Monticello Changes Paid Time Off Policy

City of Monticello employees have new vacation and paid time off (PTO) policies by virtue of a 3-1 vote of a quorum of the Monticello City Council during last Tuesday’s regular meeting.

Mayor Bryan Standifer, Mayor Pro-tem Bobby Jacobs, council members David Wease, Katherine Alexander, Cornell Williams, and city manager Peggy Billerman spent a considerable amount of time reviewing current city policies on vacation and sick leave. After much debate, often heated, council voted to eliminate the current sick leave policy and institute a PTO policy that would allow each employee seven days of paid time off, not to be carried over if not utilized.

Councilman Williams had strong reservations against reducing an employee’s sick leave from the previous 15 days, which carried over from year to year, to seven days per year.

“You want employees who work in the heat, cold, and rain to go from 15 sick days to five or seven for 12 months,” he said. “I don’t agree with that.”

Mayor Standifer began the discussion by stating that the average city employee accumulates 40 hours of vacation during their first year and 15 days of sick time. He suggested reducing sick days to five which was more in-line with an average business policy.

A report of actual vacation and sick leave usage between January 1 and June 30, 2014 revealed that 21 employees used an average of 55 hours vacation each while 22 employees used an average of 65.86 hours of sick leave.

Mayor Pro-tem Jacobs recommended changing the 15 day policy to seven instead of five. Council member Alexander spoke to the shortage of city staff already and that operating the city government could not afford unnecessary absences.

The debate continued for some time with the use of hypothetical situations and pinpoints of the pros and cons of altering the vacation and sick policies.

Councilman Wease diverted the discussions briefly when he recommended adding Good Friday to the current list of employee paid holidays stating that he had never worked anywhere that didn’t honor Good Friday.

“Martin Luther King is one of the holidays we celebrate and I think he [MLK] would be ashamed that we don’t honor Good Friday,” he said.

The first of the motions made and the only one passed unanimously was to add Good Friday to the current list of paid holidays.

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On the motion to eliminate the sick leave policy in lieu of a PTO policy with seven days per year with no carry over, council passed it 3-1 with Council member Williams dissenting. The new policy is effective immediately.

When questioned by the city manager as to how to handle the current accrued sick leave of each employee, Mayor Standifer said that an exploratory committee would research and report back to council at the next meeting.

Council member Alexander suggested a buy out of time accrued. Councilmen Jacobs and Wease will serve on that committee as Mr. Williams declined an invitation to serve on the committee.

With regards to vacation leave the policy was changed to reflect an annual accrual of 10 days for staff employed 0-4 years; 15 days for staff employed 5-9 years; and 20 days for staff employed 10 or more years. The policy change passed 3-1, Mr. Williams dissenting.

The council also took some time to review and discuss bids for replacement of the city government complex roof. After Mr. Jacobs made a motion to accept the low bid of $61,985 plus $4,000 for additional coverage for roof repair, Mrs. Alexander seconded it and discussion began.

The additional coverage would include a 20 year manufacturer’s warranty and 10 year unlimited leak free workmanship warranty.

The monies to fund the repair would be withdrawn from the city’s competitive trust which currently has a balance of $583,000 plus, according to Mrs. Billerman.

Mr. Wease questioned as to whether the city could afford the repair and withdrawing monies from the trust.

Mr. Jacobs explained that the roof leaking had been an ongoing problem that has led to other issues such as water accumulation on the floor and water leaks on the office equipment.

“Now we can afford to fix the problem instead of patching it up. We’ve had issues with the building for a while,” he said.

Action was taken to accept the low bid by a 3-1 vote, Mr. Williams dissented.

The evening’s other action taken included naming Clint Currie, by secret ballot vote, to the Downtown Development Authority. Rufus Whitlock had been previously named to the committee but chose to resign due to commitments to the school system.

In other business, the council briefly discussed the Georgia Dept. of Transportation local maintenance and improvement grant (LMIG) application which would provide state monies to be matched with local funds in order to improve one city street.

Sewer system upgrades on Pine Street were also discussed as well as de-chlorination chambers.

The city manager was also authorized to review and research health insurance options as the city government has been informed that current rates will increase January 2015.

A contentious discussion also took place with regard to the use of Ben’s Tree Service to aid the street department with the maintenance of the city area. No action was taken.

Citizen William Gibson presented the only citizens’ input as he thanked the city for the recent gas line fixtures completed and expressed delight in having Sage Edwards back working on the city’s behalf.