Minutes - Council - 05/08/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Case #4: Report from Personnel Committee 1) Consider Granting a Leave of Absence to a City Employee Interim City Administrator Nelson indicated this case represents a request for Community Service Officer Drew Moldenhauer to be granted a leave of absence for a period of eight weeks. This would be done so he could pursue Skills Training at Hibbing at the community college. Staff is in support of granting this leave of absence. Mr. Moldenhauer has been a great asset to the City and staff would like to see him return to service. The Police Department has put a plan in place to cover Mr. Moldenhauer's hours during the leave. Councilmember Jeffrey stated the Personnel Committee recommended moving forward with the leave of absence. Motion by Councilmember Jeffrey, seconded by Councilmember Olson, to ratify the recommendation of the Personnel Committee in Case No.1 and to adopt Resolution # 07-05-122 granting a leave of absence to Drew Moldenhaur to attend Skills Training. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Gamec, Councilmembers Jeffrey, Olson, Dehen, Elvig, Look, and Strommen. Voting No: None. 2) Consider Allowing City Employees to Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity Interim City Administrator Nelson indicated staff is proposing that the City Council extend an opportunity to City employees to volunteer with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity for the construction of the Ramsey townhouses in Town Center. Staff proposes that the City Council grant four hours ofleave with the employee matching that with four hours of vacation time. This offer would be extended to a maximum of 15 employees on a first come, first serve basis based on department head approval. The Personnel Committee discussed that this would not be approved if it were to cause the employee to go into overtime status, and that the City would have workers compensation responsibility when the employee is working at the site. Councilmember Look inquired about the cost for workers compensation. Interim City Administrator Nelson explained there would not be additional costs, but the City cannot exempt itself from that liability. Councilmember Dehen stated he is against this for the reason that the residents are subsidizing the City employees to work for a specific corporation. If the City employees are not busy enough with the jobs they do they should be cut loose. He does not think the Council should subsidize particular charities as a policy, which is why he is against this. They are using taxpayer dollars to do this and he does not agree with it. Interim City Administrator Nelson explained staff has proposed that the City would grant four hours and the employee would have to provide four hours of vacation time as a match; this would only be allowed for up to 15 employees. City Council / May 8, 2007 Page 11 of 13