The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a four-year contract with bargaining unit employees of Newtown’s Department of Public Works (DPW) during a brief regular meeting December 17. The agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2018, when the former contract expired.

During the meeting, and considering a couple of the conditions in that new contract, Mr Rosenthal told his colleagues Selectmen Jeff Capeci and Maureen Crick Owen that he had requested DPW Director Fred Hurley hold off on filling three open positions. That was because of pending new pension conditions that are part of the agreement.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee prior to the meeting that the latest four-year contract grants a 2.25 percent increase in year one and two, bumping up to 2.5 percent in year three and four. The contract also negotiated a one percent increase in health plan contributions for each participant for each of the four years duration of the agreement.

The contract stipulates that all new hires will be required to participate in a 401a plan.

Julia Kagen, writing for investopedia.com, defines a 401a plan as: an employer-sponsored money-purchase retirement plan that allows dollar- or percentage-based contributions from the employer, the employee, or both.

The sponsoring employer establishes eligibility and the vesting schedule, the post states, and a participating employee can withdraw funds from a 401a plan through a rollover to a different qualified retirement plan, a lump-sum payment or an annuity.

All current union DPW staff under the contract will remain on the existing defined benefit program.

Mr Rosenthal said that current union members are also in agreement with his proposal to shift a number of supervisory DPW workers to a separate local bargaining unit as a means of enhancing management structure and accountability.

During the selectmen’s meeting, Mr Hurley explained the concept, saying “We are trying to push responsibility down the line. The way it is now, all union members are in the same unit.” But in the event a supervisor needs to write up a subordinate, Mr Hurley said they may be swayed against it because they are fellow unit members.

He said if a supervisor has a way to make crews work better and make individuals more responsible to the crew by adhering to rules and policies, it will serve the entire organization better.

“You want problems solved at the lowest level possible — that’s where you get your efficiencies,” Mr Hurley said. Mr Rosenthal added that expectations put on supervisors will help enhance the overall department management and will complement that management structure.

“It’s about empowering them to be good managers and giving them the tools to be effective managers — encourage them to take training, and help make them better leaders,” the first selectman said.

It has not yet been clarified which other existing Newtown bargaining unit these DPW managers will be shifted into.

Mr Hurley said union leaders were supportive because it provided a defined increase in management personnel for up to four staff members, and the as yet untitled positions would require individuals to apply to fill those newly named posts.

He said there is one current supervisory position open following a recent retirement. Each of the four supervisors are responsible for work done in four quartered areas of the town.

Mr Rosenthal said, having seen the three remaining supervisory candidates on the job, “I have a feeling [crew members] will step up into the new opportunity once that new structure is created.”

He added that a similar structure may be considered in other departments if deemed appropriate, and Parks & Rec already has a supervisor in the separate Town Hall Employees bargaining unit.