OTTAWA — On a split vote, Franklin County commissioners voted this morning to extend the amount of time long-time county employees have to use left-over sick time. Commissioners Don Stottlemire and Rick Howard balked at a proposal by county administrator Lisa Johnson to limit the amount of sick leave to 480 hours and then pay a percentage of the unused time when they leave the county. However, they said they didn’t want to take away time from those employees who have more than 480 hours. When Stottlemire started rewriting the proposal to allow those with more than 480 hours to be paid for those hours, Johnson balked. She said that would create a two-tier system and make it difficult to administer. She offered a compromise that would move back the deadline to mid-June to allow employees to use sick leave above 480 hours. On a 3-1 vote, commissioners Stottlemire, Howard and Roy Dunn decided to accept Johnson’s proposal to move back the deadline. Commissioner Colt Waymire cast the dissenting vote, saying that the county’s previous action in overhauling the county’s pay schedule addressed many of the problems and the change approved this morning still leaves the county liable to pay more than $800,000 in unpaid vacation and sick leave.
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 4 p.m.
