Council reviews proposed employee handbook updates and new standalone travel policy; adoption requested for Jan. 1

City staff presented proposed revisions to the employee handbook and a new standalone travel policy and asked the Navasota City Council to consider adopting the documents effective Jan. 1. The presentation covered housekeeping edits, policy clarifications, and several operational changes intended to modernize administration and align practices with state guidance.

Robert Hemberg, the staff presenter, said the revisions are organized into three tiers: Tier 1 housekeeping changes such as removing the organizational chart and updating terminology ("automotive services" renamed "fleet services"); Tier 2 clarifications and compliance updates; and Tier 3 more substantive operational adjustments. "If you do so choose to adopt them, we make them effective January 1," Hemberg said.

Key proposed operational changes include switching vacation accrual to biweekly to align with pay periods, adding an extra accrual step in the 10–20 year range, and keeping separate accrual schedules for 24-hour shift firefighters. Hemberg described a maximum vacation accrual (currently a year) while exploring options to allow employees to build additional personal "catastrophic" leave that would pause accrual once the cap is reached and resume when used.

The draft also clarifies part-time employee benefits. Hemberg said the city historically has not granted holiday or vacation leave to most part-time employees and the revision aims to standardize and clarify eligibility rather than reduce benefits for those already receiving them.

On holidays, staff proposed ending the practice of accruing holiday leave for employees and instead paying all full-time employees eight hours of holiday pay; employees who actually work on a holiday (for example, police and fire personnel) would receive time-and-a-half for hours worked in addition to the eight-hour holiday pay. "Employees that have to work on a holiday would get paid time and a half for any hours that are actually worked on that holiday and all full time employees would get 8 hours of holiday pay," Hemberg said.

The travel policy was presented as a separate administrative policy so updates would not require amending the handbook. It emphasizes reimbursement of "reasonable and necessary" preapproved travel expenses, requires preapproval by a department director or the city manager for higher-level travel, and calls for expense reports to be submitted within seven calendar days after return. Hemberg said signatory authority for reimbursements over $1,000 would rest with the city manager or assistant city manager; department directors may sign smaller claims unless the director is the claimant, in which case the city manager would sign.

Staff proposed allowing travel advances for airfare, registration fees and per diem when necessary, to avoid undue financial burden on employees. Travel advances must be requested 14–28 days in advance. Mileage reimbursement and overnight accommodations generally apply when travel exceeds a 35-mile straight-line radius from City Hall, with exceptions for early start times or late-night meetings.

Hemberg also recommended using a single locked GSA per diem amount to simplify administration. He cited a current standard of about $68 per day ("$60 per meal and $8 for incidental expenditures") as an example and said locking the figure prevents spreadsheet errors and reduces administrative review time.

Council members raised clarifying questions during the presentation, including whether tobacco use in city vehicles would trigger disciplinary action (Hemberg confirmed the ban and disciplinary enforcement), whether laundry/dry-cleaning is treated as reimbursable incidentals (Hemberg agreed to clarify contradictory language in the draft), and whether travel arrangements should be centralized (staff said most arrangements are made by employees or department administrative staff and that centralization would likely require additional personnel).

The staff presentation did not record a council vote. Hemberg said staff planned to finalize formatting, distribute the revised handbook and acknowledgment forms to employees and brief department directors if the council approved the changes.

What happens next: Staff asked the council to consider approval and authorization for the city manager to administer the handbook and travel policy; no formal vote or passage was recorded in the transcript provided.