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Sherman County allows temporary vacation accrual exception for dispatch through June
Summary
The Sherman County Board of Commissioners approved a temporary exception allowing dispatch staff to bank vacation accruals beyond the usual maximum until the board revisits the policy at its first meeting in June, after staff testified they could not take days off while understaffed.
Sherman County commissioners voted to let dispatch employees temporarily bank new vacation accruals beyond the normal cap until the board's first meeting in June.
The action followed testimony from Chrissy, a dispatch employee, who said she was "maxed out 144 hours" and could not take days off until a trainee is fully on duty around April 1. Speaker 2 moved for the temporary exception and Speaker 3 seconded; the motion passed on an oral vote.
Commissioners and staff described the change as a short-term, no-cost accommodation intended to avoid forcing dispatchers to lose accrued vacation time while the department remains understaffed. Board members discussed limits and agreed to revisit the policy in June to consider broader changes to the county's vacation-accrual policy. Speaker 1 said the board should allow more time than April for staffing to normalize.
The board's vote affects dispatch only for now; commissioners emphasized any wider policy amendment would require further review. The decision followed a broader discussion of how vacation accruals work by tenure and pay period and whether prior extensions (for the health department during COVID) should be treated the same way.
Next steps: The board will reconsider the temporary exception and any formal policy amendments at its first meeting in June; payroll and department heads were instructed to communicate the process and timeline to affected staff.
