Sangamon Sun

Arlington Heights Park District Board of Commissioners Emergency met March 19.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

President Leno called the Board Meeting to order at 8:35 a.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

President Leno led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL OF COMMISSIONERS

Commissioners Present

B. Owen  

T. Gelinas 

M. Leno

Commissioners Absent

R. Nesvacil

W. Ploger

STAFF PRESENT: Carrie Fullerton, Executive Director; Brian Meyer, Director of Recreation and Facilities; Jason Myers, Director of Finance and Personnel; Ben Rea, Director of Parks and Planning; Pat Klawitter, Superintendent of HR; and Kendra Maher, Recording Secretary.

Vice President Gelinas moved, seconded by Comr. Owen, to allow Comr. Nesvacil and Comr. Ploger to attend the meeting via teleconference. On voice vote the motion was approved 3-0.

RECOGNITION OF VISITORS & CITIZENS TO BE HEARD 

None.

NEW BUSINESS

COVID-19 

Exec. Dir. Fullerton stated The COVID-19 Pandemic is requiring individuals, businesses, and government employers to make very difficult decisions. New information becomes available on an almost hourly basis. The criteria for closures throughout the State of Illinois continues to evolve daily to support containment efforts. It is likely that the current closure of Park District programs and facilities will be extended.

Exec. Dir. Fullerton shared that the leadership team have recommendations on how to move forward on how to potentially manage staff during these unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Exec Dir. Fullerton further expressed it is important for the Board to know that new questions are being asked daily from full and part-time staff, many of which are policy-related, and thus we need for the Board to make decisions with regard to our recommendations below:

1. Childcare/family-member care - Full-time employees with COVID-19 related childcare or family-member care needs would be allowed to use all types Paid-Time-Off (PTO) (sick, vacation, and floating holiday time) to meet those needs. This is a deviation from the current Policy as sick time would normally not be permitted unless the employee/immediate family member was ill. It would be the employee’s choice which time off is used. Benefit accruals would continue as per the Personnel Policy Manual.

2. Working from home during non-mandated shutdown - Full-time employees, with department director approval, may work from home. The employee must be reachable by phone or email during the work day, provide their supervisor with a daily status reports, record time worked through the NovaTime system, and request PTO if the employee does not work the required 40 hours per week. This is determined on a case- by-case basis.

3. Full-Time, Without PTO - If a full-time employee has exhausted all Paid-Time-Off (PTO), the employee could take time off without pay. The employee must acknowledge that work existed and that they were available for work and chose not to work. The employee must acknowledge that, even though they will not be receiving a pay check, they are responsible for paying the employee portion of medical, dental and vision benefits, but the employee is permitted to waive voluntary deductions for flexible spending, voluntary additional IMRF, and 457 Retirement plans. The employee will be required to provide a minimum of three personal check payments to cover the monthly cost of the employee portion of the medical, dental and vision coverage. Any unapplied checks will be returned to the employee. In the event that the employee cannot afford this payment method, these premiums would be deducted from future pay checks. The District will need to address this on a case by case basis. However, if the employee is able to utilize their sick time during this crisis, the District should have a minimal number of individuals in this situation.

The District could determine that it would allow these individuals the ability to use future accruals for current PTO, which would be reimbursed to the District at the rate they accrue it – we recommend a cap of 40 hours (one week). For example: an individual who uses the 40 hours of future PTO, would then go unpaid at that point. According to Unemployment Consultants Inc. it would be in District’s, and the employee’s best interest to pay this as an hourly rate, not a lump sum.

4. Flexible Schedules - Where possible, and with department director approval, full-time employees needing to adjust schedules to handle COVID-19 childcare or other COVID- 19 related issues, will be given the opportunity to work a flexible schedule. Flexible scheduling includes, but is not limited to, starting/ending daily shifts early, substituting a weekend day for a week day, working a longer shift on one day to balance a shorter shift on another day, etc.

5. FMLA – Staff required to self-quarantine or to take time off work for COVID19-related illness (for themselves or a family member) will have this time designated as Family Medical Leave time.

The Board and Staff discussed these five points. President Leno addressed the Policy Manual and identified that in the District’s manual it states that an employee that has sick time banked the employee can donate it to another employee to use if they have exhausted their sick time.

Comr. Owen does not support asking the employee to write three checks towards unpaid time off benefits, suggesting Staff work with the employee should it be necessary for the employee to repay the district.

6. Part-Time Staff Pay - After extensive study of the actions of park districts throughout the state and discussions with the Village & Library, we are recommending that the District complete the current pay period (ending Saturday March 21, 2020) as discussed by the Board on March 13, 2020: part-time staff are offered the opportunity to work up to their scheduled number of hours at tasks provided by their supervisors. Beginning with the next pay period (March 22 through April 4, 2020) the District will pay all part-time and seasonal Staff for their scheduled hours during this pay period for two weeks. Those that were not scheduled for spring break will not be paid for that week. Supervisors will be responsible for entering all employee time into NovaTime for processing, adding the appropriate designation to identify the time as related to COVID-19 for future cost-tracking purposes. We are recommending this for a two-week period at this time, which is similar to what many agencies are currently doing in response to this situation.

After discussing the fluidness of the COVID-19 situation the consensus of the Board was to revisit the Part-Time Staff pay at the March 31, 2020 Board Meeting as an action item. The Board asked that all Part-Time Staff willing to work be given the ability to do a task and report to work

7. Full-Time Staff/District Mandated Shutdown - If the government should declare a complete shutdown of operations, another emergency Board meeting would be necessary. In this meeting, some areas we’d need to consider include (but are not limited to):

• Paying full-time exempt staff (salaried) – some may be able to work from home, some may not be able to due to the nature of their job.

• Paying full-time non-exempt staff (hourly) – most won’t be able to work from home.

• Will the park properties stay open? If so, will we require staff to continue to maintain them?

• How will we manage staff who have to come in to the workplace (hourly/salaried)?

The consensus of the Board was not to discuss or make any decisions at this time regarding a mandated shutdown.

The following votes were done to address the COVID-19 Pandemic in regards to employee needs for time away from the office. After the conclusion of the COVID-19 Pandemic, policies as stated in the Policy Manual will return.

Comr. Owen moved, seconded by Vice President Gelinas to agree to #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 with a caveat that if an employee runs out of PTO, a donation from the Sick Bank could be used, and then 40 hours of future accruals of PTO would be offered, and arrangements would be made for any benefits to be paid back. On a voice vote the motion was approved 5-0.

Vice President Gelinas moved, seconded by Comr. Owen to reach out to all Part-Time employees to offer work (day/night/weekends) with their Supervisor on alternative tasks during this time of facilities being shut down. On a voice vote the motion was approved 4-0, with President Leno abstaining.

Exec. Dir. Fullerton applauded the Leadership Team and Staff who have worked very hard during these times of uncertainty.

President Leno echoed Exec. Dir. Fullerton and thanked everyone for their communication during this most difficult time, and on behalf of the Board for all Staff being flexible during this fluid situation.

Dir. Myers proposed the idea of pushing the Budget presentation back from the March 31st meeting, due to the volatility of the current situation. The consensus of the Board was to continue as planned with the Budget presentation on March 31st amend at a later time if necessary.

MOVED INTO CLOSED SESSION

Comr. Owen moved, seconded by Vice President Gelinas to hold Closed Session for potential acquisition of real estate – 5ILCS 120/2(c)(5) at 10:15 a.m.

Roll was called with: 

Ayes – Owen, Gelinas, Nesvacil, Ploger, Leno 

Nays – None 

Absent – None 

Ayes – 5; Nays – 0; MOTION CARRIED

President Leno left the meeting at 10:17 a.m.

RECONVENED TO REGULAR MEETING

At 10:20 a.m. the Regular Meeting was reconvened and the following were present:

Gelinas, Nesvacil, Ploger, Owen, Myers, Rea, Fullerton, and Maher

ADJOURNMENT 

Comr. Owen moved, seconded by Comr. Nesvacil, to adjourn at 10:21 a.m. On voice vote the motion was approved 5-0.

https://www.ahpd.org/assets/1/24/5.c._3-19-20_Emergency_Mtg._Draft.pdf?204089