Minutes - Council Work Session - 06/23/2015

Home

Councilmember LeTourneau noted that a benefit to having a rotating position is that you are providing a new set of eyes to the position as well. Human Resources Manager Lasher added that she has received input from multiple channels that the department believed that this position should be filled with a sworn officer. She referenced the 2016 position that will be hired for the department and noted that she could post this position at the same time in order to have a dual recruitment, which would provide a cost savings. The consensus of the Council was to authorize staff to hire a sworn officer to fill the position. 2.02: Discussion Regarding the Employee Sick Leave for Wellness Policy Human Resources Manager Lasher reviewed the staff report. City Administrator Ulrich clarified that the City has a sick leave for wellness policy and this would simply be an amendment to include vacation for eligible employees. He stated that there have not been a lot of employees who have taken advantage of the sick leave conversion. Councilmember Kuzma noted that he thought that the contracts were already in place. Human Resources Manager Lasher reviewed" the contracts, which have been agreed upon and noted that this would be included as a memorandum of understanding. Councilmember Riley stated that this time is meant to allow employees time away from work and believes that it should be used for that purpose. Councilmember LeTourneau stated that it appears this update would be made more current to match what is being offered in the marketplace today. He questioned what kind of impact this would have on the budget. Human Resources Manager Lasher provided a statement of clarification she received from Finance Director Lund who commented that this would be a good thing for the budget. Mayor Strommen stated that she agrees with the statement that vacation time should be used for vacation but noted that the ultimate purpose of the benefit is to increase productivity and agreed that wellness activity could serve the same purpose. Councilmember Riley stated that there were items in the policy he believes should be reviewed including a reference to Weight Watchers, as he believed that should be generalized as a weight loss program; he did not think purchasing a piece of equipment should be allowed; and he noted that "other expenses can be reimbursed as approved by human resources" seems very subjective. Human Resources Manager Lasher stated that she will be meeting with the Labor Management Committee the following week and could discuss those suggestions at that time. City Council Work Session / June 23, 2015 Page 4 of 6