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02/09/2010 Special Meeting

FRIEND CITY COUNCIL

MINUTES-SPECIAL MEETING

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Mayor Vossler called the special meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall.  Advanced notice of the meeting was given by posting notification in three prominent places within the community as the method for giving advanced notice.  All proceedings shown were taken while the meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Mayor, James Vossler, presided and City Clerk, Debbie Gilmer, recorded the proceedings.  The following Councilmembers were present:  Harlan Schrock, Dale Lawver, and Stanley Krause.  Dan Drake was absent.  A quorum being present and the meeting duly convened, the following proceedings were had and done.

As required by the Nebraska Open Meetings Act, Mayor Vossler announced that a copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act has been posted on the south door of the City Hall meeting room for all in attendance to review. 

Mayor Vossler announced that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the contents of a proposed employee handbook.  This proposed handbook has been circulated to the Council members and the City employees for their review and input, in an effort to develop a final employee handbook that is acceptable to the Mayor and Council, as well as the City employees.

Dale Lawver addressed those in attendance and stated that this proposed handbook has been initiated by him for a number of reasons.  One such reason is liability.  Another is so that when someone is hired to work for the City they know how the City operates, and specifically what the City employee benefit package includes.  Lawver began by gathering and compiling any information he could pertaining to the benefits currently offered to City employees and inserted this information accordingly into a handbook he acquired from another community.  The only benefit that Lawver proposed changing from the current benefit package is the time-off allowed for funeral leave.  Lawver assured all that his effort put forth in initiating this proposed handbook has not been an attempt to take benefits away from employees.

The proposed handbook was reviewed and the following issues/items were discussed.

Business Ethics and Conduct-Mayor Vossler indicated that he would like this section to remain in the handbook.  It had been suggested by City employees that this be removed.  Dale Lawver explained that it was his opinion that this section remain, as it pertained to business ethics and conduct and did not refer to personal issues.  Lawver continued by saying he felt this section should be in place as a guide for such issues as how to deal with engineers, how to interact and deal with people in the community, to address and control any personal use of city equipment and personal projects being conducted on City time, to address the appropriate use of City vehicles, to ensure ethical business dealings, for example to ensure that a particular firm is not awarded a contract simply on the basis of being friends with the engineer, etc.

Employee Medical Examinations-Discussion was had on the possibility of an annual medical examination being required for employees.  It was suggested more information be gathered prior to making a final decision on this section.

Employment Applications, page 13-Council discussed the proposed verbiage and chose to eliminate the second paragraph of this section.  It was agreed upon that as part of the application process it should be communicated to the applicant that a thorough background check may be performed.

It was suggested and agreed upon that a separate section be inserted for New Hire Information.  Included in this section will be reference to Nebraska Statute 48-2301 and the Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, 42UFC653A.  (See attached correspondence from the Nebraska State Directory of New Hires.)

Performance Evaluation, page 13-It was suggested to eliminate the last sentence of the first paragraph of this section and to leave the remainder of this section unchanged.

Employment Benefits, page 14-It was decided to remove the line item “Voting Time Off”.

Vacation Benefits, page 14-During discussion of vacation benefits, it was suggested that after 15 or 20 years of eligible employment the employee be entitled to 20 days of vacation.  Also discussed was the possibility of requiring that vacation be used in 4-hour increments and adding two personal days per year that could be taken in 1-hour increments.  How vacation time off is paid and how unused vacation time will be paid upon termination of employment was discussed.  No decision was made relating to this section at this time. 

Vacation Benefits, page 15-Dale Lawver proposed that the first and second paragraph, section D relating to vacation leave for regular full-time employees, be incorporated into Friend’s handbook.

Scheduling of Vacation, page 16-Discussed vacation requests being made to the immediate supervisor, Mayor, or the appropriate authority and advance notice requirement for such requests.

It was agreed to include sections 2 and 3 under Vacation Benefits on page 16, with the exception of eliminating the minimum requirement of receiving requests at least one work week in advance from section 2.

Sick Leave Benefits, page 19 and 20-After discussing, it was agreed upon that this section (paragraphs in black), and the paragraphs in red (currently offered to Friend employees) would be acceptable and should be included in the final employee handbook.

Bereavement Leave, page 21 and 22-The first paragraph of the bereavement leave currently offered to Friend employees was discussed and determined to be acceptable, with the addition of grandparents and grandchildren.  It was decided to eliminate the second paragraph from the Friend employee’s bereavement section and replace it with section b from the Seward benefits, with the elimination of “with pay”.

Jury Duty, page 22-It was agreed that this section remain in the handbook, with the following modification to the third paragraph and the elimination of the 5th.  “If employees are required to serve jury duty beyond the period of paid jury duty leave, the City (Mayor) may request an excuse for that employee’s jury duty if, in the City’s judgment, the employee’s absence would create serious operational difficulties.  If such request is not granted the employee will continue to receive their base pay rate times the number of hours the employee would otherwise have worked on the day(s) of absence less jury duty pay.”

Retirement Savings Plan, page 24-no change.

Timekeeping, page 25-Dale Lawver stated he personally feels time clocks are necessary.  Harlan Schrock also feels time clocks are necessary to ensure accuracy of time reported, as well as to ensure accountability for hours worked.  Discussion was had relating to this issue, including emergency circumstances, which employees would be required to utilize the clocks, how to handle on-call hours, minutes lost reporting to and from the shop especially during the summer months to punch the time clock rather than going directly to the job site.

Pay Deductions and Setoffs, page 28-no action taken.

Safety, page 28-Gates said a director would be appointed and a program would be established and implemented at the direction of the Mayor and Council, or upon adoption of the handbook, providing this section is included.

Overtime, page 30 and 31-After discussion, it was decided that more information needs to be gathered relating to overtime compensation for holidays (particularly for the police officers).  Dale Lawver suggested that if overtime hours are accumulated, it be used as personal time or be paid at time and a half.  Lawver continued by stating he would like to see personal time taken during the same pay period it is accumulated.  Also discussed the possibility of clearing any built-up personal time monthly, i.e. if the workload does not allow, or if for any reason it is not feasible for the employee to use their accumulated personal time at the end of the month, they will be paid for that accumulated time.  No final decision was made on this issue at this time.

Visitors in the Workplace, page 33-After discussing, it was agreed that this section is satisfactory.

Drug and Alcohol Use, page 42 and 43-This section was determined to be satisfactory.

No further business to come before the City Council, motion was made by Schrock, seconded by Lawver, to adjourn the meeting.  On roll call voting aye, Krause, Schrock, Lawver.  Nays none.  Drake absent.  Motion carried.  Meeting adjourned at 9:58 p.m.