Committee advances amendments to personnel Rule 27 for exempt employees

The General Services Committee recommended approval of proposed amendments to Personal Rule 27, which governs FLSA-exempt employees.

Melissa Tossi, human resources director, outlined the package of changes: updating job titles (for example, assistant streets and engineering director and assistant water/wastewater director), adding the fire marshal and assistant fire chief positions to exempt classifications, removing an outdated residency rule that required certain employees to live within 20 minutes of city limits, and aligning vacation accrual so exempt employees earn 10 hours per month during years one through three to match negotiated changes for other staff. Tossi also explained that certain fire positions (not eligible for Social Security) receive employer contributions to a 401(k) in lieu of the 6.2% Social Security contribution and that on-call schedule pay applies to those roles.

A committee member asked whether the change to 10 hours was already negotiated; Tossi said the Lake City Employees Association approved an accrual change in recent negotiations and that council approval of the personnel rule amendment would implement that change for exempt employees. Committee members discussed equity of accruals and whether salary-savings rules under development would affect departments’ ability to use vacancy savings for capital needs. The committee moved and seconded a recommendation to the full council; the motion carried.