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ELKINS -- Elkins officials say they are very pleased with the addition of the city's first-ever Human Resources officer.
Melissa Washington was named the city's first-ever Human Resources Generalist last year, relocating from Washington, D.C. where she worked in the same position for a private equity firm.
"Having the first-ever HR person in the city has been tremendous for us," Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco told The Inter-Mountain. "Melissa Washington has been an amazing addition to the city and some of the things she has brought to the table since she has been here is tremendous.
"She's had multiple conferences and meetings where she brings all of the city's employees together and lets them know what we are doing moving forward with insurance and items like that."
Washington is a 2000 graduate from Elkins High School. After receiving her high school diploma, Washington joined the Army National Guard and later attended and graduated from West Virginia University.
"Growing up in the area and returning after 20 years has been an eye-opening experience," Washington told The Inter-Mountain. "There have been many advancements in the area and coming home to a community that is full of smiling faces who are open to giving each other a helping hand, has been refreshing."
Washington said she has remained busy the past six months and feels she's helped the city make improvements in several areas of need, especially when it comes to employees' health insurance.
"We've had an increase in compensation under our general fund to an hourly rate of $14.03 per hour, which is up 35 percent from previous pay," she said. "We are also tackling the increasing cost of health insurance without causing our employees to pay more. The last thing we wanted was to have more coming out of our employees' paychecks.
"We had a 14 percent increase in premiums for health care and beginning next open enrollment, we will be moving to a high deductible base plan which has a much lower premium cost and higher annual deductible. The city will be paying 100 percent for employee premiums and contributing the full amount for the high deductible."
Washington said the city has also seen a much improved turnover rate when it comes to jobs, and that a new recruiting process for future employees has been put in place.
"The City of Elkins has reduced the turnover rate and is receiving a lot more qualified candidates for the open positions we have," Washington said. "We have developed a streamlined recruiting process and on average, we have been filling any open roles within six to eight weeks."
The City of Elkins currently has two non-civil service positions open and is accepting applications to the Police Patrolman Civil Service for its next testing date on March 30.
"Melissa has brought a lot of ideas and expertise with her and everyone has already seen the benefits of having someone with her background in the position she is in," City of Elkins Clerk Sutton Stokes told The Inter-Mountain. "It has really changed the atmosphere and made the city an even better place to work."
He said city officials want a strong HR framework in place and feel they are well on their way to that goal with Washington in place.
"We want to be sure we are hitting all of our training requirements, as well as improving our consistency in hiring and record keeping," said Stokes. "We also want to explore any benefit ideas that are out there… I feel that we now have the core team we need in place."
Washington said even though the transition into the position has been smooth, there were things she needed to learn after accepting the position.
"There are a lot of things I had to learn about city government," said Washington. "But everyone has been incredibly helpful and I like working with the team that we have… It has been a pleasure working with our city government officials on Council, Mayor Marco, and our administrative officers in the development of our Human Resources department and different personnel initiatives."
Washington is excited to be working on many initiatives for the city's employees and said she is happy to be back home.
"I appreciate the opportunity I have been given to come back to Elkins," she said. "We are a thriving and increasingly sought after community for new ones to call home and others to return to, like myself."