ThisWeek CW 11/24/2014

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/11/21/canal-winchester-city-council-vote-on-proposed-policy-changes-expected-dec–1.html

Canal Winchester City Council had plenty of questions last week about proposed changes to the city employee handbook on compensatory time, sick leave and holiday schedules.

There also is a proposed ban on the use of smokeless tobacco in and around city buildings; smoking is already prohibited in those buildings.

A vote on the changes is scheduled Monday, Dec. 1.

During the Nov. 17 meeting, council members retreated to a closed-door session for nearly an hour to discuss personnel policy issues in private before returning to open session to hear further reports from staff members.

Council President Rick Deeds asked for clarification on the basis for changes to comp time.

“Currently, we limit exempt employees,” Finance Director Amanda Jackson said. “They can never have more than 24 hours in their comp time bank, so they’re forced to take time, even when they couldn’t really afford to take that time off.

“So this change would expand the bank (from 24 to 80 hours) so they could save their comp time for a more convenient time.”

Jackson said at the end of the year though, this time would still be “use it or lose it,” and cannot be rolled over into a new year.

“For the individuals that this affects, for one staff member it’s project-based, but for most of us, comp time comes from attending meetings,” Jackson said. “We do have employees right now who have lost comp time because they had projects going on that they couldn’t take time off in the middle of.”

Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon questioned whether this was an appropriate change, based on how other cities currently handle comp time for their employees.

“Each city handles their bank differently, and not everyone has use it or lose it; but since we do, we aren’t in danger of having those comp time numbers getting high,” Jackson said. “This doesn’t apply to other workers who have the ability to get overtime and comp time is not a guarantee.”

Mershon indicated she still wasn’t comfortable with the idea, although Mayor Michael Ebert said that by instituting the change, “you’re giving them something they worked for.”

Mershon also asked about a proposal to add Presidents Day to the holiday schedule.

“I want a clarification on the holidays. I believe the reason you don’t have Presidents Day is because the day after Thanksgiving is off,” she said.

However, Public Services Director Matt Peoples said city staffers agreed more than 20 years ago to work on Columbus Day in exchange for taking the day after Thanksgiving off.

According to a Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission report, other central Ohio communities allow between 10 and 12 holidays each year.

A proposal to alter the sick leave policy did not seem to concern council members as much last week as it did when the changes were first requested. The new policy, if approved, would allow employees with more than 600 hours of unused sick leave to convert up to 80 hours into cash at the end of the year, at a rate equal to half their current hourly pay.

Jackson said if council approves the changes Dec. 1, there would be staff training sessions scheduled to explain to employees how the changes will affect them.

“We’re planning to have a meeting with all of our staff to go over everything that changes if council approves this,” Jackson said.