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Park board approves consolidated employee handbook with proration proviso
Summary
The Michigan City Parks and Recreation Board approved a citywide employee handbook developed by a cross-department committee, agreeing to adopt it pending a clarifying addition that specifies the personal-time proration schedule for hires during the year.
The Michigan City Parks and Recreation Board on Aug. 5 approved a consolidated employee handbook that the city developed over the past year with representatives from multiple departments.
Superintendent Deachem said the handbook is the "final product" of a committee effort and that he had "reviewed it all, and it looks fine to me." Board members raised questions about how three previously separate policies (holidays, sick leave, personal days) are carried into the consolidated handbook and asked staff to make a specific proration schedule explicit in the document. Member Espar moved to approve the handbook "with the provision that the proration for personal time be specifically outlined by when the employee was hired," and the motion passed unanimously.
The board discussed sick-leave payout rules during the debate: members referenced past policy language that allowed employees meeting the "85 rule" to be paid up to 40 days of unused sick leave, while the new handbook language reflects lower or different caps (one board member read figures of 36 and 10 days in different contexts). Staff said the city's retirement and payout rules follow the "85 rule" for full payout eligibility and that human resources and the mayor's office negotiated the handbook language. The board asked staff to return with explicit proration language (for hires between January–April, May–August, etc.) so departments apply the same schedule.
The board's vote approved the handbook while directing staff to work with HR on the requested clarifying language and to route any additional revisions through the other municipal boards that previously reviewed the draft.
