City unveils updated employee handbook, new personal and short‑term medical leave

Human resources director Barbara Hawkins briefed council on a comprehensive update to the city’s employee handbook and the rollout plan for annual employee training and disclosure forms.

Hawkins said the handbook consolidates previous materials into an employee manual, clarifies pay and overtime rules (police overtime is tracked per two‑week pay period; non‑sworn overtime per week), and introduces two new programs: a personal‑leave bank (80 hours for non‑sworn personnel, use‑it‑or‑lose‑it within the calendar year) and short‑term medical leave (40 hours per year for non‑sworn employees, bankable up to 480 hours and usable when qualifying under FMLA). She described a PTO cash‑out change to 50% offered once per year for eligible employees and said at separation employees receive 100% payout unless employed less than one year, in which case payout is 50%.

The handbook reiterates nondiscrimination and harassment policies aligned with Title VII protections, details ADA and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) accommodation procedures, and explains the annual public‑disclosure/ethics filing that will be distributed each January. Hawkins said the city will provide annual ethics training and maintain disclosure forms in personnel records. The city will also distribute an acknowledgment form for the training and a fillable PDF of the disclosure form.

Council members thanked staff for compiling the manual and sought additional information about paid family/maternity leave; Hawkins said the city has discussed paid family leave in other jurisdictions but has not adopted a paid maternity/paternity policy. Council requested follow‑up materials comparing other cities’ approaches.

The council did not take legislative action during the work session; staff will distribute disclosure forms and continue handbook implementation.