Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 20, 2010,
Item 6
6. Consider and take appropriate action on revisions to the following chapters of the travis county code regarding human resources management policies: for county -- i think if we take some time and lay out these provision, maybe act on them next week. Okay. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> i'm tracy callaway, interim h.r. Director. And i have with me dana hess, as well as dan mansewer. We have mansour. We have before you to consider chapter 9, as well as chapter 15, a little bit of history on how this came about. We received a request from our county attorney's office to -- to look at the revisions to the discrimination harassment and retaliation policy currently at the county. We begin the review of that and under the direction to bring an entire chapter to court, instead of sections of those chapters, we then begin a review of the other -- of the contents of chapter 9, which also included drug and alcohol abuse. At that time, it seemed appropriate that -- that since we were working on chapter 15 already, to move a piece of chapter 9 related to drug and alcohol abuse into chapter 15. To bring -- to bring to commissioners court. We have a backup regarding these particular revisions, unfortunately we were unable to provide red lined copies due to multiple revision, second looks, revisions of those, we have worked very closely with the county attorney's office including employment attorneys as well as barbara wilson, insight from t.n.r., our risk management department, as well as employee relations there in hrmd.
>> so we believe that the recommended changes are not significant. We -- we have left intact pretty much all of the essence of policies before this?
>> yes.
>> is this more cleanup work than anything else?
>> a lot of it is -- a lot of it is, so say, for example, formatting. We looked at -- at making the language a little bit more user friendly for a broader employee base as well. We looked at some of the organizations so that it's -- it's read with a clear understanding of certain areas. We've also consolidated areas that -- that may fall better under discipline. For example, our cell phone policy, if we felt like something in 39, chapter 39 cell phone would lay out better with -- with our performance evaluation or corrective action, we included that they are -- that there. So yes a lot of it is verbiage, layout, type setting as well. As well as clarifying the -- the involvement with our elected officials and the requests for them to -- to let hrmd know specifically who the appeals process will be. So i probably would say about 80% of it is more cleanup, clarification, layout, complying with the law. As it already exists right now.
>> what's it is other 20%.
>> the other 20% is just looking at some of our practices and procedures that may be outdated already. If it refers to a specific form to use, we no longer use that form, we remove that. We also -- we looked at that as well. Then i will let dan talk, too, if there's some 20% within the alcohol and drug part.
>> good morning, judge, commissioners. Chapter 15, drug and alcohol policy, has two subchapters. Subchapter a applies to those departments that report to the commissioners court and those appointed and elected officials, pardon me, who adopt the -- the policy to operate under. It includes things such as random drug testing for suspicion behavior -- suspicious behavior, we have clarified from of the process -- some of the processes that are involved in that so it's more easily understood by the department, subchapter b is actually a -- a part of the drug and alcohol testing under the department of transportation and federal aviation agency, more sensitive positions. And it's chapter 49 of the certified federal register that governs how the drug and alcohol testing program works for d.o.t., that's commercial driver's license holders and the f.a.a., which falls under -- under -- which star flight falls under. So the revisions were really more of a clarification, in some cases there was a couple of errors in our chapter that we needed to have corrected. So it's a lot of cleanup.
>> so that's basically -- a -- it fills up with existing policy from those particular agencies, those federal agencies? In other words, they have on the books there drug and alcohol policy. So are we -- are we taking bits and pieces or -- or are we using a similar model under those particular federal agencies, to -- to reflect what they are saying as far as what their policy is and what we are doing here?
>> we're -- we're coming into compliance with the 49 cfr rules.
>> so it's -- we are coming into compliance with it. So the cleanup work will actually be compliance to existing -- policy, under f.a.a. And
>> [indiscernible]
>> yes.
>> that's what we are doing.
>> under their rules and regulations.
>> under their rules and regs. Okay. Let me ask this question then, has there been anyone else, county government, that's doing similar as we are proceeding through h.r., this morning, are there any similar attempts from any other commissioners court following the same type of process or procedures, as far as what we are doing here today? Do we know of any?
>> there are -- there are other public entities who have commercial driver's license holders that for instance the -- the department of transportation has a policy that -- that follows the 49 cfr.
>> okay.
>> for dot regulations.
>> okay.
>> so there are other entities that have these policies.
>> right. So -- so i guess my next question then would be since it would be something that we will be embracing in the future, will that be actually in -- what -- i guess an advantage to the person that -- that are here and want to understand exactly what this is all about, will it be laid out in some type of -- friendly language type interpretation? Where it could be readily understood under the new -- if it comes up under the new type of setting as far as not mimicking, but actually using some of the terms and conditions under those particular federal policies?
>> i think the -- that was one of the purposes to make it more user friendly and easier to read. So i think the chapter is fairly clear --
>> fairly clear.
>> but certainly if there's questions that a commercial driver's license holder has that's going to fill a position with the county, i think they are aware that there's preemployment testing subject to random testing. There's post action testing rules. And they are set out pretty clearly in the chapter now.
>> okay.
>> another thing with that particular chapter, it actually gives the processes and procedures so that everyone throughout the county is using them appropriately and effectively.
>> okay.
>> as well. So it is user friendly. Again, we have revisited the language. The layout, if we felt like it made sense for some of the ideas, even say, for example, in chapter 9 to be introduced earlier, we were very strategic about where we placed definitions. So when people read, they had a clearer understanding of what the word actually means, what -- what the word actually meant.
>> right. Okay.
>> mr. Reeferseed, you have something relevant to 6 a and b?
>> only i'm -- of course in favor of these improvements and i'm sure you all are doing a great job sorting through it all. I'm just expressing my -- my opinion as a citizen that we have a lot more efficient use of our resources if we concentrate on real problems of drug usage, meaning alcohol, and abuse and -- and get off the -- leave the -- cancel the war on pot smokers, generally speaking, that was all really.
>> okay.
>> ms. Wilson, do we need to hear anything else? Barbara wilson.
>> [laughter]
>> okay. Only if y'all have questions.
>> i need another week.
>> yeah.
>> we'll -- i'll -- under issues next week we will probably put this on consent, okay? But -- but thank you all very much.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 1:25 PM
