Following the Washington County Board of Supervisors work session on Monday, Nov. 9 at the new county Communications Building, a possible draft resolution to address the accrual of vacation time may be on the agenda for the regular supervisor meeting on Nov. 10. In brief, it could extend the accrued vacation time to the end of the current fiscal year which falls on June 30, 2021.

However, it is also likely that the temporary extension may end April 1, the end of third quarter of the current fiscal year. 

Currently, the temporary maximum accrual time for full-time employees is 240 hours in a fiscal year and 140 for part-time. The increase from 200 and 120 was to accommodate the issues and needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that led to resetting employee schedules and use of personal time, sick leave and vacation time to cover absences caused by COVID. Use of vacation time became accrual time.

Chairman Jack Seward Jr. noted that “there is time to do this,” regarding drafting a resolution covering the accrual time and how long it would be in effect. The issue is on the Nov. 10 agenda as old business.

However, a resolution could be deferred to a later meeting because the policy set last March will remain in effect for the present. Another consideration will be the possibility of an approved vaccine and when it would be available to the public. On Nov. 9 there was an announcement of a test vaccine believed to be 90% effective.

During the hour-long meeting, department heads detailed not only covering services, but also the differences in department operations. It was noted that the sheriff, secondary roads, ambulance services and public health departments do not have “regular hours” when it comes to calls for service. Equally important is that, they as all other departments, are also affected by COVID, either by employee exposure to the disease, resulting in self-quarantine or actual infections in employees or their family members. There also are differences between salaried and hourly employees.

It also was stressed, that each department has worked out the steps and schedules to meet the problems created by COVID to address its operations and services.

At one point, Seward noted that the situation is not hurting the issue of compensatory time but does affect vacation time.  Another concern is that the extension cannot go on indefinitely, that accrual time has to be used by a specific date. Prior to COVID that was not a problem.

At the session’s end, key issue was undecided if the extension would end April or extend to June 30.