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Newport council delays personnel-policy overhaul but approves interim overtime rule
Summary
After an executive session and additional review with counsel, Newport City Council paused broader changes to a proposed personnel policy but approved an interim amendment to section 28 ensuring time‑and‑a‑half pay for nonexempt employees who work beyond their scheduled shift in a calendar day.
Council member Carter Finnegan opened the Nov. 17 meeting by saying the personnel‑policy rewrite is complex and that the council was not prepared to adopt the full document at this meeting. After meeting in executive session with legal counsel, the council reported no action was taken in the closed session and that staff will work further with the city’s attorneys before returning a revised proposal for public comment.
While the full personnel policy was set aside for additional legal review, the council voted to adopt one narrow interim change. The motion lifted the third sentence of section 28 so that nonexempt employees would "receive time and a half for hours worked during the calendar day beyond their regularly scheduled shift" on an interim basis while the full policy is finalized. The change is intended to cover situations when department staff work extended shifts — for example, extended winter plowing that exceeds a scheduled eight‑hour shift.
Council members asked staff to clarify how the interim rule interacts with weekly overtime thresholds; the council majority emphasized that the policy is not intended to create "double dipping" and that all overtime must be preapproved by department heads. Carrie Schultz, who the council invited to the executive session as the financial and office administrator, will help staff and counsel finalize wording before the council resumes public discussion and schedules dedicated public comment time. The council chair said the full personnel policy could return for further consideration in two to four weeks but gave no firm date.
The motion to adopt the interim overtime provision carried by voice vote. The council did not provide a roll‑call tally in the public record for the motion. When public commenters later raised concerns that the personnel document contained an "at‑will" employment clause, council members said those concerns would be considered as the document is revised and returned for public review.
