CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Two employees are switching roles as of Wednesday and a consultant is being brought in to closeout accounts in the treasurer's office.
The Select Board at a special meeting on Monday afternoon voted to place Amy Cariddi in the treasurer/tax collector post and to have Darcy Feder move over to administrative assistant.
The board also agreed to pay Hilltown Municipal Accounting Services, lead by former North Adams Auditor David Fierro Jr., to come in two days a week to work in the treasurer's office at a cost of $75 an hour.
The treasurer/tax collector has been struggling to close out fiscal 2021 and maintain the day-to-day work. The former occupant of the post had been brought in to consult but quit in mid-July.
At a meeting of the Select Board several weeks ago, Feder, who had experience in banking but not municipal finance, said she had not been clear on what to do to close out the fiscal year as there were no outlines or guides to follow in the office.
Cariddi had been working with her and an agreement had been worked out for Cariddi to work eight hours on Fridays, in part as a way to straighten out overpayments made to her.
Chairman Ronald Boucher said he had spoken to Fierro about allowing Cariddi to learn from the Hilltown staff.
"It'll work twofold, she'll be there to take care of things. But also, you need to pick her brain and [have her] give you some direction on certain things. She's there to do that," he said.
"It was a tough way to start off," he said to Feder, who like Cariddi is part of a complete changeover in Town Hall staff in the past year. "So the best of both worlds ... we get to save two good people and maybe become a little strong as a unit."
But while the shift in jobs was agreeable to both employees, the matter of compensation became a lengthy debate. Boucher said he was not prepared to discuss wages that day and both would remain at their respective rates until Cariddi's pay could be raised at the next meeting but Select Board member Danielle Luchi didn't think that was right.
"Because right now the tax collector's making more than the administrative assistant," she said. "I feel that this is a bigger matter and that we have to look over the pay scale in its entirety at some point, because we can't just keep on like this."
Boucher agreed that the scales had to be looked at but felt that they could make the adjustment retroactively at the Aug. 25 meeting.
"I think we're jumping the gun here, you can't expect me to vote on something that we don't know how much people are going to be making," Luchi responded.
Town Administrator Rebecca Stone reminded the board members that the voters had given them the flexibility to start employees along the pay scale. Luchi said she didn't think the voters planned for them to raise current employees at will — Feder would be pushed up to year 15 in her new classification — but rather consider new employees.
Boucher suggested putting in wages and then doing a 90 or 120 review to see if they should get a bump. Luchi said that would open the door to other workers asking why they weren't getting evaluations and merit raises.
"But there's no bumps on the pay scale. There's no half steps for bumps," she said.
Stone said the board should strongly consider raising the rates for the appointed positions, especially seeing what other communities are paying their treasurer/tax collectors.
The two board members (Allen Arnold was absent) agreed that the pay scale needed to be completely reviewed with the Finance Committee and that Monday wasn't the day to be doing that.
Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Macksey, who attended with Northern Berkshire School Union Superintendent John Franzoni, said the treasurer was one of the most important positions in the town.
"You kind of need to settle that before you ask this young woman to take on these responsibilities. That's just my thought," she said. "And you need to frame everything out because this community has gotten into trouble before for not having all your ducks in a row."
The board voted to reset the treasurer's rate but then hit a bump when Cariddi would actually be making less money; to avoid that, the treasurer's position was changed from 32 to 40 hours a week. The administrative assistant remained at 32 hours but the work on police detail billing was shifted back to the Police Department.
The treasurer will be paid at $23.84 an hour and the administrative assistant at $21.35.
The administrative assistant will also move upstairs and the town clerk will move downstairs.
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Teacher of the Month: Cindy Chevett
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
Cindy Chevett has been with Head Start her entire career. She says teaching is challenging but also very rewarding.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County Head Start preschool teacher Cindy Chevett has been selected as the August Teacher of the Month.
The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, will run for the next nine months and will feature distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here.
To Chevett, the best part of being a teacher is seeing her students achieve even just the little things, such as writing the letter E or their name.
"It is the best job ever," she says with a smile and tears in her eyes as she says, "I love seeing them achieve."
She said although teaching can be challenging, the classroom environment is very fun and the job is very rewarding.
"There's children that come in and can't really speak so that you can understand them, and modeling, and when they leave the classroom, you can understand them. That was one of my best achievements with the child," Chevett said.
In Chevett's classroom, the students take control of their learning, instilling in them a love of learning.
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The Pittsfield baseball team Saturday rallied for five runs in the top of the sixth inning to break a 5-5 tie and went on to a 12-5 win over Clinton in the quarter-finals of the Division 4 State Tournament. click for more
Amanda Pou was named the most valuable player of the regional final after striking out four and walking none in a complete-game effort in the circle. She also ripped a two-run double in Pittsfield’s four-run fourth-inning rally to break open a scoreless game. click for more