Comp-time change opposed by city employees

CLINTONVILLE – A number of employees of the city of Clintonville voiced their concerns about a proposed policy change that would eliminate the option of converting on-call hours in which the employee isn’t working to comp-time hours.
Their concerns were shared at the June 9 Clintonville Finance & Personnel Committee meeting. Under the proposed policy change, employees would still be able to convert hours worked while on-call into comp-time hours.

Finance meeting
At the finance committee meeting, a city employee told the committee that the comp-time benefit is the best benefit available to city employees. He said that employees use it in different ways.
“I think if we get rid of this, it’s like a step backwards to me,” the employee said. “We’ve always been a little bit lower in pay, but we’re close right now with everybody else. But once we get rid of that, that’s what’s holding people here, I believe. Our comp time has always been better than everyone else, but now it’s right in line with everyone else.”

Another city employee agreed. He said he has been with the city for almost 23 years, and the comp time benefit is one of the benefits that has kept employees from leaving the city.
“We’re very thankful that we did the wage study that brought us close, closer to what we were with comparables to the other people,” the employee said.
Another city employee said that employees were told the reason for the proposed change in comp time was needed because employees were abusing the policy. But she said all comp time was being approved by city supervisors.
Another city employee said, “I think this is a huge selling point that you’re taking away from future employees.”

Committee discussion

Leading off the committee discussion, Committee Chairman Greg Rose reminded the committee that the committee had unanimously recommended the comp-time policy change when it met the previous month. No city employees showed up at that meeting.
Rose said he thought miscommunication was responsible for the lack of city employees at the previous month’s meeting. This was due to the meeting notice not being sent to all city employees.
Under the city’s current comp-time policy, Rose verified that city employees can take their on-call time and either request to be paid for that time, or request to use the hours as comp time. Under the proposed policy change, city employees would be able to use comp time for only hours worked while on-call.
“I did do some digging into this, and what I found was, kind of like the city is almost short, understaffed because of the amount of vacation a few individuals use, so that winds up having to have the rest of them that are working to pick up the slack for others while they’re out.”
Rose added that time off of work is important, but the city “still has work that needs to be done.”
When comparing Clintonville’s comp-time policy with those of Shawano and New London, Rose said those cities don’t have available comp time like Clintonville does.
“So, that is a perk that you guys have,” Rose said.
Clintonville City Administrator Caz Muske said the city is proposing the elimination of city employees obtaining comp time for on-call hours in which the employee is not actually working. Employees would have to be paid out for the non-working on-call hours.
There are other forms of leave that employees could use for different situations that they are currently using comp time for, Muske said.
“A lot of these ideas or scenarios, we have leave time available,” Muske said.
Clintonville Utilities Manager Dave Tichinel told the committee that according to state guidelines, “it clearly states comp time is for any hours worked, it’s not for hours not worked.”
He added that the city’s comp-time policy does help retain employees, but said there is an issue of how much time an employee can have off.
“It does state in there [state guidelines] overtime is, you should have the flexibility to comp those hours or get paid out for those hours,” Tichinel said. “We’re not changing that. That’s going to be in effect, we’re not changing that at all. It’s the hours that you’re at home, you will be paid out and not allowed to comp. That’s the only difference in this policy.”
Committee member Aimee Ebert asked why the city would consider changing the policy for all employees if only a few employees are abusing the policy.
“We can’t have the policy for a few and not for everybody, right?” Rose said. “So, if it’s an issue for the few, it’s going to wind up affecting everybody.”
Ebert asked if shifts were not be covered and work not getting done.
“I was told that we are getting the work covered, but there’s more work that needs to be done,” Rose said.
When analyzing data, the city found that the amount of comp time being used was equal to the time one employee would work during a year.
“So, it’s like you are running your department short a person all the time, which makes everybody else work that much more,” Rose said.
Muske added that in the past, there has been “rhetoric from elected officials about hiring more people.”
“This kind of negates that thought,” Muske said. “If we literally have a person that’s gone the entire year, do we really need to hire people, or do we need to restructure our leave time?”
The committee did not make a recommendation, as the motion to recommend the proposed comp time policy change did not receive a second.

Common council
After some discussion at the June 10 Clintonville Common Council meeting, the council took no action on the proposed comp time change. Because of that, the city’s current comp time policy stays in effect.
Muske statement

In an interview with the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette after the council took no action on the proposed comp time change, Muske made the following statement, “We’re back to the drawing board with a couple of suggestions. But we do plan on presenting something else based on the recommendations that council had offered us. Internally, I think our department heads are going to take a look at their internal policies of approving and denying leave time. What does that look like, and can we do a better job of making sure that we’re being mindful of what’s going on and what not? I think that we have, but I think maybe we need to be a little bit stricter on the generosity that we have had.”
She said the issue will eventually go back to the finance and personnel committee, and then the council.