Agenda - Council - 04/09/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Administrative Services Director Lasher explained the current percentage and years of service required that are in the personnel policy mirrors what is in the union contracts. City Administrator Hagen advised to focus on that during negotiations. Councilmember Woestehoff commented that this might be good will for the unions. Mayor Kuzma stated he likes the 10%additional severance versus the 50%for the early resignation notice. Administrative Services Director Lasher confirmed that the Mayor was referring to the early resignation notice only and not in general. Councilmember Specht asked if there is any kind of clause that could be added to this that would state the resigning employee could leave early if a replacement was found before the three months was up. City Administrator Hagen shared that Staff s thoughts around this is that it will mostly apply to people who are retiring versus someone who is going on to another employer. Administrative Services Director Lasher shared that in years past there have been employees who have resigned who are using vacation days in the resignation period which could extend this period and continue to allow the employee to qualify for City benefits. She noted this change is very important and would no longer allow this to occur. City Administrator Hagen stated there are times when it would be helpful to have the ability to accept a resignation effective immediately with the employee still leaving on good terms. Councilmember Musgrove added that this will also allow the employee to accrue more vacation time. She noted she is supportive of this language change. She asked about the benefit of the City Administrator extending application deadlines and unsolicited applications not being kept on file. Administrative Services Director Lasher explained using compensatory time off or vacation leave is considered working and qualifies you for city benefits. Administrative Services Director Lasher explained the benefit of having a deadline is that they have timelines for every recruitment and line up interview panels with many people within the departments for these applicants. She noted that if they left the application period open it would be very difficult for them to manage schedules without having the deadline. She added that the option to extend the deadline would be in the event that they do not get enough qualified applicants. She explained that it is a liability to keep unsolicited applications; however, if someone comes in dropping off a resume or application, they tell this person where to find information online to get notices when there are openings in a field, they are interested in. City Council Work Session / February 26, 2024 Page 4 of 11