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Commission Minutes—December 19, 2022 5679 <br />and modifies the effective term to begin on January 1, 2023 and end on <br />December 31, 2023. On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously. <br />11. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, Request to payout annual leave approved <br />County Director of Information Technology, Bob Henderson was present and said he is requesting a <br />payout of annual leave for hours accrued over 240 hours as allowed in the Cass County Employee <br />Handbook, Policy 303. The policy requires all employees to use all annual leave over 240 hours by <br />January 15th of each year and in rare and extenuating circumstances, with the approval of the <br />Department Head and County Commission, an employee may be paid off for annual leave above <br />240 hours. Mr. Henderson said Tami Hansen has 29 hours of annual leave she will be unable to use <br />before January 15, 2023. He said the reason she cannot use her annual leave is due to the <br />additional work and tight timelines with the implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics system and <br />the 2022 elections. He said Ms. Hansen does not have a back up person to perform her duties when <br />she is gone and therefore it is difficult to have her out of the office for long periods. <br />Mr. Peterson said he believes the annual leave payout should be used when Department Heads <br />deny time off requests. He said he struggles to support the payout request, however, would be in <br />favor of granting a 90-day extension which is also allowed under policy 303. Mr. Peterson said staff <br />need to take annual leave for their health and well-being and he does not want the payout to set <br />precedent. Mr. Henderson said it would be difficult for Ms. Hansen to take the time during the <br />extension period as Microsoft Dynamics is planned to go live in April and Ms. Hanson is essential to <br />work being completed leading up and during the go live activities. <br />Mr. Grindberg asked how often annual leave exemptions are requested. County Human Resource <br />Director/ Assistant County Administrator, Tracy Peters was present and said last year six people <br />were paid out for annual leave. She said last year nine employees lost annual leave for a total of 233 <br />hours. She said the annual leave not taken by employees over 240 hours goes into a donated leave <br />bank. Ms. Peters said she ran figures and 51 employees are currently over 240 house and <br />approximately half of them have less than 20 hours and will likely be using them over the next few <br />weeks. Ms. Peters said Policy 303 states that the extension of annual leave hours is in cases of <br />extreme hardship or emergency and the payout is for rare and extenuating circumstances. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mr. Grindberg seconded to approve the annual leave <br />payout request for Tami Hansen for annual leave hours accrued over 240. On <br />roll call vote, the motion carried with Mr. Grindberg, Mr. Breitling, and Mr. <br />Kapitan voting "yes" and Mr. Peterson voting "no". <br />12. SHERIFF'S OFFICE, Request to payout annual leave approved <br />County Sheriff Jesse Jahner was present and said he is requesting a payout of annual leave hours <br />accrued over 240 hours as allowed in the Cass County Employee Handbook, Policy 303. He said he <br />is making the request for Sergeant Kale Peterson, Deputy Vice Smith, and Sergeant Kris Kevorkain. <br />Mr. Jahner said the Jail is down 20 positions and the three staff listed volunteer to pick up shifts and <br />work overtime to keep the Jail running adequately. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Kapitan moved and Mr. Grindberg seconded to approve the annual leave <br />payout request for Sergeant Kale Peterson, Deputy Vice Smith, and Sergeant <br />Kris Kevorkain for annual leave hours accrued over 240. On roll call vote, the <br />motion carried unanimously. <br />Mr. Peterson said the Board should discuss when the annual leave payouts will take place. <br />Employees have until January 15th to use all annual leave over 240 hours. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mr. Kapitan seconded to approve the payout for IT and <br />Sheriff's Office Staff after January 15, 2023 per Employee Handbook Policy 303. <br />On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.