Your talents are requested by a handful of town of Wellesley departments and government bodies:

Crossing guards (Wellesley Police Department)

The Town of Wellesley Police Department is looking to hire School Crossing Guards.  Seeking dependable individuals to assure the safety of school children crossing the streets as they go to and from school. You don’t need to be a Wellesley resident. The morning shift is from 7:55 to 8:25 a.m. and the afternoon shift is generally from 3:05 to 3:35 p.m.  On Wednesdays, the afternoon shift is from 12:05 to 12:35 p.m.  Salary is $18.39/hour plus a $7.50 stipend for each shift.  Fresh air and smiling children’s faces are included.  Please send a resume in word or PDF format to jobs@wellesleyma.gov or submit a Town of Wellesley Employment Application to the Human Resources Department, Town Hall, 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482.  AA/EOE

Wellesley Retirement Board

The Wellesley Retirement Board is seeking qualified candidates to serve as the Fifth Member for a 3-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
Together with the Board, the Fifth Member acts as a fiduciary of the Wellesley Retirement System and is involved in decisions regarding the administration of the system (including investment-related policy decisions for both the retirement system and other post-employment benefits), setting actuarial assumptions and determining the annual appropriation. The Board meets once a month, generally on the last Tuesday, and at other times as needed. Monthly meetings last from one to two hours.

The Fifth Member will be required to complete 18 continuing educational credits during a full 3-year term and file an abbreviated, high level Annual Statement of Financial Interest with the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) to ensure each member has no financial conflicts of interest. In addition, the Fifth Member must become familiar with state retirement law (MGL c. 32) and Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, as well as Board policies and procedures. Travel to local meetings and training may also be required.

The ideal candidate will have a background in pensions, actuarial science, investments, or related fields. Applicants cannot be active employees, retirees, contractors, or officials of the Town of Wellesley or the Wellesley Housing Authority. Those interested in applying for the position should send a letter of interest and/or resume to Lynn Whynot, Retirement Administrator, Wellesley Retirement Board, 888 Worcester St., Wellesley, MA 02482 or email lwhynot@wellesleyma.gov. Interested applicants should apply no later than Nov. 17, 2023. The Board plans to interview candidates at its Oct. 31 and Nov. 28 meetings.

Please contact us if interested in advertising a job opening on Swellesley

Design Review Board

The Wellesley Planning Board is seeking three candidates interested in serving as Regular or Alternate Members on the Design Review Board  for a term of one, two, or three years. The DRB meets twice per month on Wednesday nights to review signage, major and minor construction projects involving changes to the exterior of structures (excluding single and two-family projects), retaining walls, antennas, and projects triggering Large House Review. The DRB is looking to fill one Regular Member position. The open position is as follows: 1. A person recommended by one or more of the Town associations representing Wellesley retail business owners.

Additionally, the DRB is looking to fill two Alternate Member positions that satisfy at least one of the Design Review member criteria listed under Section 5.5 of the Town of Wellesley Zoning Bylaw. The criteria are as follows: 1. A member of the Planning Board or designee by the Board who shall be a resident; 2. A person qualified by training and experience in architecture who shall be a resident; 3. A person qualified by training and experience in landscape architecture who shall be a resident; 4. A person qualified by training and experience in the art or design professions who shall be a resident; and 5. A person recommended by one or more of the Town associations representing Wellesley retail business owners.

Those interested in these positions should submit a written statement of their interest and a resume to the Planning Department office at their earliest convenience at: planning@wellesleyma.gov. For further information, please call the Planning Department office at (781) 431-1019 ext. 2232

The Town of Wellesley, following the departures this summer of its Human Resources director and assistant director, is rethinking how that department will operate in a job market where it’s become increasingly difficult for the municipality to hire and retain employees.

HR Director Scott Szczebak submitted his resignation on July 14, and Assistant HR Director Robin Tusino departed to take a job as HR director for Dover-Sherborn and the school system there. Tusino’s old job has been posted by the Town of Wellesley. It’s likely Wellesley will hire an interim director in the short term to replace Szczebak, recently a finalist for the town administrator job in Belchertown.

The Wellesley Select Board devoted more than an hour of its July 24 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording) to the topic of the town’s HR department and oversight.

First, the town’s Advisory Committee brought forth a recommendation that Wellesley consider shifting the reporting of the HR director from the appointed Human Resources Board to the town’s executive director. This recommendation stemmed from a theme that emerged during Advisory’s preparation for Town Meetings in recent years that departments were finding “the recruitment and retention of staff was very difficult,” said Advisory Chair Madison Riley.

While a tight labor market accounted for some of the challenges, “we were understanding there were concerns about the HR department’s appreciation for the day in and day out operational dynamics of the various town departments and also their support for those challenges,” Riley told the Select Board. He emphasized that Advisory’s thinking on this has been developing for a while, and the recent HR leadership departures was not a factor in this.

Advisory’s members pointed to organizational structure at companies where they work or have worked, and saw that the HR function typically reported to executive leadership. Other communities examined also were found to have a different reporting relationship than in Wellesley, Riley said.

The Select Board was receptive to the recommendation, and Executive Director Meghan Jop said the town has considered hiring consultants to do compensation and job classification analysis.

Select Board Member Beth Sullivan Woods said “I do think it is critical that we look at what HR services and structure is required today, because we’re a $200 million business, for lack of a better analogy, and we staff and we budget for something that doesn’t allow for retention, training, interim salary adjustments… So I think our needs are not in step with, or we’ve outgrown our little HR department in a lot of ways. I do think it is a really important juncture to study what that right model is.”

The Select Board later in its meeting moved onto an agenda item regarding a proposed memorandum of agreement between the Select Board and Human Resources Board to designate the executive director as supervisor of the HR director (initially expected to be an interim director). Jop’s duties have been piling up of late, with recent changes also adding supervision of the fire chief.

HR Board Chair Julie Moore, echoing the comments from Advisory Committee members, said during the Select Board meeting this week that the recent leadership departures provide “a really great opportunity to look at structure.” She added later: “Day-to-day supervision is needed, and as an outside, volunteer board, we can’t do that…” (The HR Board would still appoint the director.)

The Select Board approved the memorandum by a vote of 3-2 after some vigorous discussion and proposed amendments.

Select Board Member Ann-Mara Lanza said that while this agreement might be a good short-term solution in light of the HR department’s leadership departures, she would like to see a serious study, perhaps by a committee approved at Special Town Meeting, explore options for how the HR department should be run. It’s not unusual in town that volunteer boards manage town employees in Wellesley. “To me, this is a moment in time and Meghan is helping. But I do not want this memorandum of agreement to be the way we operate in the long term,” said Lanza, who voted against the agreement.

Board Chair Lise Olney described the agreement as a “stop-gap measure” for “a department that is essentially in free fall with no director or assistant director.” It will also provide an opportunity to explore longer-term solutions, she said.

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