Supervisors revise county vehicle policy; board removes insurance-linked mileage reimbursement restriction

The Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors on June 2 revised parts of the county's vehicle-use policy after legal counsel's advice that reimbursement for mileage cannot be conditioned on an employee's proof of personal auto insurance.

A county staff attorney reported counsel had advised the board that it cannot make reimbursement of mileage contingent on an employee's personal insurance coverage; the attorney said counties and cities vary on whether they require personal insurance for employees who use personal vehicles on county time. The board approved deleting the policy paragraph that tied reimbursement to insurance and agreed to move related language elsewhere in the manual and to add a new item discouraging the use of personal vehicles for official county business.

Board members discussed setting a meaningful insurance minimum for those who do use personal vehicles while on county time so the county could pursue third-party insurance in the event of an accident. The attorney told the board he could not promise litigation would be avoided but recommended a high minimum if the board wanted to require coverage; the board elected instead to remove the requirement tying mileage reimbursement to insurance and to discourage use of personal vehicles while on county business.

Supervisors directed staff to update the volunteer/operations manual to move the revised language to the county-owned-vehicle section and to add a new item that discourages use of personal vehicles for official business. A motion to adopt the revised operational policy language passed during the meeting.