The Board voted to direct the purchasing department to issue an RFP seeking an outside human-resources firm to serve as a final-step reviewer for employee complaints and grievances and to advise on nondisciplinary HR functions.

The item corrected a procedural error from a prior meeting and included an amendment that narrowed the scope: the HR firm would receive complaints/grievances as a final procedural step (beyond the city administrator) and provide nondisciplinary HR advice such as recruitment and policy recommendations. An alderman who introduced the amendment said the revised approach would add an external review after internal steps are exhausted.

Discussion focused on cost, whether the board should instead rely on MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Service) recommendations already provided, and the process for scoring and interviewing RFP respondents. One board member asked whether the firm would both receive and help handle complaints; proponents responded the firm would provide process and recommendations but any final action remains with the board. The amendment vote was recorded as 5 yes, 1 no. The mayor later announced the final amended motion as approved; the transcript does not provide a clear roll-call tally for the final vote beyond the mayor’s announcement that the motion passed.

Next steps: the purchasing department will release the RFP using a scope consistent with the board’s amended language; staff will return with proposed procedures (scoring sheets, interview schedule) for evaluating responses and any required personnel-policy revisions to incorporate the new final-step process.