The county administrator presented a broad set of proposed updates to the Richland County employee handbook at the Executive & Finance meeting on Dec. 15 and said the changes will be sent to department heads for review before a planned vote at a future meeting.

Key proposals include establishing consistent county public office hours at 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (with some departments such as Highway treated differently), clarifying flex time versus comp time, tightening overtime and comp payout rules for exempt and nonexempt employees, and adding a requirement that employees take a minimum 30‑minute meal break where practicable. The administrator said exempt employees (except department heads and elected officials) may earn comp time but it "will never get it paid out," and that nonexempt overtime/comp language still needs clarification with the HR director and finance staff.

Benefits language was simplified in some places: health insurance eligibility was tied to Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) status and hours worked, and existing dental language was changed from a percentage split to explicit dollar amounts (the presenter cited a family figure of "$52.39" and an unclear single amount described as "18 something"). The voluntary sick leave donation policy was revised so donated days not used would be returned to donors rather than permanently lost.

The presenter also said he removed references to the county code of ethics from employee policy (noting the board's separate ethics policy) and flagged the county harassment policy as in need of substantial revision. He recommended attaching the wage scale as Appendix A to simplify future updates and said staff will bring a revised handbook back in a subsequent packet for a possible vote.

Board members asked that departments with different shift patterns (for example, Highway) be given department‑specific appendices, and department heads were asked to review their sections. The committee did not vote to adopt the handbook at the Dec. 15 meeting; staff plan further edits, department review, and a vote at the next packet meeting.