Davis County to extend sick‑leave buyouts to retain dispatchers ahead of Layton merger

The Davis County Commission asked staff to draft a policy exception that would extend sick‑leave buyout payments and sick‑leave accrual for county dispatchers through an Oct. 1, 2026 merger with Layton City, officials said.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Taylor West told the commission the county is merging its dispatch center operations with Layton City with a target completion date of Oct. 1, 2026, and that 10 dispatch employees who have more than 10 years of service are already entitled to a 33% sick‑leave payout that will cost the county about $34,163. "This is a vital retention tool to keep fully trained dispatchers with 3–7 years of experience from leaving before the merger," West said, arguing that the overtime and coverage costs of losing staff now would quickly exceed the incremental expense of extending the payout.

West proposed extending the same 33% payout (or a minimum of $500, whichever is greater) to employees with less than 10 years of service; he estimated that extension would raise the county's one‑time cost to roughly $47,593, an increase of about $13,500 compared with the existing baseline. West also said Layton City "intends to hire almost all the County’s dispatchers who want to transition" and that Layton had given a "gentleman's handshake" that it would not hire County staff before the merger is complete.

County Controller Scott Parke asked whether employees would receive the buyout only if they remained employed through the merger; West confirmed the payout for employees with fewer than 10 years of service would be conditional on staying through the completion of the merger. Information Systems Director Jeff Hassett raised a related policy question about a recent change that froze eligible sick‑pay buyout balances as of Jan. 1, 2026; West said his calculations used current balances rather than the Jan. 1 figures, and Hassett supported a one‑time exception that would let dispatchers accrue and be paid out for sick leave earned up until the October merger date.

Human Resources Director Shawn Choate asked West which timeframe he used for his initial calculations and offered to rerun the figures to provide exact costs to the commission. County Clerk Brian McKenzie confirmed Choate would draft the official policy exception; the finalized document will be presented at an upcoming commission meeting for formal approval. The three commissioners in the work session unanimously agreed to that procedural step.

The work session ended without a formal vote to adopt the exception; the next procedural step is for Human Resources to prepare the written exception and for the county to consider it at a future regular meeting where formal action would be taken.