Putnam County Personnel Committee adopts gender-based violence policy to preserve state funding

Putnam County’s Personnel Committee unanimously approved a replacement Workplace and Gender-Based Violence Policy on Feb. 10, a change officials said is needed to comply with a recently passed State finance law that conditions some grant funds on having an explicit gender‑based violence policy.

Principal Personnel Specialist Patricia Rau told the committee she used the State’s model policy to draft the county version so Putnam County would meet the new requirement. “There was a new State finance law passed which requires recipients of State monies to have a gender‑based violence policy in order to receive that money,” Rau said, and she added the mandate takes effect next month.

The committee heard that the policy replaces the existing workplace‑violence policy and that annual employee training will be updated. “Yes, the training will be modified to include gender‑based violence,” said Acting Personnel Officer Adriene Iasoni, who said she has been coordinating with the county’s training vendor to ensure the new content is included.

Legislators asked how the change would affect onboarding and volunteers. Rau said new employees and volunteers must sign off that they have read the employee handbook, which lists county policies, and that if a department receives grant funding any board or volunteer members tied to those funds would be required to take the training. Rau also noted her background in prosecuting domestic‑violence cases informed her drafting of the policy to be mindful of the difficulty victims face in speaking about abuse.

Chairwoman Addonizio moved to waive the rules and accept an additional revised version of the policy (the revision corrected a typographical heading error); the motion was seconded by Legislator Sayegh and approved by the committee. Members acknowledged some overlap with the prior policy but said adopting the revised policy was necessary to maintain eligibility for state funds.

The committee also received brief accident and incident reports that were noted for the record. With no further business, the committee adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

The Personnel Committee did not specify an exact effective date beyond the staff statement that the State requirement takes effect next month; departments receiving state grants should expect training and sign‑off procedures to follow the policy adoption.