County employees who persevere and continue to work during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency will be rewarded for their dedication.
On Monday, the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept a COVID-19 policy for incentive pay based on information provided by Attorney Johnny McWilliams.
At a prior meeting, the county lawmakers had asked McWilliams to look into a policy and see if it was legal to provide incentive pay to the employees.
At Monday’s session, he said, "You can't call it a bonus, but it amounts to a bonus. It's incentive for coming to work during this emergency at the same time when a lot of people were being told, 'you've got to go home.’"
McWilliams shared that he has been in communication with the state audit department and they have declared that it can be done legally. However, the money disbursed to employees is not reimbursable and will come from the county's own coffers.
He said that the proposed plan is based on a design adopted by officials in Madison County.
Under the policy, Sunflower County employees would receive $5 per hour for up to 80 hours (two weeks), but they must work the 80 hours in order to get the full amount.
Five conditions must be met in order for an employee to qualify for the incentive pay.
First, the policy has to be in place prior to the issuance of any remuneration.
Second, the employee must physically come to work during the emergency.
Third, the employee cannot be under any doctor's orders or treatment plan that recommends or requires his or her absence from work.
Fourth, the employee must agree to do the work required by his/her supervisor, and finally, the employee has to sign an agreement that states that he/she understands that the payment will not qualify for their retirement.
Reading from the document, McWilliams said, "This policy shall not include or extend to consultants, vendors, council or Sunflower County employees who are presently or have previously, since the adoption of the county's COVID-19 emergency declaration, been out on emergency paid sick leave, Family Medical Act leave, Emergency Family Medical Act leave or administrative paid leave as well as those employees who are or have been working remotely."
McWilliams said this would just be for employees who actually came to work. He also stated that the county was not required to provide the incentive. Even though a motion was made and seconded, a discussion ensued as the issue raised questions from some of the leaders.
As the discussion lingered, District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston suggested that since a motion was made and seconded that they should just make the vote and move on.
At that point, District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald said, "Can I make a motion that y'all stop saying move on. We get paid to come to a meeting, now if you don't want to be a supervisor then don't run for the position."
Gaston said after the meeting that he called Donald about his comment and expressed his offense at the remark.
The county leaders also voted to continue the county's pandemic emergency status.
In other business,
Gaston presented a final draft of a travel log form to be used by county employees that are assigned county vehicles. The form was approved on a 4-1 vote with Donald casting the no vote.
Gaston had raised the issue at a previous meeting citing it was for transparency and accountability purposes and was tasked with devising the form to be used. "Dr. McIntosh and I got together, put the form together, it's about as simple as you can get, doesn't require much work and it's submitted to you for board approval," Gaston said.
Sheriff's department employees are excluded from completing the document.
Donald reiterated his previous no vote for using the form and suggested that if there was a particular person whom they had an issue with then they should do an assessment on that individual and not everybody. He then asserted that the county lawmakers should have discussed it with the department heads to see what they thought about it before implementing it.
The county leaders also voted to approve a resolution for the issuance of refunding bonds for North Sunflower Medical District. According to McWilliams the bonds were issued in 2009 and although none of the terms have changed, the interest rates have dropped and the re-issuance will amount to about a $204,000 savings. "I highly recommend it," said McWilliams.
Additionally, the county leaders approved the acceptance of a $20,000 CARES Act Grant for the North Sunflower County/Ruleville–Drew Airport.
At the request of Donald, the county leaders voted to reappoint Martha Sibley to the Mississippi Delta Community College Board of trustees and H. T. Miller was reappointed to the North Sunflower Medical Center board at the request of District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson. Both terms expire on June 30.
