Human Resources & Information Technology Committee - Regular Meeting

Thank you. I'd like to call tonight's meeting of the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee for August 27. It's supposed to be at 06:30, but it's slightly later. To order, please. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call of membership let the record show that I'm going board. Thirteen. To We will then go move on to we have no public hearings or appearances, so we'll move right into our action items.

But actually, if I can indulge the committee, I'd like to take first our information item 20 five-one 100.

We have to approve the minutes.

I apologize, I jumped right ahead. Item number 20Five-nine99. Approval of minutes for the previous meeting from August 13. Do I have a motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Do we have any discussion changes? Thank you. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Now, if it pleases we could please take up item number twenty five-one thousand and two, an informational item regarding the police department staffing study update. Which of you two would like to speak

Yes, that's fine. Yes.

Chief Olson, District 2. Thank you, chair. So at the conclusion of the last budget cycle, a common council provided approval to fund a staffing study for the police department. This study was commenced in December 2024, and the final draft was received in July basically last month. I'd like to just get a few things on the record, one of which is that we, the Appleton Police Department, has a long history of being an innovative and progressive police agency.

When I was hired twenty five years ago, the APD was one of very few agencies seeking candidates with diverse backgrounds and experience. And lucky for me, they valued those things because I am where I am today because of that. They placed value on higher education, rewarding employees who obtain advanced degrees. This practice has not changed. Although the landscape of policing has evolved significantly, our standards and expectations remain high and consistent.

This staffing study brought to light the strengths of our agency. It also identified some areas where changes might help to positively address some of the pain points that our staff has experienced. Regardless of the recommendations we ultimately implement, the actionable strategies illuminated in this study will help guide us in the right direction to ensure we continue our longstanding practice of excellence in policing. The request for MATRIX was to provide essential insights to ensure adequate staffing levels, optimize our service delivery through all divisions within the organization, and meet the needs of the evolving community. This process was data driven, with a large emphasis placed on our CAD data, which is basically computer generated data and case management information.

It is difficult to capture the nuances within an agency when relying heavily on summative statistical data alone. When considered alongside departmental knowledge of the nuances and context behind said data, the report's recommendations have been found reasonable and are expected to further enhance our ability to effectively serve this community. The reason I felt it was necessary to share some of that is just to understand that because this is a approximately 150 page report, being able to kind of go through it, which I did in the rest of the memo in a summary of the recommendations with what they highlighted, and then in red what I intend to do with some of those recommendations. Again, in the interest of time, I don't intend in going through all of those. But one thing I would like to highlight, which leads us into our action item, is a minor change to the table of organization, which is basically taking one of our 12 patrol lieutenants and moving that position into our professional development unit.

So in organizational study, one of the areas that were highlighted basically the lack of staffing we have in our training department right now. It is staffed by development supervisor who oversees all of our training, equipment, onboarding of new employees, our field training program. It's a lot for one person person to be taking on. And the recommendation was actually to add two FTE officers to that unit. I think we can meet our needs by reassigning one of our patrol lieutenants into that role and accomplish what we need to accomplish through that change, which is what I'm requesting to do with the TO change.

Thank you. Director Ashman, you have anything to add?

Thank you, Chair. Unless there's questions, I think the Chief's done a nice job of outlining what's been found.

You. Does anyone here have any questions in regards to the informational item that was presented by the Chief? We can follow-up further if we want to later but if you have any questions right now.

We can follow-up later.

Alderperson Croft, any questions? All right. Then please, if we could, let's move back to our action items. Item number 20 five-one thousand, request to approve the table of organization for the police department.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second on the floor. Any other discussion, thoughts? When I first saw this, I I I totally missed the fact that one of the lieutenants was it it went from six to five, but then the other one I missed that it had been stricken. So I'm seeing that we're generally going to be not having any kind of issues with fulfilling salaries or paying these folks. Director Raschmann?

So if you look at the table of organization change, it is a cost neutral switch. It's basically taking lieutenants from one section and moving them over to the other and retitling those lieutenants or their area of specialty.

The retitling does not include any additional salary grade changes or anything?

It does not.

Excellent. Thank you. Any other questions? Alder Woolf?

As always, I'm very impressed by the police department's ability to figure out how to best serve this community within the binds of our budget, and figuring out how to elevate our service at the same time, is very impressive. And I always ask as well, if there needs to be, more for training and or other services as well, and I'm always impressed by the answers that I get. Thank you for your continued service to this community. Community.

Thank you. I appreciate hearing that. Thank you. To Alder Wolf's point and back to a little bit about the study, the staffing study, I was impressed that and it wasn't a surprise to me that it seems as though APD is so well run that there aren't substantial changes required. I mean, obviously there are some things that need to be done based on that study, but nothing that said, We are so out of control and need this, that, and the other thing. So I was very impressed to see that and again not surprised. Alder Krop. Thank

you, Chair. And I would echo those comments. I think it was a confirmation of all the great things that APD does, but also identified some opportunities for improvement and growth. So I was very happy with what I saw and support the changes that would come forward.

Excellent. Any other feedback from anybody in regards to this action item? All right. There being

Can I just add one thing, Chair Sarman, I Chief just want to add to that that we could not be where we're at today without the great connection that I feel like our department has with the community and its members, and that this isn't something that that we operate in a silo doing? Right? It it really does come down to the connections that that we work work hard to maintain, and that starts at the top. And it also includes our council and our mayor and the rest of the directors and how the city is run. So I'm really proud of the work that they do and I think it was showcased in this staffing study. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring that forward. Agreed. Thank you.

There being no other discussion, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? And abstentions? None and none. So that passes three to zero. Thank you, Chief Olson. And we will move on then to item number 20 five-one thousand and one, request the approval of all the person's salaries. Now I'd like to just preface this with no salaries change is requested. It's just that this is the time at which we should discuss this so that it can be done appropriately should it need to be should the request be put in by this committee and counsel.

That being said, do you want to start us off, Director I'd

be happy to hear a motion.

We don't know what the motion will be yet. I'd prefer to hear

what So we're in your packet, you have three documents. One is a letter from the assistant city attorney. I just want to take a few minutes to touch base on that after I kind of go through a few other items first. But you also have a history of older person salaries that dates back to 2024. So you can see kind of what's been done through the years, and then comparable data from some other communities.

So that's based on what we've provided in the past to this committee. Just as a reminder to this committee, you are not voting on compensation for the term of any current elder person. What you're looking at is compensation for future terms, anyone who would be running for a future term. The other thing is that the role of HR is really to get this on the agenda, provide you with information. But there's no necessarily recommendation from HR.

This is really up to the committee and the council ultimately to decide if a compensation change should be made. The assistant city attorney did a nice job with the letter outlining a few things I just want to quickly highlight. Current salary is $6,750 annually for each elder person. And you really have two options. One is you can approve what's called a staggered salary, or you can do let me flip to my page here Or you can have the single adjustment.

So all counsel or all elder persons are on the same salary schedule. So what that means, if you go with a staggered salary for somebody who's becoming an older person in April 2026, they would have one salary. And potentially, taking office in or becoming an older person April 27 would have a different salary. Historically speaking, this committee and counsel has had a straight salary across the board. All other persons have the same compensation.

So if that's the case, then you would be talking about compensation for April 2027. The other thing I want to highlight, because this has come up, is to come out of this committee, you need majority vote. And when it gets to council, it's three fourths votes. So we all want to kind of keep note of that as we get to council. So other than that, I'm happy to answer if you have questions on any of the documents.

Thank you. Alder Woolf.

So essentially tonight and I'm new to the committee, so I just want to clarify some things. Tonight, we're basically like if we were to make a motion, we would be making a motion on staggering or flat rate. Is that essentially

So you'd be making a motion on setting future elder person compensation, whether that would be on a staggered salary basis or across the board, and whether there's no adjustment, whether there is an adjustment, etcetera. Thank you.

Alder person stands on the heart. No, no. All right. Alder Groth.

Thank you, Chair. Obviously not a member of the committee, but having been through this particular issue many times, I would urge the committee to be consistent with past practice, and that would be to set it for the two year term. I think most people that know me know that I'm not a big fan of big increases in older person pay, if any. I understand the case that some make to increase the pay as it relates to attracting candidates and things like that. But I've always been an advocate for either keeping it where it is or matching an increase in the budget for city employees on an annual basis.

And then taking into account the two year period, of course.

Thank you, Alder Crow. With all of this in mind, I would like to make a motion to have a $0 adjustment for older person salaries beginning April 2027, all older persons. We have a motion on the table. Do we have a second? I'll second. And any discussion? There being none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay.

Attorney Berwyn, how do we proceed with a non majority vote for this committee? Hang on one second. District 9.

So my understanding is that we need a majority of the committee for a recommendation to come out of the committee. My interpretation is that with there not being a majority, there would be nothing to have come out of committee, which is, in effect, there being nothing to bring forward to counsel.

If that is the case, then do we miss the window to make any potential changes? I guess my question being, there are three of us here. It would be nice to have a full committee, but if we wait that long, will we be able to meet any of the standards for the time period? Director Rachman.

So the reason we're bringing this forward so early in the game is because of feedback that's been given to HR to bring it in August. You have until December. So this has been held at times. It's been referred back. So the reason we're bringing it so early is to provide that timeline. Yes, we to do have draw

your listens to people,

you know? Kind of like a motion?

Hold, please. That being said, I would like to withdraw my motion for $0 pay the if the seconder will withdraw as well. Yep. And then I would like to move to hold until the next HRIT Committee.

Second.

Have a motion to hold and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

So this will come back to us. Correct me if I'm wrong here, Director Rachman, September 10.

That is correct.

And Attorney Berwyn, you have that on your notes? So if you would please make that a portion of the formal motion to come to HRIT on September 10. And you agree as Yes, I do. Whoever seconded?

Yeah.

Yeah. That works.

Right. We shall hold that item and that concludes all of our action items. We've given Chief Olson the opportunity to speak. If we want to move then on to item number 20 Five-one and five, the recruitment status report for 08/21/2025. Director Rashman, do you have anything to high level share with us here?

So we met a few weeks ago. And from that meeting, really, there's no significant updates. But again, happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you. Does anyone have any questions or concerns? All right. There being none, we'll move on to item number eight.

Motion to adjourn. Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Sorry, Zach. We went awfully quickly.