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Bel Air HR outlines staffing, Lexipole rollout and PIA software as state sick‑leave changes loom
Summary
At the April 23 budget work session the town's human resources overview covered HR staffing, a near-complete transition of police policies to Lexipole, pending personnel manual updates, an upcoming state-mandated sick-leave change (effective January 2027), and a plan to buy a GovQuest PIA management system to handle increasing public information requests.
Town human resources and administration staff briefed commissioners April 23 on personnel-related budget items, ongoing policy modernization and tools to manage public information requests.
Administration said the police department completed its transition from paper policy binders to an online Lexipole policy platform, which includes policy update services and legal support from the vendor. The town administration noted that most personnel manual policies (about 85–90 percent) have been migrated but several policies — including the disability policy — still require final transition and review given impending state changes to sick-leave law.
Board members discussed an upcoming state-mandated sick-leave program that will begin requiring contributions in January 2027. Administration said the town had joined a consortium with other local governments to mitigate administrative impacts and acknowledged that some adjustments to the town’s short-term disability policy will be necessary to avoid double-dipping.
To manage a high and growing volume of Public Information Act (PIA) requests after the retirement of a long-serving PIA coordinator, administration proposed acquiring a GovQuest PIA management system to streamline and transparently track requests across departments. The presentation noted that PIAs often require cross-departmental responses from finance, planning, public works and police.
Other HR-related items discussed included employee recognition funding ($2,500), recruiting and advertising strategies using applicant-tracking and job boards, pre-employment physicals and background checks for out‑of‑state applicants, and outsourcing certain compliance reporting (ACA) as a cost of administration.
Commissioners and staff indicated they will finalize remaining Lexipole transitions and monitor the state sick-leave implementation timeline for policy adjustments and employee notifications.
