VIENNA — The commissioners revised their vacation and sick leave policy to make it more generous at their April 23 meeting for the elected department heads to look over.

This revision, which is still subject to change, is part of the commissioners’ ongoing effort to revise the county employee manual. Their review was in response to County Collector Beth Wulff, who advocated for a more generous policy at the April 20 meeting.

Presiding Commissioner Vic Stratman said that this would be a good way to reward employees and help prevent turnover. The main cost would be decreased work.

“That would be something that we could do for our employees because we haven’t given them a raise for two years, and we certainly have good employees,” he said at the April 30 meeting.

The following is current vacation policy:

• Initial employment to five years

o One day for every 52 worked (five days per year)

o 20 days maximum

• Five years to 10 years

o One day for every 26 days worked (10 days per year)

o 20 days maximum

• Over 10 years

o One day for every 17 days worked (15 days per year)

o 30 days maximum

This is the proposed vacation policy with a maximum accrual of 240 hours for all employees:

• First year of employment

o One day per 52 worked (five days or one week per year)

• Two to four years

o 10 days per year (two weeks)

• Five to nine years

o 15 days per year (three weeks)

• 10 to 19 years

o 20 days per year (four weeks)

• 20 or more years

o 25 days per year (five weeks)

The current sick pay policy is six days per year, but the commissioners proposed raising it to eight days. There would be no accrual maximum, but payout amount upon termination would remain capped at one month. An employee could choose to donate sick leave beyond that to another employee.

While Wulff is an elected official with a salary, she understands the effect of these policies because she used to be a county employee. She argued for more sick leave because of younger workers with children. For example, she has three children with annual doctor visits, and she has her own annual doctor visit. Now that she is over 40, she will have more medical needs.

“So now they make me do all these other stupid doctor’s appointments. I don’t even have time to actually get sick to use my sick days,” Wulff said.

When employees run out of their sick pay, they must cover that time off with their vacation pay, frustrating employees. By offering more sick leave, employees could use their vacation time for a mental day or to attend a class field trip.

Wulff also compared the county’s PTO policy to Osage County’s and the state’s policies. Both entities operate on a hierarchical scale, depending on how long a worker has been employed. Missouri state employees start with 15 days of vacation per year and end with 21 days after 15 years of service. Osage County employees start with five days of vacation after the first year and end with 24 days after 21 years.

As Wulff has been interviewing people to hire, she said that three people turned her down because of the pay. By making the PTO more competitive with neighboring governments, she is hoping that she can make the position more attractive as she does the second round of interviews. And Stratman believes that this could make it easier to hire a younger person.

“We got to be able to hire people, and hopefully we’ll have good hire young people that have a chance to stay here the longest,” Stratman said.