A county employee policy that was the center of a fiery debate at an earlier meeting was discussed in earnest by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners at its Aug. 27 meeting but the split configuration of the board reared its ugly head again.
Chairman Charles Oddo made a recommendation to authorize county administrator Steve Rapson to allow individual department heads to reduce to minimal staffing beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, in advance of the Labor Day holiday. Fellow commissioner David Barlow agreed with the idea; Steve Brown and Randy Ognio did not.
Brown had brought this topic up at a previous meeting but said at the time he was not concerned with the policy itself as much as the idea of Rapson making such decisions without board approval.
Rapson summarized the issue much as he had in the past, calling it a “soft” closing where only certain employees leave, as opposed to other municipalities that close all of their offices at such times. He said it was helpful to the morale of county employees and that department heads, including himself, rarely if ever take advantage of it. No county service is hindered by the practice, he added.
Ognio said he was concerned about taxpayer money going to pay for a lack of work and that not every employee can benefit. He added that his small business background tells him to give eight hours pay for eight hours work.
Brown said the process needs to be improved. If department heads and chiefs are choosing who can get this benefit, the selection process needs to be nailed down and subjectivity should be taken out of it, he said, adding that during his time on the board he has voted to settle millions of dollars in lawsuits due to things not being done properly.
“This is also part of the board’s fiduciary responsibility and should be part of the budget process,” he said.
Barlow called the move “the right thing to do,” saying that Rapson has saved the county millions of dollars since he has been county administrator. Oddo noted that some things can certainly be delegated to department heads and everything can’t be decided by the commissioners directly.
Brown countered that this particular initiative was never delegated formally in a board meeting and there is no way to designate which employee should get this. “If there are no rules and regulations in place there will always be abuse,” he said.
Rapson said it was delegated by the board in 2013 although Brown was on the other side of that vote. He added that there are performance evaluations to help determine which employees are deserving and there have not been a large group of employees suing the county.
“This is a board action,” said Rapson of this particular agenda item. “This is not to delegate it back to me. I’m out of this. It is a distraction. The health of this county is my primary responsibility.”
Barlow made a motion to approve the measure and Oddo seconded. It failed due to a 2-2 vote.
