WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town instituted salary adjustments for underpaid library employees in time for the start of the fiscal year that began on July 1, the town manager reported on Monday evening.

 

Bob Menicocci told the Select Board that some of those salary increases were "in the neighborhood of a 25 percent adjustment."

 

"I'm happy to report those adjustments are made," said Menicocci, who recently began his second year in the corner office at town hall.

 

Menicocci said the changes to the compensation structure at the Milne Public Library were made in consultation with members of the institution's Board of Trustees.

 

This winter, the chair of the trustees made a direct appeal to the Select Board and Finance Committee to shine a light on the disparity between how the town paid its library employees versus how it pays other town employees.

 

"Of the 18 town employees who currently make less than $20 per hour, two are seasonal workers and 12 of the 18 are library staff," Bridget Spann told the Select Board and Fin Comm at that time.

 

Her comments came as the town was engaged in a broader salary classification study that Menicocci ordered shortly after he began his tenure as town manager.

 

On Monday, he told the Select Board that while the study is not yet complete, indications are mostly positive … as far as they go.

 

"We know that, largely, the remaining salaries in town are within the ranges of our neighboring and like communities," Menicocci said. "So we don't anticipate the need for any major adjustments, and, if there are, they can be made within the standing operating budgets that exist for folks."

 

But the picture is not entirely rosy.

 

"Our salaries may align with what is being paid in like communities, but it's going to raise the question of: Are those salaries adequate in light of what future needs are going to be as there are turnovers and retirements in positions," Menicocci said. "We know that there are some positions that are extremely difficult to recruit for."

 

Menicocci noted municipal positions in finance, water and sewer managers and technology as fields where other communities are having difficulty filling jobs. And, in Williamstown, there is a current vacancy, health inspector, where the town is seeing little interest from applicants, he said.

 

That comment from the town manager echoed the thoughts Health Inspector Jeffrey Kennedy shared on Monday morning with the Board of Health.

 

"Nationally, since the [COVID-19] pandemic, public health people have really left the field," said Kennedy, who has served Williamstown since 1995. "There are a lot of public health positions, similar to mine, being advertised around the state right now.

 

"I don't know whether they'll have anyone considered or hired or in place before I leave [on Aug. 4]."

 

Menicocci said that the town anticipates similar problems filling other key positions if and when turnover occurs.

 

"We're going to face some need in the future to figure out ways to either develop talent, assess whether salaries really are appropriate for these positions to be competitive and look deeper into that part of it," Menicocci said.

 

"And there's the stigma attached to: ‘Thank you, so-and-so, for your 40 years of service. And, lo and behold, you're retiring, so we're raising the salary by some amount of money as a non-thank you for your service all these years.' "

 

Menicocci said the town does not want to be in a position to be making those calls, and he hopes the salary classification study will be a starting point for a conversation about how to avoid it. He said once the study is complete, he hopes to have the consultant give a presentation to the Select Board.

 

In other business on Monday, the three members of the board in attendance, Jeffrey Johnson, Andrew Hogeland and Randal Fippinger, unanimously approved two single-day alcohol licenses for the Clark Art Institute to hold events on July 19 and July 21.

 

It also received reports from its members who serve on other committees.

 

Hogeland noted that, regrettably, the Affordable Housing Trust was not able to complete dispersal of money it granted under its Mortgage Assistance Program because a title issue arose during closing on the property.

 

He also said that the Charter Review Committee has a draft of an interim report it hopes to use to spur public conversation this fall with a hope this winter to issue a final report with, potentially, recommendations for changes to the charter to recommend to May 2024's annual town meeting.

 

Fippinger reported on the recent activities of the town's Diversity Inclusion and Racial Equity Advisory Committee, which is developing a draft for the strategic plan that was requested by the Select Board last year. Fippinger said that the DIRE Committee wants to be able to include elements from the Williamstown Community Assessment and Research (CARES) project in the committee's strategic plan.

 

Menicocci Monday told the board that he recently received a draft of the CARES project final report and that the volunteers working on the project hope to be able to make a presentation to the Select Board this summer.

 

Finally, Menicocci told the board that the heavy rain Sunday into Monday thankfully resulted in no major damage to town infrastructure.

 

"There is some minor flooding along the [Hoosic] river bank and it is affecting the bike path at the west end," Menicocci said. "It is closed. If there are other storm impacts we're unaware of, we ask residents to reach out."