Commission discusses vacation, sick leave policy for employees
- Charlene Sims, Journal staff
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
By Charlene Sims, Journal staff
MOUND CITY – Two of the three Linn County Commission members took another look at the employee handbook at its meeting on Monday, March 16. Since the beginning of the year the commission has been reviewing portions of the handbook as time allows, and on Monday the main focus was on sick leave and vacation time.
County Clerk Chasity Ware has been consulting with a human resources representative from Asure from the start of the process, and she peppered commission Chair Alison Hamilton and member Jim Johnson with questions during session.
While no final decisions were made because Commissioner Jason Hightower was absent, lengthy discussion was held on a few of the subjects. Ware brought up questions about sick leave and vacation time, unpaid long-term leave, and specific wording for firefighters volunteering in other counties.
Ware told commissioners that employees earned eight hours a month sick leave and 6.67 hours vacation time. But, she said that the handbook was not clear about when an employee would start receiving these benefits.
Johnson asked if an employee had to work one full year and two weeks to get vacation pay.
Ware said she needed clarification on that.
Johnson said he did not know how this worked. He said he thought it was monthly but that they would not receive their full 40 hours of vacation until after a year.
Ware said she understood what Johnson was saying. Hamilton said she also understood it but did not necessarily agree with it but was listening not forming an opinion.
Ware also said she wasn’t agreeing with that either and she would look into it further.
Next, Ware said that the human resources (HR) representative both questioned the county’s policy of allowing an employee to request unpaid leave for periods up to one year for personal reasons without loss of position. She said that the HR representative thought it was a very generous for the county to hold an employee’s position open for a year.
Ware suggested removing the offer unless it was for reasons under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The county has another policy that regulates employees in military service.
Ware gave an example of a person going on a one-year sabbatical for whatever reason. All they had to do was to get approval from their supervisor, and if was approved the county could not do anything about that position for a year. She pointed out that a year was a long time, depending on what a department’s needs were.
Hamilton asked why that was in the regulations in the first place.
Johnson and Hamilton both agreed that the policy might be better if it stipulated time off for a FMLA or ADA reason and maybe limiting the time. Final decisions will be made on the issue when all three commissioners can discuss it in two weeks at the March 30 meeting.
Ware also posed the question about emergency management employees who were called to duty in other locations for emergencies. She said that a grant received by the county stipulates that those employees shall be given necessary time off without loss of pay when they are called on by the emergency management coordinator.
“What it wants to know is that employees should provide advanced written notice to their supervisor, whoever you are, the commissioners or emergency management, that they are volunteer emergency responders and may need to miss work for the purpose,” Ware said. “Employees may be required to submit a verification of the date, time and emergency services required.
“Time off under this policy will be unpaid except that exempt employees may be paid as required by law. So, I just wanted to clarify that’s okay? I mean that’s what she’s highly recommended should be put in there.”
Ware said she plans to come back in two weeks with a new cover page when all three commissioners are present.
The commission also approved a bid by Darren and Jamie Shackleford for $16,112 to remodel cabin No. 6 at the Linn County Park. The other bidder, Jim Lawson, had forgotten to include the recessed lighting in his bid.
The bid includes installing an awning outside, full bunk bed with two drawers and the twin over the bunk, installing a mini-split heating-cooling unit, installing kitchen and wall cabinets with sink and faucet, providing table and chairs, installing recessed lighting, a swivel TV mount, 28-inch bathroom vanity with sing and 600 square feet of plank flooring.
In other business, the commissioners:
Approved safety footwear boot reimbursement for Robert Turpen for $200 for 2026.
Learned from Hamilton that the county would be paying AMR $97,916 this month and Tri-Ko $11,646.50. These were in the claims but Hamilton thought those payments should be noted.
Went into executive sessions for a total of 20 minutes for attorney-client privilege with Fire Chief Randy Hegwald, Ware and County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta for potential litigation.
Retired into executive session with Public Works Administrator Jesse Walton, Paletta, and County Treasurer Joannie Reed for 10 minutes for financial matters. The Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) does not provide an executive session exemption for financial matters, and commissioners may have violated KOMA in using that for the reason.
Went into executive session for 5 minutes for employee performance, with Walton, the commissioners, Paletta and Ware.
Heard from Walton that the road crews had been out cleaning trees up from last week.
Learned that the road crews had started replacing culverts in Blue Mound, two of those have been replaced, and one more will be replaced. Next the road crew will move on to replacing culverts on the road going west out of Centerville.
Approved $30,111 for replacing both pumps on the Caterpillar 963 track loader.
Reviewed the bid for mowing county property from Scarecrow Farms. The amount was $20,367. Walton will go over bid and bring back to commission.
Retired into executive session for 10 minutes with Walton, Paletta and the commissioners to discuss non-elected personnel.
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