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Councilmember Howell stated that she does not have a problem keeping this in the policy as there <br />could be someone who would benefit from this. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff stated that elected officials should all be subject to the personnel <br />policy. <br /> <br />Administrative Services Lasher explained that there are things in the personnel policy, such as the <br />Code of Conduct, that would apply to all public officials. She noted that there will also be sections <br />of the personnel policy that would not apply to public officials, such as vacation time. She asked <br />Council if there were any big issues that they would like Staff to focus on in regards to this policy. <br /> <br />City Administrator Hagen asked if there are any topics in the policy that Staff is looking for <br />direction on. <br /> <br />Councilmember Howell stated that they should discuss pronouns. <br /> <br />City Administrator Hagen explained that there are a number of organizations that have <br />implemented pronouns and others that make them optional. He stated that there have been some <br />Staff inquiries about this. He shared the suggestion of leaving this optional and would not require <br />employees to list their pronouns; however, if they wanted to have them listed then this would be <br />allowed. <br /> <br />Councilmember Howell stated that she would recommend sticking with proper nouns as pronouns <br />could complicate things. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht agreed that it would be simpler to not include this as there is not a need <br />for it. <br /> <br />Councilmember Musgrove stated that the Council is representing the taxpayers and their money <br />and trying to balance that with employees being happy. She noted that they recently sent an email <br />that stated that all Staff would have the same looking email signature, and this would change things <br />so that Staff had different looking signatures. She suggested keeping things simple and not adding <br />this. She noted that this is not a high priority or concern with residents. <br /> <br />Mayor Kuzma shared that he does not have an opinion on this as he does not see it as a big deal. <br />He noted that if it is important that an employee has this then he does not see that as a concern. <br /> <br />Administrative Services Director Lasher shared that there was a request for this and that it was <br />recommended to honor employee requests. She noted that this could be interpreted as a problem <br />on gender and gender identity. She shared that it was the League of Minnesota Cities opinion to <br />allow this. She stated that this may not be a good decision to not allow pronouns when looking at <br />employment law. <br /> <br />City Attorney Knaak explained that this could also create a hostile work environment. He noted <br />that this is anticipatory. He added that if there is only one situation of this in the City then he does <br />not see it being a big issue. He stated that they should be aware of this situation and respect the <br />City Council Work Session / November 28, 2023 <br />Page 3 of 7 <br /> <br />