The Crawford County Commission has started the process of tackling its policy on comp time and vacation.
During its regular meeting on Friday, the commission and County Counselor Jim Emerson started discussing the process on how comp time is tracked and awarded.
Current policy states that Road and Bridge workers can accumulate a maximum of 60 hours of comp time and that any worker that has worked overtime and reached the 60-hour maximum will be paid the overtime rate for those additional hours worked.
One question the County Commission wants to address is how to count vacation and sick time into the overtime policy.
“We need to go back and count those hours worked,” Emerson said.
He said that “at a minimum” holidays should count towards hours worked in the policy.
In addition, commissioners have the option to not allow comp time and just pay for overtime worked at the overtime rate.
However, Emerson said that could cause an issue, especially during times when crews have to work extra hours for things like clearing off county roads after snow storms.
“We allow comp time because it is better for our budget and it allows more flexibility for our employees,” Emerson said.
Emerson said that the basic reason for the initial policy was because some employees were accruing 100-plus hours of comp time.
“The problem now is that we really need to enforce the policy we have,” said Commissioner Bob Kmiec.
Commissioners also want to explore the option of making a time limit as to when employees can use their comp time and if the time had not all been used by that time frame, employees would be paid for the remaining comp time.
However, Emerson said that he was not sure if there would be a bookkeeping issue if the county did that.
As for overtime, commissioners said that Road and Bridge foremen should have a more active role in determining how much is accrued and how it is distributed.
“Our foremen and department heads should be monitoring because that is their responsibility,” said Commissioner Ralph McGeorge.
Commissioners said they will re-visit the proposals at their regular meeting, Friday, Feb. 12.
In other business, commissioners:
• announced a ribbon-cutting April 23 at the county landfill located near Arcadia. The ribbon-cutting will focus on a new methane gas power production facility;
• announced that the Crawford County Courthouse will be closed Monday, Feb. 15 in observance of President’s Day.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140
GIRARD —
