VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 5, 2019
CALL TO ORDER
Trustee Guethle called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Carroll, Mayor Dale Berman, Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of the Operations Committee Meeting Minutes of dated May 6, 2019
Motion for approval made by Trustee Carroll and seconded by Trustee Curtis. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Human Resource Manual Update
The state recently implemented GATA (Grant Accountability and Transparency Act) which requires significant new financial and other reporting, especially in relation to grants and grant related expenditures. There are three changes that were made to the HR Manual:
1. Addition of section regarding “Reporting of Fraud, Theft and Unlawful or Unethical Activities” – This allows employees to report fraud, waste, abuse, or other illegal or unethical activities.
2. Increase in the amount of vacation time a non-union employee can elect to “buy back” or “cash out” annually – This policy change would increase the number of buy back hours from 40 hours to 60 hours. The committee had no issues with this update.
3. Increase in the maximum number of sick leave hours – The proposed change would increase the maximum accrual for non-union employees to 720 hours a year from 480 hours.
Bosco said he would be happy to bring more information back to the board regarding what surrounding communities are doing regarding maximum sick leave hours.
Trustee Carroll said his issue is that we are a public entity and we pay our employees on a mid to higher scale in order to stay competitive. Our pay scale is already competitive and so are our benefits. Carroll said he didn’t want to get to a point where we are so much better than the private sector that we are being questioned by the voters.
Trustee Guethle asked what unit this change affects. Finance Director Bill Hannah said the proposed changes cover non-union employees (village hall staff, department heads, a couple of
the superintendents of water and streets and a couple of the record clerks at the Police Department).
Trustee Guethle said this is not an issue for him since the money is already allocated in the budget.
Bosco said that we are one of a few communities that do not pay out sick time so this is more about having time on the books.
The committee was in favor of the first two items. Item three to be brought before the village board for further discussion.
OLD BUSINESS – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Carroll and seconded by Trustee Guethle. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
