In order to discuss the employee handbook, Knox City Council members held a joint work session with a member of the Board of Public Works last night.
Steve Dodge served as the representative for the BOW. Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained that the firm HR Unlimited was hired to help revise the current employee handbook.
Houston said a new handbook was needed not only due to changes to state requirements but also because multiple versions of the handbook were floating around. He said over the years, people have amended it for various departmental needs but city officials felt it was time to have a standard for everyone to go by.
During the work session, Dodge brought a few different typos and wording issues to the council’s attention. He also mentioned that he had submitted about four pages of corrections to Mitch Ripley, with HR Unlimited, and all of those were taken care of.
The area discussed the most had to do with language in the section about benefit days. Dodge said there were several phrases that seemed to be used interchangeably. He suggested either using one phrase or specifying the various definitions in order to differentiate the phrases.
Councilman Jeff Berg suggested some clarification on the section about the military policy. Other than some uncertainty about specifics surrounding the state’s Military Family Leave Act, he said it currently only mentions soldiers when it should be expanded to include all military personnel.
Clerk-Treasurer Houston added that even after the handbook is approved and issued, it can be amended to incorporate any new laws or any necessary policy changes.
During their regular session, city council members voted unanimously to approve the revised employee handbook, subject to the addition of the amendments that were mentioned during the work session. It will be up for approval by the Board of Public Works during their meeting today.
Mayor Estok said that some time in the near future, a meeting will be held where all city employees will be briefed on the revisions and then issued a new copy of the handbook.
