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Parker council reviews rewritten personnel manual, asks for clearer language on nepotism, drug testing and leave donations
Summary
At a June 16 workshop the Parker City Council walked through a clean copy of a revised personnel manual and directed city attorney and staff to redraft sections on nepotism, mandatory reporting, drug testing and leave‑donation safeguards before the next workshop.
Mayor called a June 16 workshop session to order and turned the floor over to City Attorney Catherine Clifton, who said she had provided the council a clean copy of a revised personnel manual and invited line‑by‑line feedback.
The council focused on several sections that members said need clearer drafting. One council member raised an objection to a proposed nepotism clause that would bar relatives of council members from city employment and asked whether the city should force an existing employee to quit if a relative later wins election. City Attorney Catherine Clifton, citing state law, said the council should align the manual with Texas Government Code chapter 573 and avoid an absolute bar that could be unnecessarily restrictive: “The state law has a provision for when those relationships are created after the employee is employed — they just can’t report to one another,” she said.
Council members also asked staff to standardize titles and points of contact in the manual. Several passages refer interchangeably to a human‑resources manager, director or city administrator; one member said those references should identify the specific office or position that retains reporting responsibility.
On drug testing, a council member warned the manual’s language about “unauthorized drugs” could be read to include some forms of THC that are legal under state law, and urged the city to clarify whether the policy targets impairment or any positive test. Another member responded that intoxication standards remain enforceable regardless of legalization, while staff agreed to clarify the drafting.
Leave donation drew sustained concern. As written, the manual allows employees to donate vacation hours to coworkers with serious medical needs with no explicit supervisor approval or caps; council members said that could create favoritism and budget unpredictability. Staff agreed to draft guardrails, such as a cap and an approval process, and to return with proposed language.
Other topics flagged for revision included the length and purpose of unpaid suspension (members debated reducing a 10‑day maximum), the appeals pathway for disciplinary actions (several members suggested routing appeals outside the immediate chain of supervision), cellphone and acceptable‑use language, and a designated public‑information officer or authorized designees for media inquiries.
Clifton said she and staff would prepare a redlined copy incorporating council direction and return the manual to the next workshop. The session closed at 6:56 p.m.; the regular council meeting convened at 7:00 p.m.
