Personnel committee asks council to repeal 2021 recruitment and retention tool policy

The Franklin City Personnel Committee on an unspecified 2026 date voted to ask the common council to repeal the city’s 2021 employee recruitment and retention tool policy after members said it had become a source of confusion and conflict.

The committee’s discussion, led by the director of administration, described the policy as ambiguous about eligibility and amounts and as having generated perceptions of unfairness among staff. "It creates significant perception concerns...favoritism," the director said, noting the policy’s open-ended language about which positions qualify and how payouts are determined. Committee members cited repeated employee complaints about denied payments and inconsistent administration of the policy.

Committee members reviewed how the policy allowed up to $2,500 in payouts in some cases for retention or referral. The director said the policy had not been integrated into the employee handbook and that the administration had not maintained a schedule to administer bonuses as promised when the policy was approved in 2021.

Mayor (speaking during the item) said he agreed with the director of administration’s assessment that the policy caused confusion and that removing it would be supported by administration. Committee members asked whether scrapping the policy would affect sign-on bonuses; the director said sign-on bonuses are a separate matter and would not be affected.

A motion "to ask council to repeal the employee recruitment and retention tool policy" was moved and seconded; the committee voted and the motion passed (one member recorded as opposed). The committee did not record detailed roll-call vote tallies in the transcript.

The committee’s action is advisory to the common council; if the council approves repeal, the administration indicated it could propose a better-defined referral or recruitment program in the future with clear eligibility and limits. The personnel committee directed that any replacement program be written with objective criteria and administration processes before returning to the council.

Next steps: the committee forwarded its request to the common council for consideration and possible repeal. The committee also discussed the possibility of drafting a narrower referral program in the future that includes defined limits and criteria.