Agenda - Council - 12/12/2023 - Laserfiche WebLink

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