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Human Resources

PACIF Members: Exchange Claim-Related Files with Us More Securely Yet Easily

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2 years 5 months
Submitted by iminot@vlct.org on
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Claim-related information routinely has personal data, such as social security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, financials, addresses, and medical records. This information should be protected as much as possible, especially in today’s virtual world.  

VLCT PACIF has been using a convenient and secure program called ShareBase to transmit documents in certain parts of claim handling. That’s why, over the last year or so, one of our claim representatives may have emailed your municipality’s claims contact person a ShareBase link to use instead of regular email for sending or retrieving claim documents. This is such a crucial and easy step that very soon it will be a permanent addition to PACIF’s claim handling process.  

If you report and/or follow up on PACIF claims (whether property, vehicle, or workers’ compensation) for your municipality, here’s what to expect. 

When you first report a claim, the acknowledgement email you receive will contain the claim number, the name and contact information of the claim representative (adjuster) who is handling the claim, and two ShareBase links.  

  • The first link is for you to retrieve copies of the acknowledgement letter and your First Report of Injury (FROI, for a workers’ compensation claim) or your First Notice of Loss (FNOL, for a property or vehicle claim) for your records. This link will expire in 14 days.  

  • The second link is for you to send documents to the claim representative. It will remain active for as long as the claim is open. The documents you put into it will disappear from your view immediately and will be added directly to our document management system.  

When you receive the first applicable notification and link, please reach out to the adjuster for instructions on how to use the ShareBase links. Password protection is an important layer in this secure cyber process – in addition to complex encryption – and we want the links to be easy for you to use. Contact us if you need assistance, want tips on making the claim links easy to access within your web browser, or have any questions about the new process.  

Thank you for being a PACIF member and learning this new and very important procedure! 

Sincerely, 

Peggy Gates, Manager, Workers' Compensation Claims, VLCT PACIF
Kelly Kindestin, Manager, Property & Casualty Claims, VLCT PACIF

Attend Town Fair to Get Maximum Value from Your Membership

August 06, 2024

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a member of VLCT. You’re one of more than 5,000 elected, appointed, or employed municipal officials here in Vermont. One of your greatest membership benefits is the VLCT connection to people facing similar challenges, similar opportunities, and similar head-slapping moments in the town office. You’re not alone, you don’t need to have the answer to every question, and there are people interested in your success. Come meet them at Town Fair 2024 in Killington on October 2nd.  

This year’s theme, “Making Connections and Sharing Solutions”, emphasizes the importance of coming together. Being in the same room with several hundred other selectboard members, top-level managers, clerks, treasurers, listers, mayors, and other colleagues is the best part of Town Fair. And let’s not forget the fun – from this year’s silent auction, to a packed exhibit hall, to an ice cream social and the grand raffle. The committee also put together some deep content in five different workshop tracks: Finance, Administration and Operations; Leadership; Building Safe and Healthy Communities; Elections; and the fifth track – which aims to create more space for networking, discussion, and dialogue – Facilitated Discussions. 

Facilitated Discussions  

At the suggestion of our Town Fair Planning Committee, we created an entire track that aims to create space to talk about what you want to talk about, not what VLCT thinks you should talk about. One of our board members likened this track to an “un-conference”. These loosely structured and lightly facilitated sessions will bring people together around a common topic for conversation. I’m personally most excited about our young municipal leaders session. What’s “young”, you ask? I don’t know for sure, but if you have to ask, you might not be young. We also have a new session focused on what different municipal officers do and a session dedicated to simply asking any question you want of VLCT lawyers or other municipal officials. It’s an experiment that I hope you’ll sign up to participate in.  

You don’t need to worry about which workshops are in which tracks. Bounce between tracks, sample a session from each, and follow your interests.

Finance, Administration, and Operations 

Some of the most popular content at Town Fair has always been the most practical. Designed to appeal to those in the town office every day – such as clerks, treasurers, listers, department heads, administrators, and managers – this track may also appeal to members of legislative bodies. This year you’ll find sessions aimed at helping you engage residents better, introducing you to the new procurement portal “VTBuys”, updating you on new property tax system changes, and helping you recruit and retain good people. 

Leadership 

In order to lead, municipal officials need a big-picture understanding of what’s happening throughout the state, how state policy changes could affect their communities, and what tools exist to help catalyze change in their communities. That’s why we’ve created sessions for this track about equity in land use, workplace culture, and one of the largest leadership challenges we’ve recently seen in municipal government: how leaders in Pawlet handled the Slate Ridge dispute. This track is intended for members of municipal legislative bodies, mayors, and managers, but anyone with an interest in these topics is encouraged to attend.  

Building Safe and Healthy Communities 

Designed to inspire and educate land use officials, mayors, selectboards, city councils, village trustees, and anyone who wants to use municipal authorities to improve the livability of their communities, this track features legislative updates, tips for good governance practices, and more. We included a session on the newly passed housing and land use bill that significantly affects Act 250 and municipal zoning, a session on civility and effective meeting management, and a session on cyber security (there’s money coming to help you tackle this issue).  

Elections 

Clerks! Clerks! Clerks! Featuring appearances from our Secretary of State’s office as well as our former elections director Will Senning (now a big wig with the federal office that oversees election security), this track is singular in focus: helping clerks prepare for this year’s election. VLCT couldn’t have offered this track without the help of the Vermont Municipal Clerks’ & Treasurers’ Association.  

Here's the best part of the workshop tracks being offered at Town Fair this year: you don’t need to worry about which workshops are in which tracks if you don’t want to. Bounce between tracks, sample a session from each, and follow your interests.  
 

But Wait, There’s More! 

My favorite part of Town Fair is presenting the annual municipal service awards – the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Municipal Service Award, and the Legislative Service Award. We’ll do that at lunch this year – where we’ll also hear from VTDigger CEO Sky Barsch about how the media and local government depend on each other. It’s not too late to nominate someone for a VLCT Municipal Service Award. 

Finally, to use your time as efficiently as possible, Town Fair 2024 is a densely packed one-day event. Register by August 31 to get the early bird price of just $79 for the entire day, which includes breakfast roundtables, lunch, and the ice cream social in addition to all the great sessions, exhibitors, and raffle prizes. To provide all that in one day, we will hold the annual meetings for VLCT, PACIF, and VERB in a hybrid fashion the day before, on October 1. It’s free to attend the annual meeting and critically important that every member has a representative there. Attend from your desk, your kitchen table, or your car (safely parked, of course). Our member-owned insurance trusts need your input. We’ll be voting on a new municipal policy to guide our work in the legislature next biennium. And we’ll be electing members to the VLCT Board of Directors.  

Once you’ve hit the lake one last time, gotten another cut of hay in the barn, or sent the kids back to school, we’ll announce our keynote speaker. Until then, get yourself registered for Town Fair. It’s one of the best benefits of being a member of VLCT.

Q: What Is PACIF’s HR Consultation Program and How Can It Help You?

July 11, 2024

A: PACIF’s Human Resources Consultation Program provides valuable partnership and guidance to members in managing the workplace. The program includes: 

  • Advising on day-to-day HR questions 
  • Support in problem-solving big and small workplace challenges 
  • Providing referrals to experienced counsel, government agencies, and other resources 
  • Training managers, supervisors, and governing bodies on HR principles and best practices 
  • Identifying areas of operational risk from an HR perspective and recommending mitigation strategies 

Common inquiry topics include: wage and hour, overtime, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Vermont’s Parental Leave Act (PLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hiring and job descriptions, people leader skill development, performance management, discipline, internal employee communications, employee engagement, labor and employee relations, employment benefits, employing minors, managing internal complaints, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.  

Julie McKenzie, Assistant General Counsel for PACIF Labor and Employment, and Jill Muhr, Senior Human Resources Consultant, have deep understanding of the unique aspects of municipal workplaces and the laws, regulations, and best practices that are specific to public sector employment. They spend a lot of time thinking about the workplace, and they look forward to working with PACIF members!  

You can always review the program's offerings at our Human Resources Consultation webpage. Please send your HR questions to info@vlct.org. 

Remember Trenching and Excavation Safety!

June 13, 2024

Whether for replacing aging culverts or repairing or installing a water or sewer line, most workers in municipal road/highway/public works departments need to dig holes or trenches or perform some type of excavations. Once an area has been excavated, one or more employees often need to enter the hole to perform whatever work is required. While an employee’s focus is generally on the task at hand, the sides of an unsecured excavated area can be unstable and collapse unexpectedly, potentially resulting in entrapment, injury, or even suffocation. These hazards – and the OSHA regulations for preventing them – make it necessary for employers to provide appropriate safety equipment and training to all affected employees and for all employees working in or near an excavation worksite to closely adhere to established safety practices.  

Trenching and excavation operations create serious hazards that every employer should take seriously.

In addition to the moral and ethical reasons for adhering to excavation safety rules, municipalities need to know that VOSHA inspectors can stop and examine any suspicious looking excavation that they happen to pass. Thus, any employer that does excavation work can be subject to a VOSHA inspection and potential fines at a moment’s notice. VOSHA fines for unsafe excavations can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, creating a financial incentive that supplements the moral and ethical responsibility for each employer to provide a workplace that’s free from recognized safety and health hazards. 

Completing excavation work safely requires a number of skills, specialized equipment, and an understanding of what the regulations require. This article highlights some of the key requirements and also includes some PACIF guidance, based on our experience.  

We have listed some major requirements and best practices below to inform and/or remind our readers, in hopes that everyone will leverage this knowledge into safe excavation operations. For complete details on applicable regulatory requirements, refer to OSHA standards 1926.651 and 1926.652, which VOSHA has adopted verbatim. 

Trenching and excavation best practices and requirements include but are not limited to: 

  • Excavations must be overseen by a competent person. A competent person is one who has the knowledge and skills to evaluate and identify safety hazards and ensure the safe operation of the excavation process. That person must also have the authority to cease operations if uncontrolled hazards of any type are identified. 
  • Excavations that are four feet (4') or more in depth at any point must have means of egress that are within 25 feet (25') of employees. Ladders, stairs, or ramps may be used. Make sure ladders are rated for the weight of the employees using them.  
  • If the excavation has exposure to vehicular traffic, employees must wear appropriate Class II retroreflective garments and be protected by a properly designed and operated workzone, including traffic control if needed. Traffic and related vibrations also increase the risk for excavation collapse, which should be considered as part of evaluating excavation safety. 
  • Employees must be protected from excavated or other material (e.g., a spoils pile) and equipment that could pose a hazard by falling or rolling into the excavation. The best practice is to keep material at least two feet (2') away from the edge of the excavation. Heavy equipment, road traffic, etc. should be kept further away from the excavation to prevent accidental collapse. 
  • Unless the competent person is skilled in soil classification, all soil types should be considered as soil type C for the purpose of complying with excavation standards. Soil type C is the least stable soil type and therefore it requires the largest exposed opening when shielding or shoring systems are not used. It should be noted that soil that has been previously excavated is automatically classed as soil type C, as is any soil with evidence of water seepage or standing water. 
  • Any excavation that is five feet (5') deep or more at any point within the excavated area must be sloped and benched according to the soil type, or it must be properly shielded or shored. When using shielding systems, additional considerations include:  

- The system must be used in accordance with its engineered design. 

- It is permitted to excavate material as much as two feet (2') below the depth of the support system if the system is designed to resist the forces calculated for the full depth of the trench. The top of the trench box should be 18 inches (18") above grade. 

- Employees should not be in an excavation when shields or boxes are being installed, moved, or removed. When using gas-powered equipment or products that contain chemicals within the excavation, consider the potential for hazardous atmospheres to develop.  

- If shoring or shielding is not used, it is best to assume that soil type “C” exists and apply a slope or bench of 34 degrees (34°) or a run/rise ratio of 1.5:1. This will require significant enlargement of the excavation, e.g., a 34-foot (34') opening for a trench that is ten feet (10') deep and four feet (4') wide. 

- The open ends of trench boxes are often inappropriately left unprotected, thus subjecting employees who are in the excavation to soil collapse. Bulkheads should be used in these areas as needed to protect against this hazard. 

  • Trenching and excavation operations create serious hazards that every employer should take seriously. Employees should never enter an excavation that is unstable or deeper than five feet (5’) without adequately opening up the excavation or using appropriate shielding or shoring. Doing otherwise exposes employees to serious hazards and exposes the employer to serious fines.  

We encourage all VLCT members to get educated on how to perform excavations safely and exert safety discipline while performing these tasks. Our loss control staff is ready and willing to assist PACIF members with their education efforts and can meet with individual municipalities to answer questions about excavation practices. Additionally, Vermont Local Roads occasionally offers workshops on this topic. If you have questions, please reach out to your loss control consultant directly or contact us at losscontrol@vlct.org 

New Federal Rule Requires Municipal Website and Mobile App Accessibility (Updated)

The U.S. Department of Justice published its final rule updating regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title II requires state and local governments to make sure that their services, programs, and activities are accessible to people with disabilities. It applies to all services, programs, or activities that state and local governments offer online and through mobile apps, such as payment and parking apps to zoning regulations and maps. When websites and mobile apps are not accessible, they can create access barriers for people with disabilities. A Fact Sheet summarizing the rule is available on ADA.gov.
 

Who Must Follow This Rule?

Like the rest of Title II, the rule applies to all state and local governments as well as special purpose districts, Amtrak, and other commuter authorities. State and local governments that contract with other entities to provide public services for them (like non-profit organizations that run drug treatment programs on behalf of a state agency) also must make sure that their contractors follow Title II.
 

Highlights of the Rule's Requirements

The rule’s requirements for making web content and mobile apps accessible are highlighted below. The full rule explains these requirements in more detail. The Department of Justice also published a Fact Sheet on the Final Rule and A Small Entity Compliance Guide.

The technical standard for state and local governments’ web content and mobile apps is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.

WCAG does not outline specific actions that every website must take, rather it states what accessible websites should do. Level AA conformance means the Web page satisfies all the Level A and Level AA Success Criteria for the guideline, or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided.

Web content and mobile apps usually need to meet the technical standard.

The rule applies to web content that a state or local government provides or makes available. This includes when the government has an arrangement with someone else who provides or makes available web content for them.

There are exceptions for meeting the standard.

A summary of the exceptions is below. The first four exceptions have criteria that must be met to qualify for the exception.

  • Archived web content.
  • Preexisting conventional electronic documents.
  • Content posted by a third party. (Think public comments, not hiring someone for posting.)
  • Individualized, password-protected electronic documents.
  • Preexisting social media posts.

There are several other exceptions. State and local governments have a burden of proof to use them. It’s unlikely Vermont municipalities would pursue them.
 

Compliance Dates

Public entities with populations under 50,000               April 24, 2027

Special district governments                                              April 24, 2027

Public entities with populations of 50,000 or more       April 24, 2026

If the governmental entity serves multiple communities, it must total the population of all the communities. This means a police department that has contracts to serve other municipalities might have an earlier compliance date than its municipality.
 

To Learn More, Contact ...

If you have questions about this rule or the ADA, you can call the Department of Justice’s ADA Information Line.

Another source of information is the New England ADA Center. It provides ADA technical assistance to businesses, state and local governments, and individuals with disabilities. Phone: 1-800-949-4232 (voice and TTY), 1-617-482-8099 (fax), or ADAinfo@IHCDesign.org.
 

What Should Municipalities Do Now?

Create policies on how you will make sure that your web content and mobile apps are accessible.

Policies could identify actions your municipality will take to start complying with the rule and to stay compliant with it in the future. Topics in the policy might include:

  • Explain what appointed and elected officials and staff should do to make sure the content they post is accessible.
  • Identify a person to coordinate the municipality's effort to comply with the rule and to answer questions from officials and staff.
  • Describe how officials and staff will regularly test the municipality's web content and mobile apps for accessibility compliance.
  • Explain the steps officials and staff will take if a person with a disability reports that web content or mobile apps are not accessible.
  • Explain the steps officials and staff will take if a person with a disability asks them to make accessible content that falls under an exception to the rule.

Create processes for people to make accessibility request and to report accessibility issues.

You can set up processes to make it easy for people to get in touch with your municipality about accessibility issues. Some examples of processes include:

  • Providing an email address, accessible link, accessible web page, or other accessible way for people to let your municipality know if there are any accessibility issues with its web content or mobile apps.
  • Letting members of the public know, in prominent places on your website, how they can ask your municipality to make content accessible when the content falls within an exception to this rule.

Train your staff and elected and appointed officials to produce documents that are compliant with the standard.

Most municipal websites are developed by professional designers. Even if the product they deliver complies with the new standard, changes your municipality makes, such as adding new pages and posting documents and pictures, also need to comply for the website to stay compliant with the standard. Learn about free online training resources in VLCT’s Improve Accessibility Toolkit.

VLCT will host an ADA Basics webinar on web accessibility in October 2024. The webinar will discuss the rule and how it applies to municipalities, help you consider how the standard might relate to your website and mobile apps, and strategize with you about actions you can and should take to help ensure you meet the compliance deadline.

Ask your website or app vendor whether your current product met a WACG standard/guideline when it was new, and if so, what standard/guideline.

Most websites and mobile apps aren’t designed to meet any WACG guideline unless the customer requests it. The municipality, not the product designer, is held accountable for ADA compliance.

Add the technical standard to your Request for Proposal requirements for new websites and mobile apps.

Ask vendors whether they will provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), such as a VPAT® (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) and ask them to demonstrate or talk about accessibility features. An ACR is a document that explains how information and communication technology (ICT) products such as software, hardware, electronic content, and support documentation meet a requested standard. The vendor must have tested their product against the required standard to complete an ACR. 

Ask residents who have disabilities about challenges they have with your website or mobile apps.

Their experiences can help you prioritize fixes. A major challenge for most websites is the inability to use a screen reader with the site.

Assess your current website’s compliance with the new DOJ standard.

Use No-Cost Tools: Use free tools to get you started or hire a professional to conduct a WCAG audit. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) maintains an extensive list of web accessibility evaluation tools. Recruit volunteers to use the tool on your website. This might be a great way to engage tech-savvy individuals who want to increase their skills. Automated tools detect approximately 30 percent (~30%) of WCAG issues.

Use For-Fee Services: If you hire a professional to conduct a WCAG audit, ask for the auditor’s accessibility credentials and sample reporting. You want an in-depth WCAG audit report that identifies what and where WCAG violations are and how to fix them. Use professional quotes to determine what is more cost effective: auditing and fixing your website or building a new website. Web research suggests the price of a manual audit varies depending on the complexity of the website. You might start by auditing and fixing key pages first, such as the home page and frequently accessed pages. 

Nearly one in four Vermonters have a documented disability (Vermont Dept. of Health, 2019). This could mean that one quarter of your residents need extra help in successfully participating in civic life. There are many things you can do to make municipal services easier for people with disabilities to access. Committing to web accessibility isn’t just the law: it affirms your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Note: This article was adapted from a Fact Sheet on the Final Rule and A Small Entity Compliance Guide published by the Department of Justice on ADA.gov. ADA.gov includes a wealth of information and resources to help people with disabilities, state and local governments, and businesses find answers to common questions and common legal documents so they can understand their rights and responsibilities under the ADA.

Publication Date
05/23/2024

Tips for Communicating with People Who Have Hearing Disabilities

The Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) produced Communication Tips for the tourism industry. These tips are useful when communicating with people who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, DeafPlus, DeafDisabled, and late deafened. Please feel free to share DAIL's guidance with local businesses and others.

We're sharing the guidance with municipalities because it is applicable to your work too! 

You can use and adapt these Tips to help you meet requirements for effective communication under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Check out DAIL's webpage for additional resources to help you communicate effectively with individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or DeafBlind, It has information about American Sign Language Interpreting Services, Captioning Services, and Assistive Technology. You also can find tips for making virtual meetings accessible for participants who are Dear, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind too!

Did you know there are three regional Tryout Centers that offer demonstrations and loans of equipment designed to enhance, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities? People can borrow equipment to try it out for 30 days, free of charge, before investing. If you or your family, friends or customers would benefit from tryouts, they can contact a Tryout Center for hands-on, guided exploration of assistive technology.

Publication Date
03/28/2024

Intro to Family and Medical Leave Insurance Recording and Resources

This video introduces the Vermont Voluntary Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (VT FMLI). This is open to all Vermont employers with two or more employees as of July 1, 2024. It is completely voluntary: employers can choose whether to offer these benefits to their employees.

VLCT hosted this webinar in conjunction with: 

  • Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence (HBHRIQ)
  • The Hartford – the carrier selected to offer the insurance in Vermont
  • The State of Vermont – the employer that has already been offering it as an employee benefit
     

Presenters 
Tom Rugg – Senior Vice President and Principal, Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence
Joan Goldstein – Commissioner, Vermont Department of Economic Development
Grant S. Van Der Beken – New England Regional Sales Director, The Hartford

Presentation slides: Intro to Family and Medical Leave Insurance

Recorded sessions reflect current information (including any relevant applications of law) at the time of the recording. For the most up-to-date information, members should email info@vlct.org or use our Ask A Question webpage.

 

Publication Date
01/19/2024
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