City Council discusses HR director reappointment

Dec. 22, 2020 | Carolyn Noel
carolynn@thereminder.com

CHICOPEE – The Chicopee City Council met on Dec. 15 to discuss a variety of approvals on finances, reappointments, permits, license renewals and more.

The City Council opened by approving a sum of $39,790 to the Chicopee Police Department. This money comes from a grant program that allows the city to continue to do traffic enforcement.

According to Councilor Joel McAuliffe, “This type of enforcement has been deemed very successful. They’re going to continue to do it and it has now become a model for the rest of the state.”

The council also approved a sum of $25,000 to the Building Inspection Salary account for the Building Commissioner and $2,455 to the Planning Expense account for Special Services. Both of these approvals were deemed necessary and were unanimously approved by the council.

One mayoral order that caused division within the council was about the reappointment of Richard Merchant as the Human Resource (HR) Director for the city of Chicopee. The councilor with the biggest opposition to Merchant’s reappointment was Derek Dobosz.

Before Mayor John Vieau came into office, there was another HR Director for the city. This director ended up accepting a position in Amherst and leaving Chicopee altogether. The council then decided to appoint Merchant at the end of the previous HR Director’s term so that Vieau wouldn’t come into office without someone working in HR.

“That made sense at the time. We didn’t want the incoming mayor to not have an HR Director,” said Dobosz.

Merchant came into the job as HR Director part-time. He could only work these part-time hours as he is retired and has pension benefits. According to Dobosz, Merchant works 20 hours a week in Chicopee with a salary of $60,000. Dobosz expressed he was upset that the mayor’s office wants to renew his contract as a continued part-time worker.

“This made me a little upset because I believe that it should be a full-time position. Human Resources is probably one of the most important parts of this city,” he said.

Dobosz spoke of his concerns with the part-time position and also with his concerns on Merchant doing HR for another local town as well. According to Dobosz, Merchant works 19 hours for the city of Westfield’s HR Department.

“I just don’t think there’s any way to give both communities 100 percent. I also think it’s a conflict of interest. What if Chicopee and Westfield were both looking for the same positions or are facing similar problems? I can think of a couple situations where it would be a conflict of interest. Is he gonna hold Westfield over Chicopee or Chicopee over Westfield? How can one person be managing Human Resources for two fairly large cities in Massachusetts? It just doesn’t add up,” he said.

Dobosz also spoke on issues he said he has heard from workers in Chicopee who have tried to contact the HR Department and haven’t received calls back. Although Dobosz said he thinks Merchant has been a good HR Director for a year, he doesn’t understand why there hasn’t been any attempt to find someone qualified who can work full-time. Dobosz said that Vieau thinks there are no qualified applicants who can do a better job than Merchant.

“How can you say there’s no qualified applicants when the job’s never been posted?” he asked. “I believe this is the wrong decision for the city.”

McAuliffe agreed with Dobosz’s statements, but ultimately said he would vote for Merchant’s reapproval. McAuliffe said he found Merchant to be a capable individual who has a handle on HR, with the only downside being the limited amount of time he can work. According to McAuliffe, he has seen improved use of the job board and targeting people through social media during Merchant’s time as HR Director.

However, one of McAuliffe’s key concerns was that whether or not the city can go two years with a part–time HR Director. He noted there might never be the need for a full–time hire again. Ultimately though, he backed Vieau’s decision for reapproval.

“I believe the mayor has the ability to appoint who he wants,” he said.

Councilor James Tillotson expressed his vehement belief that Merchant should be approved. He said that he does believe the position needs to be full-time, but that the only problem right now is timing and the impact of COVID-19.

“There’s nobody around here with the knowledge he has of this field,” said Tillotson.  “I think we can all agree that he doesn’t wanna be here forever either. This is it for him. He’s retired, he wants to enjoy the good life. He’s doing the city a favor.”

Councilors Stan Walczak and William Courchesne also spoke on Merchant.

“We’re fortunate to have someone with his experience. This is a department that needs experienced people, a leader, how else can we get by if we don’t have somebody who knows how to operate this department?” said Walczak.

Courchesne, however, stated he is worried about having Merchant in this position for too long and hopes Vieau would do a six month extension instead of a year. By then, Courchesne said he hoped there will be a job posting put up for a new hire.

Tensions briefly ran high when Dobosz snapped back at Tillotson’s earlier remarks. Tillotson claimed he didn’t believe Merchant was actually working for Westfield’s HR Department and that it was “fake news.” However, Dobosz read proof of Merchant’s contract in Westfield to the council.

According to Dobosz, Merchant has a contract working in Westfield from this past October through the end of the year. He works 19 hours a week in the city’s HR Department.

After a long discussion, Merchant was ultimately approved. Dobosz and Courchesne were the only councilors to vote against his reapproval.

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