I recently was contacted by a resident inquiring about the number of full-time jobs at the Town of Wheatland municipal building and their titles, so I wanted to share with you the accurate accounting of our staff. The Town currently has four (4) full-time employees at the municipal building. Two of those employees are the Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk. Within the last couple of years, the Deputy Town Clerk has assumed additional human resource duties (other towns have HR departments) along with her deputy town clerk duties. This was an outcome of increasing demands from NYS Civil Service, the complexity of on-boarding new staff and other mandated requirements.
The other two full-time staff members are fulfilling two part-time job titles in two different areas of the government, while receiving no health care benefits (one of most expensive benefits). One of the positions is the result of a combination of the part-time Recreation Coordinator position with the part-time Senior Center Director position (previously filled by two different individuals) - since both are recreation in nature across generations. The other full-time staff member is our Building Department Clerk who has additional hours as a Confidential Secretary to the Supervisor. This title was selected because it enables the Supervisor to assign that person to any department in the town where there is a need. In Civil Service terms it could be described as “out of title work” – not confined to the duties described in the civil service job title. It is the only position that enables the Supervisor to assign work in the Assessor’s office when the demand is high (other towns provide a clerk to the assessor or increased hours). This staff member also assists the Recreation Department and Senior Center when the need arises for planning, programming and events.
The Town Board accrued funds across three years to fund this last position and, to date, she has only assisted other departments and has not “assisted” the supervisor. All other Monroe County small towns with part time supervisors have had part time secretaries for years. In Wheatland, that person is used across departments and not specifically for the supervisor – it’s how we make things work! This staffing model has enabled the Town to meet the demands of government and provide better services to our residents.
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