03-30-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO EMERGENCY CITY COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:30 o'clock p.m. Crosby said when someone in the City does something well such as a City employee, the Police Department, or the Long Lake Fire Department, he uses the tagline "Orono Proud." He asked the citizens to make Orono proud by helping out neighbors, being good neighbors, adding that everyone will get through this. Rief reviewed the City of Orono COVID-19 Leave Plan. He noted the City will implement a flexible leave and scheduling policy for the duration of this emergency. The City may need to make modifications as time goes on because the full extent of the emergency is unknown. It is the City's plan to be flexible, still meet all City service needs, but also ensure that all employees are taken care of as well. Rief noted the highlights: employees will be allowed to earn vacation, sick, or compensatory time above the current allowed limits; if an employee or their direct family member is exposed to COVID-19 and are required to stay home or sent home for health, welfare, and safety of other employees and residents for a minimum of 14 days, a doctor's note may be required to allow the employee to return to work; if an employee is currently ill, they are required to stay home or be sent home; an employee who is currently sick may return to work after exhibiting no symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat for 24 hours without the aid of cough suppressants, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or other designated drug as authorized by their doctor; for employees that do not have enough sick, vacation, or compensatory time available, they will be allowed to maintain a negative balance up to 80 hours, which may be earned back through future accrual of leave time; an employee can also choose to take this time unpaid; for Staff working around daycare and dual working households that need to accommodate school-age dependents' needs during closures, individual staffing plans may be flexible to ensure 40 hours of work is met and the needs of the dependents are also able to be met. Walsh noted the City has great employees and the City Council's commitment is to take care of them. The City will stay fully staffed whether the City shuts down or not, and everyone will be taken care of. Seals left the meeting. Crosby moved, Printup seconded, to adopt the City of Orono COVID-19 Leave Plan. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. Rief stated there is some guidance coming from the Governor that if it is determined an employee contracted COVID-19 in the line of work, they are entitled to workers' compensation. The City will follow the guidelines in the workers' compensation policy. There is legislation at the Federal level relating to unemployment, etc. If the City had to shut down and the Governor ordered there to be no more work, some of those things might be instituted. As directives come in, the website will be updated. He plans to update the Council, at a minimum, at the end of every day; if things change overnight, he may update them in the morning as well. Walsh and Councilmembers thanked Rief for his help and hard work. Rief said they are working on figuring out how to have remote meetings for the City Council, including taking public comment. Walsh expressed his desire to have the meetings in-person if possible. Printup stated the remote meetings/having the public call in would only be during an Emergency Declaration. Page 7 of 8