Personnel Board unanimously backs Article O ahead of Wayland town meeting

WAYLAND -- March 23, 2026, Wayland Personnel Board unanimously recommends Article O despite unresolved union settlements. The board voted 4-0 by roll call Monday to back the annual warrant article updating personnel bylaws, the wage and classification plan, and union funding, with member Mary Ellen Castagno absent. HR Director Kate Ryan told members the hourly figures in the warrant remain 2025 numbers because negotiations with every town union are still open, though she hopes to present errata at the May 4-6 annual town meeting. Chair Maryanne Peabody cited Wall Street Journal data showing national cost-of-living increases of "3.2 percent to 3.6 percent," while Ryan said comparable Massachusetts towns are settling "in and around the twos." The article funds an arbitrated JLMC firefighters' award covering July 2023 through June 2026, adds a co-response clinician in the Police Department funded by opioid settlement money, and reduces HR from three full-time positions to 2.5 FTEs. Peabody called it "a bit disappointing" that roughly $50,000 in wage-study adjustments would be phased rather than funded now.