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City Council Minutes Page 9 <br />December 21, 2020 <br />----------------------------- <br />burden on the taxpayers. She added multiple times since she has been on the Council <br />staff has requested extensions to carry over excess leave and questioned why we <br />would consider providing more vacation at the beginning if using it is a problem. Mr. <br />Portner indicated he would propose starting new employees at a higher accrual rate <br />but lowering the amount they can carryover. He noted this would not apply to <br />current employees. <br /> <br />Council discussed an acceptable cap for new employees. The Council was interested <br />in seeing vacation for new hires capped at 80 or 120 hours. <br /> <br />Ms. Wipper indicated an employee used to be allowed to carryover the amount they <br />earned in a year, but it was changed to 240 hours a few years ago but she’s not sure <br />of the reason. <br /> <br />Councilmember-elect Beyer commented that receiving 15 days upon employment is <br />a heck of a starting vacation compared to corporate America. <br /> <br />Ms. Wipper stated some city benefits are different than the private sector because <br />cities cannot provide bonuses. <br /> <br />Council consensus was for staff to draft new vacation language and bring it back. <br />Council was interested in reducing the carry over balance for sure. <br /> <br />Mr. Portner indicated he would like to change the sick leave donation policy. Current <br />policy requires an employee to donate an equal amount of sick and vacation time up <br />to 16 hours. He would propose allowing employees with sick leave balances under <br />960 hours to donate up to 16 hours of solely sick time and require employees with a <br />sick leave balance of over 960 hours to donate equal shares of sick and vacation up <br />to 16 hours. The Council concurred. <br /> <br />The council discussed a Parental Leave Policy and asked to have a draft policy <br />prepared to discuss further. <br /> <br />10. Adjournment <br /> <br />There being no further business, Mayor Dietz adjourned the meeting of the Elk <br />River City Council at 9:57 p.m. <br /> <br />Minutes prepared by Jessica Miller. <br /> <br /> <br />___________________ <br />John J. Dietz, Mayor <br /> <br /> <br />___________________ <br />Tina Allard, City Clerk <br /> <br />