Commissioners approve personnel manual updates; random drug-testing policy for emergency services and paid volunteer leave added

St. Mary’s County commissioners on June 3 approved updates to the county personnel manual that clarify promotion and reclassification pay steps, tighten preemployment physical requirements, expand certain recruitment incentives and add a random drug and alcohol testing policy for safety‑sensitive emergency‑services positions.

Katherine Pratzen, director of Human Resources, walked commissioners through multiple policy changes the department proposed to clarify long-standing practices. She said the manual will continue current practice on salary placement for reclassifications and promotions (reclassifications no less than 4 percent, promotions no less than 10 percent) but will clarify the language and placement steps. The update also formalizes that preemployment physical exams must occur before hire and adds a routine performance-improvement-plan process when an employee receives an unsatisfactory evaluation.

Pratzen told the board the most significant new policy is a random drug and alcohol testing program for emergency-services personnel in safety-sensitive roles — employees who have access to narcotics or perform duties that could affect public safety. "We have developed a policy requiring random drug and alcohol testing for individuals in emergency services that are considered safety sensitive," she said. County staff and legal counsel reviewed the policy, which the department intends to begin implementing in July; it was presented to affected staff during the rollout period. The manual also incorporates previously approved items such as expanded employee referral bonuses and an extension of shift differential and training officer differentials to EMTs.

Commissioners considered two additional personnel proposals during the meeting. A motion to add two more annual county holidays (which would have raised the county total from 14 to 16 under the proposal) failed. Separately, the board approved an addition of 8 hours of paid leave to allow employees to volunteer with qualifying nonprofit organizations; commissioners described the volunteer leave as a recruiting and community-service incentive.

Human Resources said the updated personnel manual will be published to the employee portal for use beginning July 2025 and that employees will be asked to acknowledge the updated position descriptions and policies. Pratzen said department staff would consider adding an annual acknowledgment step for policies, at commissioners’ suggestion. The office also said the drug-and-alcohol testing policy will be administered through the county’s contracted testing vendor in line with federal rules for other DOT-regulated pools.