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NEW ULM -- Brown County commissioners approved four personnel policy recommendations and tabled a fifth recommendation until more information is known Tuesday.
Commissioners unanimously approved raising the employee vacation accrual ceiling from 200 to 240 hours. The accrual ceiling would remain at 200 hours for an employee who retires or is terminated.
Brown County Human Resource Director Mary Priebe said there are currently 65 county employees with a vacation balance of 160 hours or more.
She presented a county agenda attachment that showed other counties offer 240 hours plus a few others that offer more vacation accrual hours.
A recommendation proposing additional vacation leave for exempt county employees with a fixed salary that don't qualify for minimum wages or overtime pay, was unanimously approved. The City of New Ulm offers such a policy to exempt staff.
Under the policy 40 hours of exempt leave will be credited to the vacation bank at the start of each calendar year for department heads. The first 40 hours of vacation used will be from the credit bank and can't be carried over from year to year.
All other exempt employees will be credited 16 hours of exempt leave at the start of each calendar year. The first 16 hours of vacation used will be from this credit bank and can't be carried over year to year.
Commissioners unanimously approved increasing vacation accrual to 8.25 hours per pay period for employees with more than 20 years service to reward them for longevity and dedication to Brown County, motion by Commissioner David Borchert, seconded by Scott Windschitl.
Currently, county employees with more than 16 years service earn 201.50 vacation hours per year.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners approved increasing the group life and accidental death & dismemberment benefit from $20,000 to $50,000. Commissioner Tony Berg cast a dissenting vote, saying he favored increasing the benefit to $40,000.
The county's annual cost increase of offering $40,000 in basic life insurance was estimated at $6,098.40 and $9,147.60 for $50,000 basic life insurance.
Brown County Human Resource Director Mary Priebe said a recommendation to increase the county share of premium coverage to 85% for full-time employees and 35% for part-time employees in order to reduce employee health insurance costs was tabled until costs are determined by the county personnel policy committee.
Action came on a motion by Berg, seconded by Windschitl.
"I think these requests are reasonable. I support them all," said Borchert.
"I agree," said Commissioner Brian Braun. "I think Brown County should stay competitive with neighboring counties. I think our employees are our best investment."