Committee advances proposal to add two paid holidays countywide; Pine Valley handbook changes to return to committee

Richland County’s Executive Finance Committee on Aug. 25 voted to forward a proposal to standardize paid holidays at 12 days for all county employees to the full county board, and discussed a separate Pine Valley personnel addendum that staff said requires further review.

County staff presented the proposal to align holiday benefits, noting a subset of Pine Valley employees already receives 12 paid holidays while most other county employees receive 10. Staff estimated that adding one additional holiday would increase overtime costs primarily at the sheriff’s department, Pine Valley and ambulance service by roughly $19,000; Pine Valley staff count impacted by the two additional holidays was given as about 28–30 employees.

Motion and votes Supervisor Turk moved to forward the holiday-policy change to the full county board; Supervisor Scoone seconded the motion. The committee voted by voice to send the change forward.

Handbook updates and Pine Valley addendum Staff also reviewed proposed updates to the Pine Valley addendum and the county personnel handbook. Proposed changes discussed included: clarifying premium pay eligibility, updating the grievance-filing process to align with county policy, adjusting comp-time accrual rules, adding a no-call/no-show resignation provision, and adding a rotating-holiday mechanism to distribute holiday staffing more evenly. Staff said some items (including premium-pay language previously approved by resolution in December 2023) were not yet incorporated into the addendum but would be added and returned to committee.

What the committee asked for Board members asked staff to provide the location of the county handbook in shared resources and suggested careful consideration of floating or rotating holidays in small or one-person departments. One supervisor cautioned that too much individual discretion for floating holidays could complicate public access in small offices.

Next steps Staff will revise the handbook addendum to incorporate the clarifications discussed and bring the updated language back to the committee before the full county board considers final approval.