October 19, 2009 Minutes

Minutes from the PDAC Business Leaders Forum
October 19th, 7pm at Pittsfield Youth Workshop

Present: Andrea Riel (Pittsfield ID), Kathy Bleckmann (Pittsfield ID) Paul Skowron, (Town Administrator), Tony Giunta (Amenico) Gef Freese (Globe) Gail (Globe HR), also Denise Morin, Zach Powers, Sarah Sadowski, Dan Ward, Chief Wharem

Four of the largest employers in Pittsfield were represented with workforces ranging from over 300 employees to under 20. In aggregate, these employers employ over 400 workers and draw employees from up to 17 nearby towns.

The meeting began with welcoming remarks by Sarah Sadowski followed by a brief presentation on the need for substance abuse prevention efforts in the workplace. Denise presented next on the impact of abuse issues within the community, especially in regards to youth. Chief Wharem then spoke briefly about how these issues impact his department’s allocation of resources and Zach Powers finished the presentations by explaining the efforts currently being made to address substance abuse within the community.

Following the presentations the floor was opened for discussion with a series of open-ended questions. The topics were as follows:

I. Impact within local businesses
Gail commented that substance abuse problems are mostly hidden from management. Kathy shared Pittsfield IDs informal strategy of always having a face to face conversation with some workers before they operated machinery. Paul felt that the level of interaction with the public that his employees have would ensure that he would hear about any potential under the influence behavior and has only had one citizen reported observation in the year he has been on the job. Gail and Gef have seen it in the past but not as much at the moment, a sentiment echoed by Andi. Tony was less concerned about alcohol and illicit drug use than the use of chewing tobacco and its health consequences for his young employees. The general consensus was that on the job substance abuse was not a large problem for most; rather the sick time that employees took due to substance abuse within their family was an issue in at least two cases.

II. Current policies
Globe is a federal contractor and thus follows the federal drug free workplace mandate. They provide 6 paid and 6 unpaid days off, access to professional counseling services and are willing to work with an employee with substance abuse issues. Paul says employees have access to employee assistance through their insurance and he would not be notified. Paul shared a copy of the town policy before the meeting. Tony has a policy in place as does Pittsfield ID.

III. Challenges
Kathy reported that the long waiting list for rehab treatment programs keeps some employees at home “sitting on their kids” who are waiting to be admitted. Also the long wait time for the mobile response unit makes it hard to catch employees who come to work intoxicated. Tony felt social norms were part of the issue, citing the recent marijuana “smoke ins” as an example. Physical location was also discussed with Kathy sharing that before Pittsfield IDs move they used to consider the time of day when scheduling meetings to avoid any embarrassment- an issue that Tom MacMulin from KenTec has also raised.

IV. Possible solutions
· Pay stubs with resource numbers included
· Newsletter articles (Globe, Pittsfield ID and the town all have some form of quarterly newsletter- the town’s is through the insurance carrier and called “A Slice of Life”
· Info bulletin boards that focus on wellness
· Business leaders being more active in the school- Tony

The meeting formally adjourned at 8pm, although most stayed to talk over the issues in small groups until approximately 8:30.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Sadowski
Coalition Coordinator