Human resources issue lingers

The township has identified a firm to handle their human resource functions. Maybe.
The board selected Your Source Management Group at their March 3 meeting with the intent to iron out a contract that was supposed to be signed earlier this week.
Issues with that contract, however, will delay the agreement by at least three weeks. It was the township’s three full-time officials that spoke up this past Monday night.
Treasurer Alice Young had issues with some of the proposed contract’s language, such as its one-year timeframe.
‘This is a contract that’s very specific,? Young said. ‘This is more than I thought we were asking for, and it’s more money, too. They weren’t the lowest bidder.?
Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk said the board might have acted a little hastily in agreeing to contract with Your Source, as another firm that bid on the work, Acro, was willing to do on-site work for about 40-percent of the hourly cost.
‘I think we made a glaring error,? Dywasuk. ‘But we haven’t signed a contract and they haven’t done any work for us yet. I made a mistake, but we all made a mistake. Nobody out there investigated what the contracts were. We need to reconsider.?
Attorney Shannon Ozga said the board has already given direction on which company to contract with, adding they could not reconsider whom to hire without a motion to that effect.
Ozga added there were some concerns, on her part, over the contract language.
Clerk Jill Bastian said she doesn’t like the notion of sending township paperwork to an off-site location, which the proposed contract would call for.
‘I think we need an attorney review of this document and we need to be very clear on what we expect of our HR services,? she said.
‘What got presented here is nothing like what I thought we were discussing last week,? she added.
Trustee Matt Gibb said the Your Source proposal was all-inclusive, and included much more than other proposals, like Acro’s.
‘If we’re going to go back now and say we don’t want to hire this firm, then I have to ask our full-time officials ‘what’s their game plan??? he said. ‘Somebody amongst the three of you come up with some definitive plan here and let’s get a decision made, because I thought we made one at the last meeting.?
Trustee Neal Porter suggested adding one of the three full-time officials to the committee of Gibb and Steimel and look again at the contract language.
‘This board could pass this contract with the four trustees, by a 4-3 vote, and we’d have all three full-time employees against what we’ve enacted,? Porter said. ‘This would not work, and it’s got to stop. I will vote for this unless one of those people are added to this committee.
John Garlicki structured motion to that effect, and suggested adding Dywasuk to the committee. Dywasuk had vacation time scheduled, so Bastian agreed to take his place. Garlicki and some of the other trustees said they were eager to get the issue of an HR firm resolved.
‘I have a memo from August 1, 2005, and one of the items was to address the HR position,? Garlicki said. ‘And it’s 2008 now.?
Gibb said a short turn-around prior to the board meeting might have been the reason for some of the confusion in the contract.
‘Those little details in wording do need to be corrected,? he noted.
The board voted 6-1 to send the issue back to the committee, with Dywasuk casting the lone dissenting vote.