Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors warn rising comp-time and low safety meeting attendance could raise county insurance costs
Summary
Supervisors flagged accumulated comp time, sick and vacation liabilities and poor safety-meeting attendance as a financial and risk concern; board members asked staff to consult auditors and potentially require payouts or stricter enforcement.
Crawford County supervisors used their May 19 meeting to spotlight growing personnel liabilities — large accrued comp-time balances and inconsistent safety-meeting attendance — and warned those trends could increase the county's insurance premiums or risk cancellation.
The chair (S1) led a lengthy discussion after the clerk presented a report showing total accrued comp time, vacation and sick-time balances across county departments. Supervisors described several causes: special elections and emergency overtime for secondary roads and sheriff's calls, staffing shortages that make use of comp time difficult, and inconsistent enforcement of existing policies.
Why it matters: supervisors said the county’s insurer views low safety-meeting participation as a red flag. "We need to have at least a 90% attendance rate," S1 said, arguing the county risks being dropped or facing higher premiums if claims remain concentrated in specific departments. S4 confirmed that 90% attendance and documented incident reviews would better position the county with carriers.
Board members proposed options including requiring comp-time payouts at fiscal year-end, capping carryover, stronger department-head enforcement and consulting other auditors for best practices. Supervisors agreed to request more detailed comp-time-only reports and to seek counsel from outside auditors and HR (Chelsea) before adopting formal policy changes.
Next steps: S1 asked the clerk to gather examples and the auditor to research how other counties manage large comp-time balances; the board flagged the issue for follow-up at an upcoming budget-amendment meeting and asked department heads to prioritize using accrued time where feasible.
Attribution: Quotes and the comp-time figures are taken from the clerk’s report and supervisors’ discussion; specific personnel cases were discussed in general terms and no individual employee names were published in the meeting record.
