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Item No: 6 Meeting Date: May 2, 2011 Type of Business: Work Session City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Review Section 4 and Section 5 of the City’s Personnel Manual Introduction: At the December 13, 2010 City Council meeting, a suggestion was made to provide the Council with copies of personnel manual for review and discussion purposes, to ensure the policies continue to represent the goals of the City Council. Because the Personnel Manual is too large to effectively review and discuss in one meeting, Staff has been presenting the manual in logical sections. The first section, entitled “Workplace Issues”, was reviewed at the January 3, 2011 Work Session. The second section, “Attendance and Leaves”, was reviewed at the February 7, 2011 Work Session. The third section of the Personnel Manual entitled “Compensation and Benefits”, was reviewed at the March 7, 2011 Work Session. Sections 4 and 5, relating to “Separations” and “Definitions”, respectively, are attached presently for the Council’s review. Discussion: The policies within Section 4 include the following: • Section 4.01: Employee with Disabilities • Section 4.05: Discharge • Section 4.10: Insurance Continuation • Section 4.15: Layoff • Section 4.20: Reference Checks • Section 4.25: Resignation • Section 4.30: Retirement • Section 4.35: Termination and Separation Policies • Section 4.40: Unemployment Compensation Claims Staff is reviewing the language in Section 4.10 relating to the Federal and State “COBRA” laws to ensure consistency with same. While the last part of Section 4.10 indicates that any policy in conflict with Federal or State shall be superseded by the applicable Federal or State law, it would seem appropriate to correct for any conflicting language. Finance Director Beer, the City Attorney and I will prepare an appropriate amendment for subsequent Council action. Otherwise, only two revisions are shown in Section 4, both in Policy 4.35D relating to “Separation Compensation.” This policy details, in general, what is paid out at separation, not HOW the compensation is paid out. (The “HOW is addressed in Section 3.) An exception clause is needed in the Sick Leave Severance paragraph and language further in this policy is marked for deletion as it too is pre-empted by Section 3.45.