VIENNA — The county commissioners finished their initial revisions to their employee manual of personnel policies during their April 30 commission meeting to make it more comprehensive.

The commissioners reviewed compensatory time (comp time), emergency procedures and drug policies. The next step is for Deputy Clerk Renee Kottwitz to update the typed document. After another review by the commissioners and the other elected officials in the courthouse, the commissioners will adopt the manual.

The current comp time cap is 350 hours for the sheriff’s office and 240 hours for other employees, but the commissioners are reducing it to 84 hours for all employees. Any extra hours are paid out.

The standard workweek for most county employees is 35 hours. Employees who work more than that receive comp time that they can use as paid time-off instead of using their sick or vacation time. If employees want to be paid for their extra hours instead of receiving comp time, they must specifically request that.

Instead of being paid automatically for working extra, employees accumulate regular comp time from hours 36 to 40 and overtime hours for anything 40 or more. This results in two separate balances to track comp time paid at the regular rate versus being paid at time-and-a-half.

Regarding emergency procedures, Sheriff Mark Morgan came to the meeting to confirm which ones the commissioners wanted drafted. The commissioners said that they want both active shooter and natural disaster policies.

Deputy Clerk Renee Kottwitz expressed concern about the doors having glass windows. Therefore, a shooter could break the glass, reach inside and unlock the door. Morgan responded with a basic procedure.

The first step is to leave the building if possible. If that is not possible, then the person should delay the shooter as much as possible, including locking the door and barricading it. As a last resort, the next step is to fight for one’s life.

Because the sheriff’s office is inside the courthouse, the main goal is to slow down the shooter long enough so that an officer can respond from downstairs.

“Let’s say somebody was down there, and you didn’t feel like you could safely get out that door, and you were going to barricade in here; even putting something in front of the door to delay their ability to get inside here gives us time to get up here,” Morgan said.

As for drug policies, the commissioners were cautious about explicitly prohibiting marijuana because Prosecuting Attorney Anthony (Tony) Skouby warned against policies that are too specific at the April 16 commission meeting. His concern was that marijuana is a constitutional right for people 21 and older. The Missouri Constitution still allows prohibitions of driving and working under the influence.

The commissioners agreed that it was best to prohibit the usage of alcohol and controlled substances in general before working.