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Seven Hills council approves emergency ordinance allowing mayor to authorize donated sick time
Summary
The Seven Hills City Council passed Ordinance 40-2025 as an emergency measure to permit the mayor to authorize donated sick time for employees, citing timeliness and HIPAA concerns so employees need not wait for a regular council meeting to receive donated leave.
Mayor Villasciata opened a special meeting Aug. 26 and introduced an emergency ordinance designed to let the mayor authorize donated sick time for city employees.
"We have an employee in the city that, needs sick time. So we have a couple, employees graciously going to donate time to them," Mayor Villasciata said, adding that the law department agreed the mayor should have authority in the interest of timeliness and HIPAA protections.
The ordinance amends the city's administrative code to allow executive approval of donated sick leave so employees do not have to wait weeks for the next council meeting to receive donated pay. Mayor Villasciata said the change responds to situations where an employee suffers a sudden accident or illness and would otherwise risk missing paychecks while awaiting a council decision.
Council members moved to suspend council rules and to read Ordinance 40-2025 by title only for its first and final reading. Council Pro Tem Costanzo moved to pass the ordinance as an emergency measure; the motion carried on a roll call vote with all voting members recorded as "yes." The ordinance was declared passed as an emergency.
The discussion on this item was brief and focused on the need for a faster administrative process; no amendments were proposed during the meeting. Council members did not provide additional detail about implementation steps, such as who within the mayor's office will document donations or how donated time will be tracked in payroll records. Those procedural details were not specified in the meeting record.
Ordinance 40-2025 amends Chapter 151 (Employees, generally) of the codified ordinances of the City of Seven Hills. The ordinance was approved under the emergency clause and took effect immediately under the council's vote.
For the meeting record, council members noted this authority was coordinated with the law department and framed as protective of employee privacy under HIPAA while allowing prompt financial support through donated leave.
