Two issues discussed at the Aug. 5 Board of Selectmen meeting involved North Haven’s community services and recreation department, which recently lost its department head position.

Personnel policy manual

On June 25, Gerardo Sorkin, former Director of Community Services and Recreation, was laid off to capture financial savings, according to First Selectman Michael Freda. Sorkin’s post will not be refilled. His managerial responsibilities have been shifted to Director of Finance Ed Swinkowski.

Questions were raised at a July 29 selectmen’s meeting, however, about whether town policy requires six department head positions, including the Director of Community Services and Recreation. “There shall be six Department Heads of the town,” states the Town Hall personnel manual.

Faced with replacing Sorkin, or citing policy ambiguity and imperfection, third selectman Steve Fontana backed the latter.

 “In reviewing our personnel policy manual, it’s become apparent to us that it’s in need of revision,” Fontana said Aug. 5. “I believe our town attorney indicated that he believed that it was poorly written. And there are any numbers of issues that have arisen as result.”

Fontana proposed asking North Haven’s town attorney to create a potential personnel policy manual revision. After alteration, the draft would be released to the public for comment.

“Given the manner in which that the current personnel policy manual may have been drafted and implemented,” Fontana said, “and the problems we’ve experienced, it would be valuable to have a chance for the public to weigh in on that proposed revision prior to our adopting it.”

Second selectman Tim Doheny agreed.

“I think there have been two issues to come up while I was on the board in which the manual was to blame,” he said. “I also think we’re fortunate to have a town attorney whose expertise is in labor law. I think that would be a great benefit to us.”

“I don’t have a problem if we create a draft, and then after [Fontana], Mike and I see it and comment on it, we release it in some format to the town,” Doheny added.

Fontana and Doheny were unsure just how public dissemination of an edited policy manual would occur.

Freda said he had already moved toward policy revision. “I’ve spoken to the town attorney and he will be doing a draft to redo this,” he said of the manual. “This was apparently done decades ago, and revised somewhere around 1995. So I think this is a good idea, and we’ll move forward with getting the draft, reviewing it, and having another discussion next month.”

Counselors

Town Hall’s cost structure set-up for three Community Services Department counselors requires alteration, Freda said. Economically, North Haven’s counselors, who provide health services for 96 local clients, has become too lopsided.

 “Prior to the elimination of the director’s position, we had $408,000 worth of expenses, and we were generating $65,000 in revenue from the billings,” Freda said of the counselors. “We currently have a situation where our expenses are $270,000. But we’re still generating $65,000 in revenue.”

“So from a financial standpoint, we have a situation where, although the services are very important, it’s upside down in terms of revenue versus expenses,” he added. “The revenue represents now 25 percent of the expenses.”

Moreover, proper clinical credentials may be lacking after Sorkin’s dismissal. “We’re working with the state now, because we need to have a clinical license to continue these services,” Freda said. “The state is working very well with us. They’re giving us time to put together a plan.”

Freda said the solution is to grow department revenue while maintaining services. One option resolving both matters, he believed, is to employ Harbor Health Services, a non-profit provider of mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, to oversee the clinic.

“What Harbor Health Services will do for us is not disrupt the daily activities of our three counselors,” Freda said, “but it will provide a level of oversight that will allow us to comply with state guidelines for the future, it will allow us to replicate the license we need to continue the services for the future, but it will also allow us to grow the revenue.”

“What this will do is will allow us better case management,” he continued. “It will allow us to perhaps move from an individual to a group format, and bring new clients in, thereby increasing revenue.”

Software systems utilized by the town’s counselors could also be upgraded by Harbor Health Services, Freda added, potentially providing another cost-cutter.

Hiring Harbor Health Services to oversee North Haven’s counselors, Freda believed, would generate $100,000 in revenue for the town, at a one-year cost of $100,000. “In effect it’s cost neutral,” Freda said.

“I’m proposing a year contract, at no cost to the town,” he continued. “I’m hopeful in year two, in year three, if we decide to renew it, that’s where we gain the benefit of future incremental revenues. If we go forward with this, we take the revenue-to-expense model from 24 percent to about 45 percent. So instead of it being $270,000 in expenses and $65,000 in revenue, it now becomes $370,000 in expenses, and $165,000 in revenue.”

No action was taken Aug. 5. Freda presented Fontana and Doheny with information regarding Harbor Health Services for discussion at next month’s selectmen meeting.

“We certainly want to hear your comments,” Freda said to his fellow selectmen. “If you both agree with it, then I would propose that we would go forward with it.”

During public comment, Freda was asked how long the counselors’ cost structure had been disproportionate. “For several years,” he answered. “I don’t know the exact timeframe.”

“Once Ed and I took a look at it,” he added, “we recognized right away that although it’s a great service, and we have people who need the service, it’s costing money, costing the taxpayers money, with an upside down expense-revenue model.”

Another inquiry was whether Sorkin had been considering Harbor Health Services before his departure. “It was Ed Swinkowski and I who brought Harbor Health to the table,” Freda replied.

The town will avoid privatizing municipal health services, Freda said in response to such a query. “We would maintain the integrity of the counselors,” he added, “all of whom are union employees. Harbor Health provides an oversight, an overview, an umbrella if you will, that allows us to be more efficient, productive and grow the revenue base.”

“They really work hard,” Freda said of the counselors. “They provide valuable services to our residents who are patients of the clinic.”