Borough Council

MINUTES Stroudsburg Borough Council Meeting Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. 1. Call Meeting to Order/Roll Call - Present were Council Members Joanne Kochanski, Council Vice President James Smith, Council Member Boyd Weiss, Mayor Probst, Council President Ken Lang, Borough Manager Brian Bond, Council Member Matt Abell and Council Member Patrick Maurath. Absent were Solicitor Joseph McDonald and Council Member Mark Connors. A Quorum was present. Ms. Mary Pat Quinn advises the legal notice was published in the Pocono Record. 2. Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Discussion of Personnel Manual Amendments as proposed by the Personnel Committee. Mr. Lang advised recommendations were made by the Personnel Committee at the last Borough Meeting. Ms. Kochanski advises the recommendations were not unanimous. Per Mr. Lang here is a list from Council on items to be fixed:  Mr. Maurath – no comment  Mr. Abell – Would like changes with the buyback, accruals and carryover as it’s a burden to the Borough.  Mr. Lang – Concerned with language of Health Care paying until the age of 65.Attorney McDonald will define “retirement”.  Mr. Weiss – Does not feel anything is wrong. I have not heard any employees are abusing the policy. Dedicated employees come to work and do their job. I would like to see changes in increases.  Ms. Kochanski – The policy needs some minor changes. Present employees should be grandfathered in.  Mayor Probst – Agree with Mr. Weiss, only looking for additions not removals. Mr. Bond advised the following for councils concerns: To fix the buyback – currently union employees are not allowed to bank. The buyback is provided at the end of the year instead of the end of employment. Mr. Abell is OK with this. Healthcare to age of 65 – This is only for employees hired prior to January 1, 2015. There are 2 non-union employees who qualify. Attorney McDonald will define “retirement”. Ms. Kochanski would like to look into sick days VS personal days and investigate having all PTO days. Mr. Lang advised to discuss with the Committee. Mr. Smith asks why employees cannot bank sick time to use for the un-expected as a long term illness. Mr. Bond advises FMLA would apply. The Borough currently pays 8 full time weeks and 12 weeks at 50%. Mayor Probst advises in the corporate world most employees receive 3-6 sick days. If not used they are banked. If sick time is used over 3 days at once the person would go onto a short-term disability plan. Mr. Lang advises Mr. Bond should provide 2 best practices. Give the team sick days as agreed and pay out yearly. Give the team sick days as PTO days instead. Will discuss with the Labor Attorneys. Mr. Bond advises with FMLA, vacation and sick days would be applied first, then the Borough would pay the difference. Based on Mr. Smith’s proposal, Mr. Bond will write a policy for sick time/sick leave with 30 days of sick time, banking up to 240 hours, with a yearly buyback at 75%. Everything on the books over 240 hours. Motion by Ms. Kochanski to bank current sick days but what’s already accrued not more than 30 days or 240 hours up to the new policy, second by Mr. Smith. Need to use time from old sick days first then new days. Mr. Smith advises this should be used for all new employees. Motion dies. Motion by Mr. Smith to have a policy for employees up to 400 hours sick time, anything over 400 hours would pay out at the end of the year, existing employs would cap at 400 hours, new employees would cap at 240 hours, second by Mr. Weiss. All in favor, Motion carries. Mr. Bond will email employee sick time hours to council, re-do the policy leaving open max existing current hours and cap 240 hours for new employees. Mr. Abell would like to discuss Mr. Connors suggestions on increasing the threshold of comp time. For salaried employees no comp time until you have worked 50 hours instead of 40 hours. Carryover at 60 hours per quarter and carry over no more than 40 hours per quarter. Ms. Kochanski doesn’t feel we should touch comp time. Mr. Weiss and Mr. Abell agree. Mayor Probst in the future would like to see a non-compete clause. Mr. Bond will look into. 4. Adjournment. Motion to adjourn at 6:38pm Mr. Smith, second by Mr. Weiss. All in favor, Motion Carries.