Teresa Kingdom Human Resources Director

In an ongoing effort to keep up with the changing times and technology, our HR and payroll processes have been upgraded. Having the time clocks upgraded and in operation will be a great asset to the City because it will document more accurately the comings and goings of all City employees. The use of the time clock enhances the Supervisors and Department Heads ability to monitor their employees attendance records and assess the need for overtime. Overtime can sometimes prove to be very costly to the City. The new system will assist in the scheduling process to ensure each department is adequately staffed to cover the hours needed to run the department in the most cost effective and efficient ways.

Good customer service is a number one priority for every department. One of our concerns in the Human Resources Department, is that we, as City employees, and as a service group, on a daily basis, no matter what our job title, actively promote, pursue, and demonstrate good customer service. The Mayor has proudly presented a certificate to our most deserving employees on numerous occasions when they have demonstrated these qualities. This presentation is usually done at the top of our City Council Meetings, which are held each 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.

The City of Greenville still continues to use Blue Cross and Blue Shield as our health care provider. We did not incur a rate increase this year which was a major accomplishment. The City still continues to enjoy Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Healthy You! Preventive Health Services, which are built into our policy and is based on age-sex parameters. Through this service, the patient is provided with an annual checkup, covering 100% of the allowable charge with no co-pay, no deductible and no coinsurance. Healthy You! also provides service for a covered family member. Services are usually rendered by a Primary Care Physician, Specialist, Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant. To help promote the benefits offered through the Healthy You! Service program, the Human Resources Department continues to sponsor our annual Health Fair at the Buster Brown Community Center during the month of September. As usual, the employee participation was great; however, some of our employees did discover they indeed had health problems even though they felt fine. A few also discovered they had issues with blood pressure and possibly diabetes. Two of our main purposes/goals for the Health Fair are to continue to promote health awareness within the group and to stress the importance of a healthy diet and the benefit of a regular exercise program. Because we had a physician on the site as part of the Health Fair, these employees that made those discoveries were able to establish a relationship with a primary care physician. The Health Fair allowed them the opportunity to start a medical history with a practicing physician. Hopefully this will aid in our continued hope of lowering the cost of health care premiums. Other ways we attempted to promote a healthy workforce was by working with the YMCA to help aid employees gain membership at the “Y” during a promotional period. We also searched in the local health community to find an agency that would administer the Hepatitis A&B vaccine to our employees that are most at risk of becoming infected with the disease. The vaccine was administered through the Washington County Health Department at a very low cost to the City.

In an effort to make the City more visible in the community as an employer, the HR department teamed with the Greenville Fire Department (GFD) and became actively involved in events sponsored by the American Heart Association to show our full support for this worthy cause. The GFD participated in “Boot Shake” that yielded a nice donation from the public.

The Employee/Family Picnic of 2007 and the Employee Banquet of 2007 both proved to be the best ever. We featured a live band at each event and blues artist/singer/entertainer, Mississippi Slim, was the special guest of honor at our Annual Banquet. Mississippi Slim was a real treat for the employees. With the help of our vendors and community businesses, we were able to show our employees how much they are loved and appreciated. Plans will soon be underway for the 2008 Employee/Family Picnic. We expect to have a blast!

Our office hours are 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  We are located on the first floor of City Hall at 340 Main Street, Greenville, MS. Our office number is 662-378-1566 or 662-378-1567, fax line is 662-378-2281.