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2002-055 Adopts Employee Suggestion ProgramRESOLUTION 55-2002 • A RESOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM B}:ACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PROGRAM, WINCH PROGRAM ]S SET FORTH IS EXHIBIT "A" ATTACHED; AND PROVIDING POR AN IsI~FF.C'fIVI; DATF;. BF. IT RESOLVED BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF NORTH PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1. 7'he Village Council of the Village of North Palm Beach, Florida, does hereby approve and adopt the Employee Suggestion Program set forth in Exhibit "A" attached. Section 2. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption. PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS 14th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2002. (Village Seal) A"fTES7' • ~~ VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH • ~ `"`M"~' EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PROGRAM ~p `~~ I. PURPOSE The purpose of the Village of North Palm Beach Employee Suggestion Program is to encourage and reward employees' creativity and ideas for improved efficiency and effectiveness of Village operations. ELIGIBILTY A. Employee Eligibility All Regular Full-Time and Part-Time employees with the exception of Department Heads are eligible to participate in the Employee Suggestion Program. Employees who are subject to Collective Bargaining Agreements are not eligible for awards until the Village has received a written consent and waiver of bargaining statement from the employee's union. B. Suggestion Eligibility Eligible Suggestions Eligible suggestions for the program include the following: a. Increase productivity, employee motivation, or increase the life of tools and/or equipment. b. Save time, material, labor, money, or energy. c. Improve safety conditions. d. Improve service to the public. 2. Ineligible Suggestions The following types of suggestions are ineligible for the program: a. Relate to job classification, pay, benefits, other terms and conditions of employment, and/or grievances. b. Relate to work contributions already expected or required as part of an employee's job or already within the employee's authority to implement. c. Relate to collective bargaining. d. Relate to routine maintenance matters such as cleaning, painting, repairing and adjusting, unless a change in methods or materials is proposed. e. Duplicate an active suggestion under consideration. f. Involve the elimination, lowering or increasing existing tax sources then being levied by the Village. g. Relate to matters resulting from assigned or contracted audits, studies, survey, reviews or research. • h. Criticisms of other employees or their performance of work. i. Suggestions from members of the Employee Suggestion Committee. j. Suggestions that call attention to a problem, but do not offer a solution. II. Review Committee • A. Review Committee Members 1. Selection of Review Committee Members The Suggestion Program Review has nine members selected by the respective Department Head as follows: a. Public Safety - 2 representatives b. Public Services - 2 representatives c. Country Club - 2 representatives d. Recreation - 1 representative e. Library - 1 representative f. Administration (Village Clerk, Village Manager, Finance)- 1 representative (recommended by Finance Director, Village Clerk, Village Manager, and selected jointly by Village Clerk and Village Manager) 2. Term on Committee Members will be appointed for two -year terms or, in the case of resignations, for the remainder of the unexpired term. The initial terms on the Committee shall be one-year for one Public Safety representative, one Public Services representative, one Country Club representative, and the Administration representative in order to create staggered terms. The initial terms on the committee shall be two-years for all other members. Following the initial terms, all terms shall be two-years in length. Committee Vacancies If an employee resigns from the committee, the respective department head will fill the vacancy as soon as possible. 4. Ex-Officio Representation The Village Manager, or designee, will serve as an ex-officio member of the committee with no voting privileges. 5. Committee Officers The committee will select one member to serve as chair and one member to serve as vice-chair for cone-year period. B. Review Committee Meetings The Review Committee will meet at least quarterly with more frequent meetings scheduled if necessary depending on the volume of suggestions. III. SUGGESTION PROCESS A. Employees may submit suggestions in the Employee Suggestion boxes located at various Village facilities. • B. Suggestions may be made by a group or team of employees. If the suggester is a group or team, the suggestion will be treated as if submitted by one person and any earned cash award will be shared equally by all employees involved in the suggestion. If a Group or Team Suggestion is submitted, the names of all • involved employees can be included on the initial suggestion form. C. Suggestions will be collected once a month by the Village Manager's Office and assigned a tracking number. Suggestions will be forwarded anonymously to the review committee in order to ensure an impartial evaluation. D. If identical or similar suggestions are received, the suggestion received first will receive preference. If received the same day, any cash award will be divided equally among the employees. E. The Review Committee will review the suggestions to determine eligibility for the program. For ineligible suggestions, a notice will be sent to the employee explaining that the suggestion did not meet the program guidelines. F. Eligible and ineligible suggestions will be forwarded (on the original form listing employee name and department) to the Village Manager and department head(s) most knowledgeable about the scope of the suggestions for their evaluation. The affected department head(s) will review the eligible suggestion and determine whether to adopt and implement it immediately or whether to pursue adoption if higher level approvals are required. G. Eligible suggestions that are not adopted by the Department Head(s) can be resubmitted by the same suggester(s) over atwo-year period. H. Adopted suggestions (including higher level approval, if necessary) will be forwarded to the suggestion committee for review. The identity of the employee(s) proposing the suggestion will not be revealed to the Committee until after they have completed their review and taken action on whether to issue an award. Any suggestions submitted (regardless of eligibility) will be filed in the respective employee(s) personnel file. IV. Awards A. Copies of adopted suggestions will be distributed to the Suggestions committee members as they become available. B. The Suggestion Review Committee will review adopted suggestions and take action on distributing awards to adopted suggestions as follows: 1. The Committee may select up to three (3) suggestions each quarter that they determine are most beneficial to the Village and these will be • awarded one-time cash awards of $100 and a certificate of appreciation. An employee who receives the $100 cash award may elect 8 hours paid leave in lieu of the cash award (does not apply to suggestions submitted by a group). • 2. The remaining suggestions that do not receive the cash award will remain in the review process for a cash award for the following three quarters. 3. At year end, a grand prize of $500 will be awarded by a random drawing to one of the $100 winners. 4. If a winning suggestion (either quarterly winner or annual winner) is submitted by a group, the cash award will be equally divided among the group. V. Rights to Suggestions At the time of submission, the suggester assigns to the Village of North Palm Beach any and all rights, title, ownership and interest each suggester may have in the suggestion, including existing or potential patent, trademark or copyright rights, whether common law or statutory, under the laws of the United States, or any state or foreign country. The assignment shall be effective upon the suggester's submission of the suggestion, regardless of whether the suggester receives an award for it, and the suggester shall agree that no compensation shall be due except such as may be awarded by the Employee Suggestion Program. LJ 4