Jan 16, 2003 By Paul Sunyak 4 min read

The Fayette County Housing Authority remains hung up on approving updated employee job descriptions and new salary ranges, as recommended by consultant Peter R. Johnson & Co. The board of directors tabled those items in October and November, and did so again at its January meeting after holding an executive session. Executive Director Thomas L. Harkless views the job descriptions and salary ranges as important management tools, but thus far the board hasn’t achieved a consensus on approving them.

After the board emerge from executive session at Tuesday’s meeting, new board member James V. Bitonti made a motion to approve the job descriptions and another third piece of work performed by the consultant, a new and more detailed employee-performance appraisal form.

But after board member Beverly Beal made known her intention to vote no on all aspects of the consultant’s work, board Chairman Kenneth L. Johnson suggested that Bitonti amend his motion to approve only the performance appraisal form.

Bitonti did so and board member Angela M. Zimmerlink provided the second, but the measure passed 4-1, with Beal voting nay as promised.

Beal again voiced her displeasure with the documents prepared by Peter R. Johnson, citing her beliefs that not enough was done to help lower-salaried employees and that some of the job descriptions aren’t accurate enough.

“As usual, the lower-paid people get less and the higher-paid people get more … There are a lot of (things) in this book that I don’t agree with,” said Beal. She said the authority already pays $10,000 a year to the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission, which provides job-classification information and the employee evaluation form that’s currently used by the authority.

Harkless said that civil service provides only “generic job descriptions” and ensures that administrative employees meet the minimum education and training standards for their jobs. He added that civil service has no prohibition against the authority developing its own salary ranges, job descriptions or employee appraisal method.

“The state civil service doesn’t care what titles you use,” said Harkless, who added that civil service’s influence is limited to the hiring, firing, promotion and demotion of administrative employees.

Harkless added that the job descriptions developed by the consultant are, in fact, reflective of the work being done by authority employees in all positions.

“The job descriptions that we currently have, there is no way you can change that,” Harkless said. “That is what they currently do … This is what they are physically doing (in their jobs).”

Ken Johnson, who has generally supported Harkless’ request to have all three prongs adopted, said it’s important and makes sound business sense to implement whatever can be agreed on as soon as possible.

Ken Johnson’s position, stated at this and prior meetings, is that modern management is built on the types of employee evaluation tools that Harkless is requesting.

However, Beal said she wants civil service administrator Steve Shartle to review the proposed job descriptions before the board approves them.

Harkless countered that civil service’s long-standing position is that the state agency does not function as the human resources department for any housing authority.

Harkless said that civil service by nature only offers very broad job categories. As an example, he noted that his executive secretary Trudy Pastories was hired as a receptionist a years ago and functioned in that capacity until recently. However, as far as civil service was concerned Pastories was a clerk/typist II, said Harkless.

The board went into executive session after Beal said she “wanted to talk about one employee” and didn’t think she could do so in the public portion of the meeting. Zimmerlink said that if what Beal had to say could influence her vote, she would like to hear it in executive session.

Bitonti noted that the salary ranges seem to be the main problem.

Ken Johnson said the board can hold off on approving them until it formulates its 2003-04 fiscal budget in coming months.