Pulaski County Dealing With Breaches In Protocol

Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

A special executive meeting was held Friday for the Pulaski County Commissioners to discuss policy violations with two department heads that have not been following the employee handbook.

Both elected and appointed department heads have not been following the handbook, which outlines rules and procedures for employees to follow, providing across-the-board rules that apply to all employees.

Auditor Shelia Garling says she’s quickly becoming frustrated with the breaches of policy. The commissioners had previously requested departments to fill out request forms for employees that attend meetings to allow Garling to reimburse and pay them for the day, but she says she has not been receiving any request forms at all. Further, Garling says employees have also not been using the time clock to punch in and out of work.

County Attorney Kevin Tankerslee has also seen this behavior. He says two terminated employees have not filled out and turned in the required termination documentation.

Garling told the commissioners that they will need to decide how to approach this situation. The handbook can be changed to allow paid time off to be revoked for breaches of policy, or employees can be written up, and in some cases, demoted.

The commissioners and council will soon meet and discuss how to address the situation.