Rockville Releases Some Details of Internal Review

In response to employee complaints, the city of Rockville engaged an outside law firm, Saul Ewing, LLC, to conduct an internal review of Rockville’s personnel policies and procedures.

Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio announced that on Tuesday, Nov. 27, that the Mayor and Council received a confidential briefing of findings and recommendations from the report.

“I am very grateful to those individuals who came forward to share their concerns with the investigators,” she said. ” It is because of their trust in our process that we can now move forward under our new City Manager with a list of recommendations and changes that will return our city to the superior place to work we know it should be.”

According to a city press release, Saul Ewing identified no unlawful conduct. Based on the internal review, Saul Ewing
has recommended improvements to communication between management and staff and to the city’s human resources processes, according to the city’s release. The firm found that no one person, department or policy was at the root of the complaints, city officials said.

Specific recommendations from the Saul Ewing report include:

* Affirmation from the human resources staff and from all city supervisors that
all personnel information remain confidential.
* Purchase Human Resources Information Systems software to facilitate the tracking
and monitoring of employee complaints, grievances, and evaluations.
* Clarify and refine the City’s employee performance evaluation policies and procedures,
including the implementation of an electronic performance evaluation system.
* Update the City’s Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual.
* Improve training on the City’s personnel policies and procedures to ensure consistent
interpretation and application across the organization.

City Manager Barb Matthews, who started her position Oct. 1, will use the report as a resource to guide improvements in the city’s operations.

“The city of Rockville is a community service organization, and our employees are our most valuable asset,” Matthews said.
“The findings outlined in the Saul Ewing report provide the city with the opportunity to strengthen its work environment, in order to better support the members of our workforce as well as the community we serve.”

Matthews added, “The Saul Ewing report comes at an opportune time as I begin the recruitment process for a new Director of Human Resources. The report recommendations will be helpful in identifying the priority issues that the new Director of Human
Resources will need to address in order to implement the necessary organizational changes.”

The city retained Saul Ewing to look into certain workplace concerns and to review
the city’s personnel policies and procedures for any suggested revisions. The review
began in May. Throughout the review, the City worked with Saul Ewing to encourage
employee participation. Saul Ewing established a confidential telephone hotline,
which current employees used to schedule confidential in-person meetings to review
any complaints or concerns related to the city. For the convenience of the witnesses
and to protect their privacy, employee interviews were conducted at confidential
locations in and around Rockville. Employees from seven city departments at all
levels of the city government were interviewed.

The final report is confidential as it contains personnel information which cannot
be made public, officials said.

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