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DeKalb County Commissioners adopt travel policy barring required room sharing for county business
Summary
Commissioners approved language to the employee handbook and directed an amended travel policy to bar employees from being required to share hotel rooms on county business; existing reservations will be grandfathered.
DeKalb County Commissioners on Sept. 2 approved new language to the county employee handbook and agreed to amend the county travel policy to state that employees shall not be required to share rooms while on county business.
The change, read into the record by Morgan during the meeting, says in part: "Employees shall never be required to share the same bed and never be required to share the same room for county related business or training travel." Morgan said the paragraph is recommended to be inserted in the travel policy under the lodging section and that staff will add the language to the official employee handbook and collect acknowledgments from employees.
County Attorney Andrew Cruz reviewed the proposed insertion and, together with staff, recommended placing it under the lodging section of the travel policy resolution. Commissioners discussed whether to apply the rule immediately and whether to allow existing, already-booked shared rooms to remain in place for the current conference season. One commissioner suggested grandfathering reservations made before the policy's effective date so employees already booked would not have to rebook on short notice.
A motion to accept the new language for the employee handbook and to direct staff to prepare an amended travel-policy resolution for formal adoption passed unanimously. The board recorded the vote with members saying "aye" and the motion carried. Meeting minutes show commissioners agreed the handbook language would take effect immediately after approval; the formal resolution with a new number will be presented for adoption at a later meeting to mirror the handbook change.
The commissioners noted the timing was sensitive because the Association of Indiana Counties annual conference is at the end of the month and employees may already have reservations. Commissioners instructed staff to draft the amended resolution and the auditor to coordinate the policy insertion.
Commissioners did not specify a separate enforcement procedure in the meeting; staff said employees who believe the policy has been violated should contact the director of human resources and, if unresolved, the issue would be brought before the board.
