(ESCAMBIA COUNTY) --- Escambia County Human Resources Director Nikki Powell was called to the podium at the July 23 Board of Commissioners meeting to clear up a few things.
In doing so, she told commissioners some human resources policies are not in compliance with the law, a fact she repeatedly emails to legal weekly.
Without noting the recent report on county commissioner aides getting $20K in severance pay based on a thirty-year-old human resources policy, an agenda item changing employee policy was approved by commissioners.
The new policy reduces a 90-day monetary compensation period to 30 days after leaving the county.
According to the agenda summary, some current employee policy is not clear; specifically, "maintaining a separate policy for the Unclassified Service has created confusion among staff and employees.”
(Photo: Escambia County Human Resources Director Nikki Powell forced to defend herself over a decades-old employee policy at the BCC meeting)
Ironically, Commissioner Lumon May started the conversation, saying there has been “a lot of talk on this," but did not respond to a media request two weeks ago on his aide receiving a severance package in 90 days after her resignation.
Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger did not ignore the media two weeks ago. From the first point of contact, Hofberger immediately noted the outdated 1994 policy.
“I will say I am not wild about the policy; it seems excessive, and I would be for reducing the 90 days,” Hofberger said July 8. “I just did not know it was policy until now.”
Two weeks later, a policy was adopted that now mandates all employee policies be reviewed annually rather than after 30 years. Commissioner Mike Kohler said the policy makes the county look bad.
“It is completely embarrassing that we are paying people to sit on their ass for 90 days," Kohler said.
The agenda item brought Powell to the podium, explaining how many hours employees get for Paid Time Off (PTO).
“The earnings are based on the years of service,” Powell said. “The lowest level I think is eight, and the highest level per month may be up to sixteen a month.”
Powell did not have the information readily available, but did say that, for unclassified employees, you can get paid out up to 500 hours of PTO, which this item is about. Unclassified employees are paid hourly, compared to classified employees' salary-based cycle. Along with PTO, employees also get Major/Medical/Standard Leave Bank (MOB) and Extended Leave Bank (ELB), both of which may have been confirmed as included in the policy.
When asked about the current liability report, Powell told Kohler that he and other commissioners receive the Compensation Absence Report in their financial documents, and he offered to provide it again. Commissioner Kohler said it does not make sense to him “why we have different fuel for different people in the county.”
(Photo: Commissioner Mike Kohler calls Human Resources employee policy dating back decades embarrassing)
Whether the fuel comment is figurative or not, when it comes to 30 versus 90 days, Kohler said, "I don’t understand why we paid 90 days for someone that worked two years, and they resign."
“It was the policy at the time, and we are changing that to the 30-day policy, but we do follow policy,” Powell said before Kohler cut her off.
Kohler said he expects directors to look at policies and get the board "on things like this so we don’t get embarrassed.” Bottom line, “this is a bad policy, and we need to come to own it,” according to Kohler.
Powell let officials know the contract is a county ordinance, "not just a policy."
"It has been a county ordinance since 1985,” Powell said.
According to Kohler, “if we don’t change ordinances from 1985, we have a problem with what we are doing at the director level," leaving Powell to defend herself.
"I have been the director for two years, and I have been prioritizing policies, and I think the legal office can tell you I bombard them weekly with emails," Powell said.
The human resources director made it clear that the law comes first, saying, "We had some policies that had us out of compliance with the law; those are my priorities."
“When I stepped into this role and started looking at these policies, I wanted to make sure we were in compliance, so I hit the legal office with those first," Powell said, adding that, on top of negotiating with unions, her office is doing its best.
Kohler ended by asking Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno to have directors look for "red herrings," like the policy, in the future. Moreno confirmed it will make it a priority.
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