Township supervisor notifies trustees of workfare appeal; township consolidates employee handbook affecting cemetery overtime

At the Bloomington Township Board of Trustees meeting June 23, the township supervisor informed trustees that a client has filed an appeal with the Public Aid Commission after disagreeing with a workfare assignment decision. The supervisor said the township requires a physician-signed release of medical information to determine whether a client qualifies for designated worksites or special accommodations.

The matter matters because the appeal will be adjudicated by the Public Aid Commission, whose decision will determine whether the township’s handling of the client’s workfare placement must change. “The client that I’m referencing has put an appeal into the township and, that’s currently at the Public Aid Commission, and we’ll be setting up a scheduled time for that,” the supervisor said. “The township will await the outcome of that hearing and proceed in accordance with the commission’s findings.”

Trustees asked only clarifying questions during the supervisor’s report. The supervisor described how more clients in recent months have presented “serious personal and financial challenges” that can affect how they experience mandatory workfare assignments but concluded, after reviewing staff actions, that “there’s nothing that could be changed in regards of how we handled it” in the specific case. He added that staff will evaluate how the township communicates workfare requirements.

Separately, the supervisor said the township has consolidated separate employee handbooks into a single handbook covering township operations, the assessor’s office and cemetery operations. He said the consolidation was intended to harmonize policy changes prompted by federal and state statutes and noted that Evergreen Cemetery requested a slight adjustment to its overtime policy; staff implemented the change and said no additional board approval was required. “We put it under one roof, and one employee handbook that we’re servicing for all three portions,” the supervisor said.

The supervisor warned trustees they may hear disgruntled clients while staff follow established procedures. He told trustees the township is “abiding by the law in everything that we’re doing” and said staff are qualified to handle appeals and client concerns while the Public Aid Commission reviews the pending appeal.

On a related procedural matter earlier in the meeting trustees identified and corrected a scrivener’s error in the consent agenda referencing a former template name. Trustee Ward moved approval of the consent agenda with the correction; the motion was seconded and carried with no nays.

The township provided no further timetable for the Public Aid Commission hearing and did not release identifying details about the client because of confidentiality. Trustees did not take any formal action on policy changes pending the commission’s decision.