting a new Section 9.24.9 as follows:
   "9.24.9 Full-time and permanent part-time employees, excluding department managers, who have a non-occupational sick leave bank of not less than 30 days (225 hours) and who are at the two week (75 hour) or three week (112.5 hour) vacation accrual rate shall be eligible to convert non-occupational sick leave to vacation leave under the following circumstances:

   Sick Days used in Fiscal Year	Sick Days Traded for Vacation Days
   0 - 4 days (0 - 30 hours)	2 days (15 hours)
   4+ - 5 days (30.1 - 37.5 hours)	1 day (7.5 hours)
   5+ days (37.6 hours)	0 days (0 hours)

   Under extraordinary circumstances, such as severe illness or work-related injury, the Personnel Board may approve the conversion of sick days if the employee would otherwise qualify but for the circumstances in questions. Such approval will only be granted if the employee has at least 60 days in his or her non-occupational sick leave bank."; and
5. Delete Section 9.15.4 and insert in place thereof the following:
   "When an employee leaves Town service for any reason, he or she will be paid an amount equal to the vacation allowance as credited but not yet taken prior to the termination, in lieu of vacation leave. The lump sum payment requirement may be waived by the Personnel Director in extenuating circumstances.".

Recommendation Deferred

Discussion 10:53 - 11:02, May 5: Mr. Richard Creem of the Personnel Board discussed this article. The deletion of paragraphs 9.16 is due to its becoming unnecessary since all labor contracts include vacation. The deletion of sections 9.21 and 9.22 is due to their being superseded by the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The change to section 9.24 is to let employees who have used little sick time take some advantage of it as vacation rather than letting it build up and provide an expensive liability for the town at retirement. The change in section 9.15 prevents employees who leave from "dragging it out" by requesting that their accrued vacation be paid as if they were still employed. In response to a question, employees may not accumulate more than 10 days vacation beyond their annually accrued amount.