AMHERST — As she prepares to retire as human resources and human rights director, Deborah Radway is praising the town’s ongoing efforts to create a diverse municipal workforce that reflects the community, provide good benefits and compensation to employees and stage events that inspire inclusiveness.
Radway, whose last day at work is Friday, said she feels that the human resources department is ready to be handed off to her successor, Evelyn Rivera-Riffenburg.
“One of my proudest accomplishments is we’ve created all of these practices, policies and procedures, when they didn’t previously exist,” Radway said. “The human resources function is in much better shape than what I inherited.”
In the role since July 2012, Radway, 62, oversees personnel matters for 275 full-time employees, all but 58 of whom are represented by the unions, 240 hourly part-time workers and 250 retirees who continue to receive benefits.
She has also been instrumental in negotiating contracts with the town’s six unions. “Our contracts were all in a pretty good place,” Radway said.
A more diverse workforce has been built, in particular with officers for the police department and staff at Town Hall.
“Attracting (employees) we’ve made good strides on,” Radway said. “Retaining is a different challenge and takes a different focus than attracting.”
She praises the Personnel Board for embracing the state’s minimum wage laws and treating all employees well.
“The board is five dedicated, intelligent and caring community members who have worked hard to ensure fair and equitable pay and benefits for town employees,” Radway said. “I think Amherst is a pioneer in providing personal and sick leave benefits to part-time hourly employees.”
Radway began her career in public service in the mid 1980s as a “circuit rider” in which she was simultaneously administrative assistant for Erving, Northfield, Warwick and Wendell in Franklin County. She served as personnel director and assistant town manager in Lexington, town administrator in Montague, director of human resources at Lightlife in Turners Falls as well as Geka Brush Manufacturing Co. in Brattleboro and Turners Falls and operations manager for the Franklin Hampshire Career Center in Greenfield and Northampton.
Before taking the Amherst job, Radway got a call from Town Manager John Musante, with an understanding that the human resources department needed attention. “I knew the position was open and I wanted to work with him,” Radway said of Musante.
She spent most of her first two years doing an analysis of where things stood in each department and putting in place performance evaluations, merit pay, leave practices and termination processes.
The most difficult year for Radway began Sept. 20, 2015, when Musante died unexpectedly. Radway gets emotional when talking about how Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek stepped up to serve in an acting capacity, and stood “very, very tall” when there was anxiety and uncertainty among employees and officials.
“His grace and presence and his partnership during that time was something I’ll never forget, and I don’t think the town has any inkling of how much he sacrificed for it that year,” Radway said.
In the last two full years, with Town Manager Paul Bockelman in the permanent role, Radway has been able to pursue professional development opportunities for employees, such as the supervisory leadership development program at the University of Massachusetts, and updating the personnel procedures manual.
Bockelman said Radway identified issues that needed to be addressed. “It’s a huge loss for us,” Bockelman said of her departure later this week.
In her human rights role, Radway appreciates that she’s had a chance to recognize children who show dignity and respect toward their peers and to annually read the words of the U.N.’s human rights proclamation drafted under Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Human Rights Heroes Awards and the Declaration of Human Rights really are some of the coolest events I’ve ever been associated with,” Radway said.
She also points to important town events such as the Puerto Rican Heritage Day, Walk for a New Spring, Tibet Day and the Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, being held Jan. 19, which will be her last day as an employee.
But receiving confidential complaints of human rights violations from members of the community, which requires her to research and resolve, has been a challenge, especially if it involves an employee.
“For people I’m hired to protect and defend, neither gets served properly,” Radway said, noting this is why this responsibility is being split off from Rivera-Riffenburg’s duties.
In the first weeks of retirement, Radway said she is scheduled to leave on an extended trip that will take her to Hawaii and Cambodia, and when she returns home she will be caring for a nonagenarian family member. She said it is possible she will return to human resources or small town management work throughout the state in a limited capacity.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
