Policies and Procedures Workshop Commission Board Room Dixie County Courthouse 214 NE Hwy 351, Cross City, FL 32628 October 17, 2024 -5:00 PM The Boardi meetings are audio recorded. The public can hear and participate ini the meeting via conference calll by dialing 1(917/900-1022 and enter code 32628. COMMISSIONERS Jody Stephenson, District 1, Vice Chairman Daniel Wood, District2 Mark Hatch, District 3 Jamie Storey, District 4, Chairman David Osteen, District5 5 STAFF John. Jenkins, Assistant County Manager Martha McCaskill, Administrative Asst/Grant Coordinator Chana Watson, County Attorney Barbie Higginbotham, Clerk of Court Verna Wilson, Chief Deputy Clerk Brenda Royal, Chief Financial Officer Joannie Morse, Deputy Clerk Angie Crowley, Human Resources Administrator CALLTOORDER The Board Meeting/Workshop was called to order at! 5:00 PMI by Commissioner Storey. The Invocation and the Pledge to the American Flag was led by Commissioner Storey. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE TOTHE AMERICAN FLAG POLICY AND PROCEDURE REVIEW Human Resource Administrator. Angie Crowley addressed thel Board and asked if anybody has come to the County Commissioners with any questions that need to be addressed concerning Policy and Procedures. Building Official Leon Wright stated that if someone works for Building and Zoning and is running for an office they need to resign. Mrs. Crowley said that the County is not allowed to force them to resign. Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 17,2024 5:001 PM- Page 1 of7 Commissioner Osteen stated that we could allow the employee to take a leave of absence. Attorney Chana Watson stated that the Board needs to be mindful of the election laws and: stated that if a county employee is running for office, they cannot be within five hundred feet of the voting precinct. She also stated that if an assistant runs against the incumbent the assistant must resign, but if the incumbent is stepping down the statute reads that the assistant can stay in that position and run for the office while maintaining employment. She added that the Board cannot force an employee to use their Commissioner Osteen stated there must be al leave of absence for1 the County to maintain integrity. Attorney" Watson stated the County cannot require an employee to use up their leave; however, they can require the employee to take a leave of absence if it is written that way in the Policies and Procedures Handbook. She added that the County must pay them paid leave while on leave. of absence. Attorney Watson said that if the County chooses to make a policy to force the employees to take a leave Itwas recommended by several members of the Board to postpone this subject for more research. Director of the Dixie County Public Library Mrs. Cindy Bellot stated that all of this is weil defined in the electionl laws concerning incumbents and she gave an example from 1976 where a Supervisor of Elections soni in Tallahassee, Florida ran for Supervisor of Elections, and he already held aj job within the office, and he was not required to resign because his mother was retiring and not running again. She said his opponent filed as suit andi it was foundi ini favorofthes sonofthes Supervisoroft Elections because the mother vacation time. of absence they can, but the County can't force them to resign. wasn'trunning. Clerk of Court Barbie Higginbotham stated the priority is to make sure. the County is legal. but is not clear on some other policies as far as County employees running for office. Attorney Watson said the current Policies and Procedures Handbook makes clear the incumbent process Mrs. Higginbotham asked ift the County puts new rules int the policies and procedures handbook regarding running for elections and requires new hires to read and signa an agreement, would this make it legal. Attorney' Watson answered yes. Commissioner Hatch recommended having the Policies and Procedures Handbook updated and signed annually by all County employees. He also suggested department heads have monthly meetingswith the Commissioner Hatch suggested! having an updated version oft the Policiesand Proceduresready by. January lofeachy year and having all employees sign that they received andi reviewedac copy by January: 20ofeach County Manager, to stay informed about what is going on in the County. year. Mrs. Crowley asked how often County employees receive training? Workshopl Meeting Minutes October 17, 2024 - 5:00P PM- - Page 2of7 Mr. Wright said they do theirs annually at Building and Zoning. Administrative Assistant and Grant Coordinator Martha McCaskill said all departments usually have Commissioner Hatch recommended educating Department Heads and having monthly staff meetings trainingannually. regarding Policies and Procedures. Attorney' Watson: said that it could be set ini the County policy ift that is desired. Commissioner Hatch also mentioned having job descriptions and. Job Hazard Analysis( OHAs/presentedi in Attorney' Watson stated there are briefj job descriptions for department heads, but they are generic, and the County can work on changing those int the Policies and Procedures Handbook if desired. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Pregnancy' Workers Fairness. Act (PWFA): the Policies and Procedures Handbook. 1d Mrs. Crowley recommended setting a timeline for a limit on PMLA. She said currentlyi it is set for twelve (12) weeks for FMLA and nothing really set for the PWFA. She said the last person the County had on PWFA stayed out for 6-8 months and caused an undue hardship on theire employer. Attorney' Watson said: some of this is addressed in the Policy and Procedures Handbook. Mrs. Crowley stated that the PWFA is not addressed int the Policy and Procedures Handbook. Attorney Watson stated it is not: specifically addressed, but the Policies and Procedures Handbook addresses some of the issues that fall in line with thel PWFA. She said that in regards to the timeframesa pregnant mom with due cause can; approach the Board to continue herl leave; however, ifundue hardship iscaused on the department the department doesn'thave to retain her position as a vacant position, but can fill it and when the employee comes back to work she is not fired, but may have to take another. Mrs. Crowley said in the Policies and- Procedures Handbook it states: that employee benefits be paid for the employee during the FMLA timeframe and then reapproach the Board for extension; however, she brought up the fact that if extended the County still must pay the employees' insurance. She asked for direction on at what point does the County stop paying for insurance. She asked if they set at timeframe position of comparable means, as long as the salary doesn't change. orj just do it case by case. Commissioner: Storey: said this would need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Clerk of Court Barbie Higginbotham stated she worries that if conducted- on a case-by-case basis there Attorney Watson stated that the County does have to have a standard policy, then they can extend it could be a chance of an unfairness lawsuit. based on circumstance. Workshop Meeting Minutes- October 17,2024 5:001 PM - Page 3of7 Commissioner Hatch asked what the man expecting a childi is entitled to. Mrs. Crowley said they are eligible for FMLA also. Unused Leave Time: Mrs. Crowley asked for clarification on what to do if someone is terminated or resigns and doesn'tgive their two-week notice. She asked if the Board wanted to keep it where that would cause the employee to forfeit the payout of their unused sick time. Commissioners said they agree to keep it like that. Attorney Watson asked for clarification on. a question that was posed regarding the Comp Leave Policy. She directed the Boardi to. look at page 54 of the Policies and Procedures Handbook. She said it defines full-time. non-shift work and: shift work and how many hours are-received for each month. Full-time non-shift employees get one (1) day a month (8 hours a month). Full-time shift employees that have 0-72 months ofs service get ten hours a month. Full-time shift employees that have 72-999 months of service get fourteen hours per month. She also added that based on the current policy they are not being discriminated against, they are only She said she has also beena asked ift the County can give regular comp time in place of time and al half. She Mrs. Crowley advised- there is some wording changes that need to be made within the Policy and Procedures Handbook in regard to: the employee payout for retiring or resigning employees. She said the current policy states the County can do this in payments, but Floridar Retirement System (FRS) saysi it must Listed as follows: She said this goes the same for sick leave. getting one day a month. said that it does state that the County can do this based on the current policy. be al lump sum payout, or the County can be fined by the state. Commissioner Stephenson asked ift the County has an account set upt for these payouts. Finance Director Brenda: Royal stated that generally the County doesn'tkeep a separate account fori this, but if a department: has prior knowledge that one of their employees is going to retire then that department would try to budget for that in the budget year. Commissioner Osteen asked if the sick leave is paid out at 100 %. Mrs. Crowley said the payout is 240 and 480 other than those that are grandfathered in. in any position to resign from that position if running for an office within the County. Commissioner Hatch brought up. once again about implementing a policy of requiring a County employee Mrs. Royal stated she thinks this would make it very difficult for people that may bei ina a situation like: she wasi ina after her! husband passed and: she rant fora a county position. She saids she would not have been able to resign her position while running because she was a single mom with one income. She recommended that if there is no conflict nottol have to resign. Workshop) Meeting Minutes = October 17, 2024 - 5:001 PM - Page 4 of7 Commissioner Hatch said he thinks it doesn't give a good perception int the County for one to keep their Commissioner Hatch also mentioned the County discontinuing the use ofal hiring committee. current position and run for office. Commissioner Osteen said he cherishes the opinion oft the committee. Commissioner Hatch said he thinks department heads, managers, assistant managers, attorneys and engineers, should be hired, if the manager isn't running, by the Manager, Assistant Manager and the Commissioner Osteen: stated hei feels like the County could hire more qualified people usinga al hiring panel. Chairman of the Board. - : Commissioner Hatch asked where this rule of using al hiring panel originated from. Mrs. Crowley said it came from the Krisner Group. 861 : : Attorney Watson: said the. Policy and Procedure Handbook doesaddress whot thel Board hires, Department" Heads hire other Department Heads, and how they shouldn't be supervising each other, etc. Commissioner Stephenson said he wants the most qualified person to bel hired. Mrs. Crowley asked ift the Board wantsav workshop scheduled to review. the County Manager applications Attorney Watson stated that the Board must look at all County Managera applicants anyway. She said the Policy and Procedure states there can- be a review of applicants and. there can be qualifications set :7 and resumes. She said there are thirteen total applications. :: beforehand if the Board desires. : : : - Commissioner Hatch said to interview them all. He said they.all deserve an interview. Mrs. Crowley: said there are: several out ofstate. Commissioner Hatch told her to set- the time to interview and if they. don't show up that is not on the County. Mrs. Crowley asked if October 22nd, would work for the workshop to review resumes. Commissioner Hatch said the Board would. set the date in the regular Board meeting. He then changed his mind and asked Mrs. Crowley to just give the Commissioners a copy of all thirteen resumes and they can look at them and then meet fori interviews after reviewing resumes. Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 17,2 2024 -5:001 PM- - Page 50 of7 Public Comments: Mrs. Barbara Cummings asked for clarification as to what was previously discussed as far as reviewing Commissioner Hatch answered and said he would make it easy. He said all thirteen applicants should get resumes andi interviewing for the County Manager position. an interview. No more public questions or concerns. Workshop Meeting Minutes- - October 17, 2024. - 5:00) PM- -1 Page 6 of7 ADJOURN approved. Commissioner Osteen made the motion to adjourn. Commissioner Stephenson seconded. Board BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DIXIE COUNTY, FLORIDA TV. siHylan Barbie Higginbotham, iérk-Auditor PLEASE BE ADVISED that ifay person decides to appeal any decision made by the Board with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearings, he/ she will need a record oft the proceedings, and fors such purpose, he/ she will need to ensure that a verbatim record oft the proceedings is made, which record includes "Persons with disabilities requesting reasonable accommodations to participate in this proceeding should contact (352) 486-4931 (Voice & TDD) or via Florida Relay Service at (800) 955-8771." The Board meets thej first Thursday ofe each month at 10:00 AM and the third Thursday ofe each month at 6:00 PM. Individuals that would like to be placed on the agenda should call Barbie Higginbotham, Clerk of Court, by the testimony ande evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. 4:00A PM on the Friday Preceding the Board meeting, at (352)498-1200. 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