Minutes - Council Work Session - 02/08/2016

Home

if the member uses the facility a certain number of times per month and stated that would be hard to track. She stated that vacation time should be used for vacation and sick time should be used for when an employee is sick or needs to care for a sick family member. She also believed that a use it or lose it policy should be in place. Human Resources Manager Lasher stated that there is a cap on vacation time equal to two times the annual accrual and noted that there is a cap of 960 hours of sick time but advised that takes a long time to accrue that many hours. She stated that the City's health plan reimburses employees $20 when they visit a health club 12 or more times in a month. Councilmember Johns stated that the comment was made that there is not a large use of this program and asked if this would create a need that is not there. Human Resources Manager Lasher stated that in most instances people are using their vacation time. She stated that there is some level of interest but did not believe it would gain a lot of additional interest. Mayor Strommen stated that perhaps the City needs to step back to ensure that the right tools are in place rather than further amending this policy. Councilmember LeTourneau stated that the workforce is changing and that is what could be driving this change. He stated that this would provide flexibility in the term vacation and believed that the. Council should be more sensitive to the emerging needs of the millennial workforce as they will be looking for flexible use of wellness benefits. He stated that while 24 hours on the beach is refreshing, so is a workout, and both would add value to the workplace. Councilmember Williams stated that it would help her to have an illustration of how an employee could use this, taking the Council through the submission of the request to the final payment. Mayor Strommen noted that additional time should be scheduled to continue this discussion at a future Work Session. 3. TOPICS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION 3.01: Review Future Topics/Calendar Councilmember Riley referenced an email from Anoka County to consider a resolution regarding changes to the Metropolitan Council and believed that item should be put on the next work session agenda in order to meet the March 8th date. City Administrator Ulrich noted that Fire Chief interviews will also be coming up but noted that could be worked in around that item. Councilmember Riley asked if the issue of banners and plantings in the downtown area could be revisited as well. City Council Work Session / February 8, 2016 Page 5 of 6