The purpose of the Town of Tonawanda Employee
Suggestion Program is to secure for the Town of Tonawanda and its
taxpayers the maximum benefit from the conservation of town resources.
The program recognizes that the employees of the Town of Tonawanda
represent an unlimited source of ideas for new ways to better serve
the public. The offering of monetary and honorary awards is intended
to offer a significant incentive for employees to become involved
in the creative process and to amplify the capabilities of management.
The program recognizes that every employee will, by identifying problems
and providing possible solutions, become in a very real sense a part
of the creative management team.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES
All town employees, whether full-time, part-time or volunteer,
are eligible to submit suggestions. Former employees are also eligible
as long as the suggestions were submitted prior to separation of service
with the town, such separation was voluntary and the suggestion is
implemented within one year of submittal. Department heads and supervisors,
where supervisors' job responsibilities call for them to seek methods
to improve operations or services, shall not be eligible for cash
awards for suggestions which deal with operations under their own
supervision. They may, however, receive cash awards for suggestions
that deal with operations other than those under their supervision
or assigned general responsibility. Members of the Town Board may
never receive cash awards.
MERIT AWARD BOARD
A.
This Board shall consist of the following individuals:
the Town Supervisor; two Town Board members, to be appointed annually
at the town reorganization meeting; and two private citizens with
business backgrounds, to be appointed annually at the town reorganization
meeting.
B.
The Merit Award Board shall have the power and
duty to make rules and regulations pertaining to the payment of employee
awards. All decisions of the Merit Award Board regarding the worthiness
of a suggestion for an award and the amount of such award shall be
final and binding and shall not be subject to review in any court
or before any other body, except as provided for in the rules and
regulations promulgated in accordance with this chapter.
C.
Members of the Merit Award Board shall not receive
any salary or compensation for service as members of such Board.
SUGGESTION REVIEW COMMITTEE
A.
This Committee shall consist of the following
individuals: the Director of Labor Relations; the Town Comptroller;
three private citizens with business backgrounds, to be appointed
by the Town Supervisor; and a department head as designated by the
Town Supervisor.
B.
The Suggestion Review Committee shall receive
all suggestions, as defined above, review them and forward their recommendations
to the Merit Award Board for final determination. The Suggestion Review
Committee may use other resources in order to complete their investigation/analysis.
C.
The Suggestion Review Committee shall have the
power and duty to make all rules and regulations implementing the
receipt of suggestions by employees, the review of such suggestions
by the Suggestion Review Committee and the criteria for determining
which suggestions shall be forwarded to the Merit Award Board. All
decisions of the Suggestion Review Committee shall be final and binding
and shall not be subject to review in any court or before any other
body, except as provided for in rules and regulations promulgated
in accordance with this chapter.
D.
Members of the Suggestion Review Committee shall
not receive any salary or compensation for service as members of the
Committee.
SUGGESTION
A definite, constructive, original idea or a new application
of an old idea submitted in writing by one or more eligible town employees
which is intended to do the following: increase productivity; conserve
town resources; reduce town costs; or improve the morale of town employees.
The suggestions must not be the kind which employees are reasonably
expected to develop in the course of their regular duties. The Merit
Award Board retains complete authority in defining acceptable suggestions
and in accepting or rejecting such suggestions.
The Town Board is hereby empowered to fund and
expend moneys for the purpose of this chapter.
Local Law No. 3-1980, providing for the establishment
of a Merit Award Board for the Town of Tonawanda, New York, and also
known as "Chapter 19, Merit Award Board, of the Code of the Town of
Tonawanda, New York," is hereby repealed.