County Council Meets on May 14

The Montgomery County Council is scheduled on May 14 to formally support recommendations based on a report from the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) on work hours and leave policy regarding County employees.

The report was the subject of a joint meeting of the Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee and its Public Safety Committee, and among the joint committee’s recommendations were that the County Executive should review and determine whether there is a reasonable number of regular hours that an employee should work before being able to work overtime hours.

The Council’s regular weekly meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The morning session and a public hearing starting at 1:30 p.m. will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov. The broadcast will be repeated starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, May17.

During the morning session, the Council also will discuss several issues as part of its final discussions reviewing the Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget recommended by County Executive Isiah Leggett.

The Council is working toward tentatively adopting the FY14 operating budget on Thursday, May 16. Formal adoption of the budget is scheduled for May 23. The budget will go into effect on July 1.

The morning session will include a worksession on the community grants the Council will award as part of the budget. It also is scheduled to take action on Bill 7-13 that will set aside 15 percent of the net revenue the County collects from the new Emergency Medical Services Transport Reimbursement Program (ambulance fee) to benefit the County’s local fire and rescue departments.

The Council received the OLO report on employee work hours and leave in March. The Council requested the report to help it better understand how leave policies in the County Government’s collective bargaining agreements and in the personnel regulations impact personnel management and costs.

Using the information provided in the report, the GO and Public Safety joint committee recommended that, by September 2013, the County Executive should do the following:

• Review and determine whether there is a reasonable number of required regular hours that an employee should work before being able to work overtime hours.
• Review and, if necessary, revise the process surrounding Workers’ Compensation program processing times and claim recordation practices.
• Examine options to improve sick leave management and support ongoing County efforts to promote a healthier workforce.
• Undertake a more in-depth analysis of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service’s leave usage and recordation practices.
• Engage a consultant to undertake a study on Total Absence Management across the County Government, as recommended by the County Government’s Public Safety Work Group.

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