The Shawano County Administrative Committee might try to improve the latest draft of the employee handbook instead of going to an earlier version so it can pass the County Board on Nov. 20.
Some employees have suggested the county should return to the draft created by the Transition Committee rather than try to fix the most recent version, which some say is not employee friendly.
But a motion to have the Transition Committee’s handbook be the template was voted down 3-2, with supervisors Kathy Luebke and William Switalla in favor, and Gene Hoppe, Deb Noffke and Jerry Erdmann opposed.
The supervisors against the motion said it would be better for the committee to consult with Dan Borowski, one of the Madison attorneys who is working with the county on the handbook, before deciding which version to submit to the board.
Without changes, the latest draft cannot be brought back for consideration because it failed to pass the board, on a 12-12 stalemate, in August. Board rules require that a significant amount of time must pass before it could be reconsidered, unless it has been significantly altered.
Department heads expressed concern that the current draft left out some employee perks — such as on-call pay and clothing allowances — that, if not addressed in the handbook, could be eliminated.
“There are still multiple issues out there that are not in the handbook,” said Steve Dreher, maintenance director. “If it’s not in the book, my only assumption is it no longer exists.”
Rick Kane, social services director and a member of the Transition Committee, said that much of what his committee worked on was lost after Borowski and Andy Phillips, another attorney with Madison-based Phillips Borowski, reviewed the document for legal issues.
Luebke questioned why the county was still looking to the outside attorneys to help when the existing staff was just as capable.
“We have people in place that I believe can do some of the work here,” Luebke said.
County employee Nina Kunschke, who will retire at the end of October, told the committee that morale was low among county staffers, and the latest draft of the handbook brought it down even further. She said that part of the reason she is retiring now instead of later is mainly because of the uncertainty county employees feel about their work.
“The people that work here are taxpayers in Shawano County. I’m a taxpayer in Shawano County, and when I leave here, I’m still going to be a taxpayer,” Kunschke said. “I want to be able to support my county, but as things stand now, I can’t.”
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