Council adopts guidelines regarding COVID-19

Albany City Council joined other Kentucky cities across the state in adopting guidelines for employees who may become affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The council, at a special call meeting last Tuesday, April 28, approved a “Municipal Order Providing for Leave” under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which has been signed into law by the President.

All council members were present for the meeting and unanimously approved the resolution presented by Albany Mayor Lyle Pierce.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is designed to assist with the impact COVID-19 has on employees who may be eligible for additional leave under the law. To comply with the temporary leave requirements, the city is thus altering its leave policies for city employees.

The order reads, for the most part:

1. Pursuant to the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, all employees are eligible for two weeks of paid leave at their regular rate of pay for the following reasons. Eligible full-time employees will receive pay based on the average number of hours worked over the last six months. The Act allows the employers to exclude healthcare providers and emergency responders for the definition of employees who are allowed to take such leave. Eligible part-time employees will receive pay based on the average number of hours worked over the last six months. The Act allows the employers to exclude healthcare providers and emergency responders from the definition of employees who are allowed to take such leave.

a. Subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.

b. Advised by a healthcare provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns.

c. Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking medical diagnosis.

d. Caring for an individual subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order or advised by a healthcare provider of self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns (caring for another who is subject to an isolation order or advised to self-quarantine as described above is not limited to only family members).

e. Caring for the employee’s child if the child’s school or place of care is closed or the child’s care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions.

f. Experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor.

2. Pursuant to the Emergency Family Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA), an employee that has been employed for thirty (30) days or more is eligible for up to twelve (12) weeks of job-protected leave to allow the employee, who is unable to work or telework, to care for the employee’s child (under 18 years of age) if the child’s school or place of care is closed or the childcare provider is unavailable due to a public health emergency. The Act allows the employers to exclude healthcare providers and emergency responders from the definition of employees who are allowed to take such leave.

a. The first 10 days of EFMLEA-qualified leave are unpaid. An employee may either be eligible for Emergency Paid Sick Leave as outlined…or may take other paid leave concurrently with the EFMLEA.

b. Beginning the third week of EFMLEA, an eligible employee shall be paid according to the following:

* Full-time employees at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate for the number of hours the employee would otherwise be normally scheduled. The EFMLEA limits this pay entitlement to $200 per day and $10,000 in the aggregate per employee.

* Employees who work a part-time or irregular schedule are entitled to be paid based on the average number of hours the employee worked for the six months prior to taking Emergency FMLA. Employees who have worked for less than six months prior to leave are entitled to the employee’s reasonable expectation at hiring of the average number of hours the employee would normally be scheduled to work. (Example: An employee that works 30 hours per week will be paid at the rate of two-thirds that amount or 20 hours per week.)

c. The City’s FMLA leave is otherwise unchanged and employees are not eligible for FMLA leave except as outlined under the EFMLEA.

3. The executive authority shall determine which employees are eligible for continued work or telework based on the needs and capacity of the city and all other employee manual rules shall remain in force.

The document also notes the Order will terminate at the expiration of the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act currently set for December 31.

The council also discussed at length issues pertaining to the water and sewer departments, and associated financial aspects involved, with various department heads who were present for the Facebook streamed session.

A separate article on those issues can be found in the NEWS this week.

Also, the council held its regular monthly meeting this past Tuesday evening, May 5 (too late for press deadline.) Details on that meeting will be published in next week’s Clinton County News.

Council

discusses

financial needs, concerns for water, sewer departments at special meeting

Albany City Council met in a special session last Tuesday, April 28, at city hall with all members, as well as department heads, on hand.

The meeting was the first council session held since early March and, like other public meetings being held at this point, was streamed live on the city’s recently set up Facebook page.

Council members first reviewed and approved a Municipal Order pertaining to the federally mandated Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which deals with sick leave pay to employees who may be affected by or have families affected by, the COVID-19. (A separate article on that order appears elsewhere this week.)

The council spent the vast majority of the over one-hour long meeting discussing issues related to the water and sewer departments and plants, primarily the need for equipment and funding.

Although all council members agreed the departments needed help in both areas, there were some disagreements on how to handle the problem and the time line in doing so.

The cost of water department calls and supplies was first discussed by the council.

There was a question of whether, if a meter burst that is not on city property, should there be a fee charged, with councilman Reed Sloan advocating at least a $50 service fee, plus the $69.50 cost of the meter box.

It was estimated there were up to 40 such broken boxes the city had to deal with. “We would still be helping people but taking care of ourselves,” stated Sloan.

Water department distribution supervisor Kenneth Delk suggested that when customers call city hall, they could be advised of the fee. He also stated that Albany supplies regulators, which is not mandatory for water systems to do, but has been a common practice.

Delk said most other cities did not supply the regulators. Councilman Tony Delk questioned why other cities didn’t, with Kenneth Delk noting many regulators in some areas are included on the water lines.

Councilwoman Tonya Thrasher also questioned if there would be an issue charging people for the cost of the meter boxes if they were owned by the city.

Most council members agreed that a box damaged by the homeowner themselves should be paid for by the homeowner.

Councilman Delk also suggested the council should make a list of costs and needs the water department incurs to enable them (council) to know what can be done. Thrasher agreed, suggesting that a price sheet of some type be put together and presented to the council.

The lengthy discussion on that particular item ended when Kenneth Delk noted there would not be any new meter boxes set over the next week.

Eric Smith, supervisor at the sewer plant, then briefly addressed the governing body with concerns primarily regarding the need for updated equipment to operate the plant safely and effectively.

Smith told the council that maintaining the treatment plant was very expensive and even the newest equipment currently at the facility is about 13 years old.

He said equipment costs were in the thousands of dollars and they have spent over $20,000 in just the last week and a-half alone, saying it was hard to find people who could work on the sewer plant equipment.

“I am asking for higher water and sewer rates (to maintain the upkeep of the plant) or we are going to run into compliance problems,” Smith said.

Even with the current financial condition of the nation and state, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic going on, councilwoman Thrasher again suggested all department heads put in writing everything they need and maybe the city could find the right people (in Frankfort) to help with some funding.

Jeff Conner, water department supervisor, said it was a major cost to the city to operate the water and sewer departments. He noted his department was trying to find ways to cut costs, including working with a new chemical company that supplies chemicals to treat water at a lower rate.

Conner went on to note the water plant had an estimated $2.7 million in equipment cost needs and said the lagoons were also a pressing problem. “It is very labor intensive,” he said.

Mayor Lyle Pierce said the city was working on a grant to help with problems at the water plant, but there are no guarantees of funding at this point.

The water plant has three new pumps. The plant is capable of producing five million gallons of water per day, but Conner said it is already pumping between 4.5 and 4.7 million average per day.

The total discussion on the water and sewer department issues lasted about 50 minutes, with the council then dealing with some other issues.

Thrasher said, “There is a lot of things that need to be taken care of, the audit report, and other problems. We’re barely scraping by.”

City Clerk/Treasurer Melissa Smith had also presented council members with a listing of the city’s major expenses that have to be paid monthly, such as electricity, employee retirement and health insurance, the latter which is expected to increase in the coming year.

It was also noted that last year’s audit report still had not been presented to the city, despite numerous communications with their new auditors, which concerns council members.

Councilman Delk also stated, “We can’t ask department heads to do something without the equipment they need to do it with. There is a lot of things broken in every department that needs to be fixed.”

In other notes:

Mayor Pierce also pointed out the need for a guardrail to be installed in an area on Allen Street; the credit and debit card machine for drop-off bill paying is now up and running; and the city has created its own Facebook page.

The council verbally agreed to ask department heads to submit a list of equipment needs and cost estimates, hopefully by early May.

City council held its regular monthly meeting this past Tuesday, May 5, at city hall (too late for press deadline) with details on that session to be published next week.