Special Meeting Minutes- June 26, 2013
The Churubusco Town Council met on June 26, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall for a special meeting. Members present were President, Frank Kessler and Council Members, Mark Pepple and Alan Malcolm along with Clerk-Treasurer, Madalyn Sade-Bartl. Also in attendance was Kristi Sturtz from Sturtz PMG; Town Supervisor, Jeremy Hart; and Town Attorney, Ronald Felger.
Council President Frank Kessler called the meeting to order and welcomed visitors. He explained that while the meeting was a special meeting, motions could be made and votes could be taken. Roll was called by the Clerk. All Council Members were present.
Old Business:
President Kessler explained that the Council had all had an opportunity to talk with Kristi and look over her proposal for a strategic plan. There were some aspects of the proposal that he felt was rehashing the study performed by HyettPalma three years prior. He posed the question to Ms. Sturtz if she was open to tailoring the proposal to Churubusco’s needs. She stated she would be willing to do that. Ms. Sturtz went through and discussed the elements of her proposal with the Council. Mr. Malcolm made a motion to move forward with hiring Ms. Sturtz to create the strategic plan. Mr. Pepple seconded and the motion carried 3-0.
Ms. Sade-Bartl and the Council moved on to discuss issues with the employee handbook. Several issues were up for discussion, the first being the alcohol policy. The way the alcohol policy was written, the Town would have a zero tolerance for alcohol use while an employee was on the clock. President Kessler explained that he had no issues with that during normal business hours. However, if there was an emergency situation that required an employee to come in during non-business hours such as a water main break, he did not feel it was right to have an employee choose whether to put their job at risk or not answer an emergency call. The Council and Mr. Felger discussed the policy in more detail and it was decided to change the policy to read that an employee may not report to work legally impaired during non-business hours and the stance of zero tolerance during work hours would remain in effect.
The second issue concerned lunches. President Kessler asked Mr. Hart how realistic it was that the employees took lunch. He stated that if they do eat lunch, they are usually working and take more of a break than a half hour lunch. Mr. Hart stated that if one of his employees leaves and goes out to lunch, they need to clock out, but that does not occur often. Ms. Bartl explained that while Indiana has no labor laws requiring an employer to offer employees a lunch break, since it was being offered to others, it needed to be stated in the policy manual in case someone wanted to take one. She also explained that the policy must state that no work may be performed during the clocked out period or the employee would be subject to disciplinary action. This would help alleviate any employee stating that they were forced to do work while clocked out if this verbiage was in place.
President Kessler had mentioned the bereavement policy. He asked the remaining members of the Council if they felt like too much time was being offered for the death of a family member. Ms. Bartl informed the Council that this policy was not changed from the old policy manual in any way. Mr. Pepple and Mr. Malcolm saw nothing wrong with the policy as written.
Ms. Bartl brought up the issue of police overtime. She explained that officers were receiving overtime for hours not in their 4-2 rotation. Mr. Pepple asked if officers worked 40 hours a weeks and she explained sometime they do, other times they do not; it just mattered how their rotation fell. President Kessler explained that the police department had moved to a 4-2 rotation years ago and it had never been changed. He also explained that many police departments require the officer to work at least 171 hours in a month before allowing overtime to be paid. President Kessler pointed out with a 4-2 rotation the police officers were off 15 days more a year than a regular 5-2 employee. Mr. Pepple stated that was not fair to other employees and felt that the police department should have to work 40 hours a week like any other employee before receiving overtime. Mr. Pepple asked Ms. Bartl if the police department was using non-productive work hours such as vacation and sick as countable hours for overtime. She stated that yes, they were. She also explained that those hours were on a different week, though, like using a vacation day for the first day of the rotation on Saturday then claiming overtime for working Wednesday of the next week because it is not in the rotation. President Kessler stated he would talk to the Marshal about requiring the Department to work 40 hours a week.
After all the issues concerning the policy manual were addressed, Ms. Bartl asked Council how they would feel about the Town taking over responsibility of the Turtle Days Festival. She explained that not much would change except that the Turtle Days Association would be working similarly to a Park Board. They would still be making the decisions, however, the Town would ultimately have responsibility and final say of what was going on concerning Turtle Days. She was also quick to point out that she had not fully discussed this option with the Association. She was just throwing around the idea. Mr. Pepple voiced that he liked the idea and that he felt if the Town had more to do with Turtle Days, it had a chance at becoming better. President Kessler and Mr. Malcolm stated they were open to the idea but more research would need done as well as the Turtle Days Association coming to the Council with a proposal.
Having no other business and after all proper papers were signed, President Kessler adjourned the meeting.
