[0:00] I call the September admin meeting committee to order.

[0:03] Let the record show that all members are present except for Commissioner

[0:08] present except for Commissioner Kuzawinski,

[0:09] and Commissioner Connie Green is sitting in for him.

[0:14] All right.

[0:15] We'll move on to the election of a chairman,

[0:18] and I will now open the floor for nominations for chairman.

[0:21] Kenny.

[0:26] Commissioner Moore.

[0:26] I need to nominate Mr. Kuzawinski. He wanted to be nominated.

[0:30] He's not here. He's not here tonight.

[0:33] He asked me to nominate him for chair.

[0:35] Okay. So we have a nomination for Commissioner Kuzawinski.

[0:40] Are there any other nominations?

[0:43] Seeing none, I'll accept a motion to cease nominations and Approved by

[0:49] acclamation. I have it from Commissioner Burford. I need a second.

[0:55] Seconded by Commissioner Barnes. Any discussion?

[0:59] Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

[1:03] Aye.

[1:04] All those opposed? So Commissioner Kuzawinski is the new chairman of the

[1:09] Kuzawinski is the new chairman of the admin

[1:09] committee. So we'll move on to the election of the vice chairman.

[1:13] I will now open the floor for nominations for vice chairman. Commissioner Green?

[1:19] I nominate Kenny Morrow, please.

[1:21] I have a nomination for Kenny Morrow. Are there any other nominations?

[1:24] Mr. Barnes has his light up.

[1:29] You're nominating Commissioner Cohen? Cohen.

[1:32] All right.

[1:34] So we have a nomination for Commissioner Cohen. All right. Any other nominations?

[1:39] No.

[1:41] I'll accept a motion to cease nominations.

[1:44] We're gonna have to vote.

[1:47] We gotta cease nominations first.

[1:50] Oh, okay.

[1:51] So I need a motion to cease nominations.

[1:54] I got it from Commissioner Cohen, seconded by Commissioner, uh, Green.

[1:57] No discussion. All those in favor, please say aye.

[2:00] Aye.

[2:01] All right, we'll take them in the order in which they were—

[2:05] which they were presented. So you'll be voting on, uh, Commissioner Morrow.

[2:10] For vice chair, and we'll do that by—

[2:12] what you call it? Voice vote.

[2:16] We'll do that by roll call vote. All right, Commissioner Green?

[2:24] Yes.

[2:27] Commissioner Burford?

[2:27] No.

[2:28] Commissioner Marr?

[2:30] We're voting for who now? You.

[2:35] Commissioner, uh, Barnes?

[2:38] No.

[2:39] Commissioner Cohen?

[2:41] No.

[2:42] All right, so that's 2 for,

[2:44] 3 against for Commissioner Marr.

[2:47] We'll move on to Commissioner Cohen. Commissioner Green?

[2:50] No.

[2:51] Commissioner Burford?

[2:54] Yes.

[2:55] Commissioner Marr?

[2:56] No.

[2:56] Commissioner Barnes?

[2:58] Yes.

[2:59] Commissioner Cohen?

[3:00] Yes.

[3:01] All right, so that's 3-2. Commissioner Coen is the new vice chair.

[3:06] Uh, the meeting is yours.

[3:09] Congratulations. All right, well, here we go.

[3:13] Welcome aboard.

[3:16] Thank you.

[3:20] All right, thank you

[3:27] everyone. I need to—

[3:35] Motion.

[3:35] Motion to approve the agenda.

[3:39] Commissioner Morrow,

[3:41] Commissioner Barnes.

[3:44] Okay. Now you got to vote.

[3:46] Now we got to vote?

[3:48] Mm-hmm.

[3:49] Vote for the approval of the agenda. All in favor?

[3:56] Approved. The minutes stand as presented.

[4:00] The minutes stand as presented.

[4:03] Thank you. No legislative report today.

[4:10] No legislative report today.

[4:13] Do we have public comment?

[4:15] Yes.

[4:17] Um, does she— let's see. She wants to speak.

[4:21] She'll need to wait till the end of the

[4:25] meeting.

[4:25] Okay.

[4:28] She is no agenda item,

[4:31] so she can speak now if she

[4:35] wants to.

[4:37] If you want to speak now, you can, or at the end of the agenda,

[4:41] whoever's signed up for it.

[4:43] Katie?

[4:45] You've got to read this.

[4:46] You've got to read that. Okay.

[4:48] All right. Let me read this real quick.

[4:51] Note, to provide public comment germane to a specific agenda item,

[4:56] please complete and return the form— of course we have that in person—

[5:01] prior to the scheduled meeting.

[5:03] Additionally, there are 2 defined public comment periods where no sign-up is

[5:09] required. At the direction of the chairperson,

[5:12] public comment is limited to A 30-minute aggregate with 3 minutes per speaker

[5:18] aggregate with 3 minutes per speaker across

[5:18] 3 sessions: the outset of the meeting,

[5:21] during specific or specific specified agenda items,

[5:25] at the conclusion of county business.

[5:27] All comments shall be addressed to the body rather than one member,

[5:32] and there will be no rebuttal thereafter.

[5:35] My name is Katie Martin and I'm in District 10,

[5:39] and I wanted to take a moment to just thank you for the updates to the county

[5:44] website. Um, one particular feature that I thought was really cool is now that from

[5:50] your PC, if you go to the commissioner tab, like the different committee tabs,

[5:55] it will list each commissioner on that committee, which I find very helpful.

[6:00] And it also has a direct link their email, and that previously was not the case.

[6:06] And so it was really clunky at first. So I really appreciated that.

[6:10] I think it really helps, um, you know, just like the reg—

[6:14] a regular person just wanting to know what's going on, like, oh,

[6:19] here's the people I can contact for this particular problem.

[6:23] Um, I also appreciate that, um,

[6:25] they updated the meeting times for the Industrial Development Board.

[6:30] I believe I spoke about that a couple of weeks ago, and I really appreciate it.

[6:35] And I'm hoping that by December they'll have next year's schedule ready so it'll

[6:41] have next year's schedule ready so it'll be

[6:41] available the whole year. Let's see, I'm— I wrote some notes.

[6:45] One thing I would like to say, the mic— people don't speak into the mic.

[6:50] And like a lot of people like to watch the meetings,

[6:54] they can't always make them because of work and family responsibilities.

[6:59] But if you don't, like, speak into the mic, you cannot hear it at home.

[7:04] And it's all— it just is very like— I have a loud voice naturally,

[7:08] so I could probably do that and they could still hear me from home.

[7:13] But like, some of your employees are very— who are very sweet and soft-spoken,

[7:18] if they don't drop the mic to them and speak into it like this,

[7:23] you cannot hear them.

[7:24] And so you're just kind of watching the videos and not getting any thing out of

[7:30] videos and not getting any thing out of it.

[7:30] But that's all I really have.

[7:32] I'm excited to see, like,

[7:34] all the great things that this body is going to accomplish in their 4 years.

[7:39] And I like the things that y'all have already done, and I appreciate it.

[7:44] Thank you.

[7:57] So we're moving on to the notaries, new applicants and renewal applicants.

[8:04] I'm going to read off the names. Patricia Addict, William C.

[8:10] Barnes Jr., Hannah Berman, Roger Carrier, Charles Cleveland, Stacy Croft—

[8:16] Craft, Jennifer Forte, Mary Holt, Brenda Johnson, Kimberly R.

[8:22] Snavely, Summer Stevens, Raymond Turner, Jackson Connor White,

[8:27] Leslie Barnes, Aspen Bue— is that Bue?

[8:31] Bue.

[8:32] Bue. James Campbell Jr., Yolanda Cothran, Crystal Daniels,

[8:40] Colleen Eggerton, Kyla Eubanks, Jessica Allen Gibson.

[8:47] Michelle Haggart, Sandy Hemphill, Angela Rae Johnson,

[8:54] Timothy Daniel McSpadden, Don O'Brien, Donna Osman,

[9:00] Bedford Smith, Steven Kyle Thomas, Laura Tomlin,

[9:07] Raymond Ward. We need a motion to—

[9:11] You present those as a motion.

[9:13] I'm going to present these as a motion.

[9:15] You need a second.

[9:16] And I need a second. Kenny Morrow.

[9:22] And now we need to vote.

[9:26] All those in favor?

[9:29] Approved.

[9:44] Visitors Bureau, Erin Jaggers.

[9:47] Good evening. I'm Erin Jaggers.

[9:50] I'm the tourism director for Murray County,

[9:54] and this is my assistant director, Renee.

[9:58] I just wanted to introduce myself, but she's going to go over the report with

[10:01] she's going to go over the report with you.

[10:01] So welcome, everybody new.

[10:05] So obviously y'all received our report.

[10:07] And I don't want to go over every single item,

[10:10] but I do want to talk about a few things.

[10:12] We just finished the Murray County Fair, which was amazing.

[10:15] We set up the Kids Zone and it was packed this year, like even with the heat,

[10:20] which surprised me because we kind of expected the numbers would be lower,

[10:24] but we were very crowded in the Kids Zone. But the rest of the fair went great.

[10:28] We were— our numbers for the fair were 20% down,

[10:31] But we do think that is because of the heat.

[10:33] But thankfully, like they were talking about earlier,

[10:36] with all the emergency management out there, our fire people out there, I mean,

[10:41] we had a lot of people that did pass out from the heat or got sick,

[10:45] but they were taken care of immediately. So everything ran smoothly.

[10:49] I do hope y'all were able to come.

[10:51] If you weren't, y'all, our fair is getting bigger and bigger.

[10:54] So I do hope in the future you come support us because all the money we raise

[10:58] support us because all the money we raise goes

[10:59] back to Murray County's nonprofits.

[11:01] So it's just another way to give back to the community,

[11:04] and it's a lot of work for everybody.

[11:06] So if you can.

[11:07] But now we want you to also come and support our next project we're working on

[11:12] support our next project we're working on is we

[11:13] are partnering with Kiwanis to do the Murray County Fall Fest and Chili

[11:17] Murray County Fall Fest and Chili Cook-Off.

[11:18] So that is September 26th, and it's back here in our county parking lot.

[11:22] So it is from 3 to 8. It's free if you want to.

[11:25] I mean, you get tickets if you want to try the different chilies,

[11:29] but everything else— there's music, there's kids zone, there's vendors,

[11:33] there's food trucks. It's going to be fun.

[11:36] So we would love to see y'all come out and support us on the 26th.

[11:40] And you know, we're also gearing up for our annual Haunting in the District,

[11:45] which is always on Halloween. It is from 6 to 8 o'clock downtown Columbia.

[11:49] So we are getting— right now we're accepting vendors and people, individuals,

[11:54] whoever that would like to participate. You can just contact our office.

[11:58] And we will say it's free to participate, except you have to bring a lot of candy.

[12:04] So we expect usually 2,000 to 3,000 people.

[12:06] So you're handing out a lot, but we, our office,

[12:09] also helps you if you run out of candy. We're not going to let you run out of

[12:14] We're not going to let you run out of candy.

[12:14] You're going to be taken care of. So we just love the support.

[12:18] We love that it's a free, safe place for families to come and enjoy the evening.

[12:23] So we hope that y'all participate with us in that also.

[12:26] And the last thing about that is next week our office will be out of town.

[12:31] We are going to the Tennessee Governor's Conference on Tourism.

[12:35] So, you know, we just got a lot going on.

[12:37] There's a lot of events coming up, so I hope that y'all look at the calendar,

[12:42] and we also are constantly updating our website, so experiencemurray.com.

[12:47] There's—

[12:48] every day I feel like we're adding something new because it's fall,

[12:51] and y'all know how it is around here, something's going on all the time.

[12:54] So does anybody have any questions for us? I don't want to take up too much time.

[12:57] Commissioner Markham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[13:02] Uh, I want to just remind everybody,

[13:06] I finally did it this week.

[13:10] I went and bought a brick.

[13:11] Hey, uh, and since you want a brick at the Murray County Courthouse,

[13:16] To represent your family or whatever you want to, I guess within reason, represent.

[13:22] But they're for sale till November, is that correct?

[13:26] Yes. And I want— we, we may have to extend that, but yes,

[13:29] at the moment you can come to our office and pick up an application.

[13:33] We have 2 size bricks.

[13:34] One's $100 and it's your normal size,

[13:36] and then one is $200 and it's a little bit bigger if you want to add more.

[13:41] So we have boxes for you to fill out so you know what, you know,

[13:44] I love Your loved ones or whatever you want to put on there.

[13:48] We also can accept credit card in our office for this particular thing.

[13:52] Normally we don't accept credit card,

[13:54] but we can take a credit card payment or check.

[13:57] So please come by and get a brick and/or email us and we'll email you the form.

[14:01] But we would love to sell as many bricks as we possibly can,

[14:05] and it'll be there forever.

[14:06] I think those bricks are going to be on the east, this side of the courthouse,

[14:10] correct?

[14:11] Correct.

[14:11] I believe that's right. Okay.

[14:12] Yeah, I believe that's correct.

[14:13] Thank you.

[14:13] We good?

[14:18] Uh, got a question.

[14:20] Sure.

[14:20] So for everybody out in the audience and here, how much are the bricks?

[14:23] So for the smaller brick, like a normal size brick, it's $100.

[14:27] If you want— it's like double that size brick, I would say 2 of them,

[14:31] it is $200.

[14:32] Okay, thank you.

[14:33] Oh, you're welcome.

[14:35] Anybody else?

[14:36] No questions.

[14:37] No questions. That's it.

[14:39] All right, thank you.

[14:40] Here we go.

[14:43] So the report has been

[14:49] emailed.

[14:51] Uh, veteran service monthly report has been emailed, and he's not here.

[14:57] So we're going to move on. Librarian or library?

[15:01] That has been emailed also, the monthly report, and she is not here.

[15:06] So, we're going to move on to Human Resources, Dana Gibson.

[15:11] Good afternoon. You have before

[15:16] you my monthly report,

[15:20] and I'll be happy to answer any

[15:26] questions.

[15:29] No questions.

[15:31] No questions.

[15:32] Um, the first item I am requesting to modify the retiree HRA plan by changing

[15:40] the qualifying criteria to age 60 or 30 years of service.

[15:46] We implemented this plan a few months ago and We stated that the qualifying

[15:53] criteria was age 60 and be vested with TCRS.

[15:58] However, we would like to change that to age 60 or 30 years of service.

[16:05] It will match TCRS's eligibility,

[16:09] and I can tell you that since we've implemented this, I've only had one taker.

[16:16] So we would like to change that to help out some some employees that possibly

[16:24] are not quite 60 but do have the 30 years of service,

[16:30] and that would allow them to retire with the HRA retiree plan.

[16:36] May I ask for a motion?

[16:41] And we have this to be effective October 1st if you all approve it.

[16:47] Could I get a motion to approve? Commissioner Burford?

[16:50] So moved to approve.

[16:51] Can I get a second?

[16:52] Second.

[16:58] Commissioner Morrow second that.

[17:01] We need a vote. Send that to full—

[17:04] any discussion on that?

[17:06] No.

[17:07] No discussion?

[17:09] Oh, wait a minute. Mr. Barnes. Mr. Barnes.

[17:16] Hi, Dana.

[17:16] Good afternoon.

[17:18] I just have a real quick question.

[17:20] When it was set at 60, you want to change it to 60 or 30 years of service,

[17:26] and you said you had only one person that was willing to take that.

[17:30] Under this retiree HRA plan, what would the benefit be if they went at the 30

[17:36] the benefit be if they went at the 30 years,

[17:36] say they were 52 and they went at 30 years?

[17:39] What does that give them any more benefit than after age 60?

[17:44] Actually, if an employee has 30 years of service and let's say they're 58 and

[17:51] they decided to retire with TCRS,

[17:53] they would be eligible for TCRS with 30 years of service,

[17:59] but currently they would not be eligible for this HRA plan,

[18:04] which the HRA is a health reimbursement arrangement and it reimburses the

[18:10] retiree up to $8,100 a year for insurance.

[18:14] They pay for the insurance and then they submit their receipt or canceled check

[18:21] and they're reimbursed up to $8,100 a year.

[18:25] And most people can't retire unless they have some type of insurance,

[18:31] health insurance.

[18:32] Thank you.

[18:38] Commissioner Buford.

[18:41] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a question.

[18:44] I don't know the details, but so just a question.

[18:47] If someone retires, say, at 5 years of service and they're 60,

[18:52] do they get a different retirement level than those who have 30 years of

[18:58] service?

[18:58] The retirement is the same.

[19:01] However, The amount that they would draw during retirement is based on

[19:07] their highest 5 years of service, their 5 consecutive years of pay,

[19:13] and their years of service. It's a formula that TCRS uses.

[19:18] Okay.

[19:19] So, normally, someone with just 5 years of service,

[19:22] or even just 10 years of service,

[19:24] is probably not going to draw the amount of money that someone would with 25 or 30

[19:30] years of service.

[19:31] Okay. And just one other question.

[19:34] The plan document, and I don't have it in front of me,

[19:37] so I can't remember the exact wording,

[19:40] but it said the payments are made on a pro rata basis,

[19:44] but I didn't know what it was pro rata on.

[19:47] On the HRA?

[19:49] Yes.

[19:50] The payments are— it's $8,100, up to $8,100 per year.

[19:55] So it's based on their— if they submit a receipt to flexible benefits,

[20:02] they would reimburse them.

[20:04] So it's not going— if they retire mid-year,

[20:08] it's not going to be the complete $8,100.

[20:12] So it's the $8,100 a year that's prorated.

[20:16] So if they retire at 5 years or 30, they're still eligible for the $8,100?

[20:21] Yes, sir, as long as they As long as they meet the criteria.

[20:27] But this criteria, they're vested after 5 years.

[20:32] So we don't want them to really retire then.

[20:37] So we're asking that the eligibility be age 60 or 30 years of

[20:43] service, which matches TCRS.

[20:46] Yes, yes, ma'am. Thank you very much.

[20:48] Okay. You're welcome.

[20:52] Commissioner Mullen.

[20:52] Thank you, Chair. Uh, Dana, good to see you. Um, 2 questions for you.

[20:58] The, uh, modifying the retiree HRA plan,

[21:02] is that also known as the bridge plan where it bridges the gap between the

[21:08] healthcare to Medicare age? Um, I believe that was an old TCRS program.

[21:15] TCRS does have something that is We've called that— this is something different.

[21:19] Okay, this is a different product then?

[21:21] Yes.

[21:21] Okay. And my second question is actually 2 parts.

[21:24] If this is modified, you made mention of it would affect one person at this time.

[21:30] What's your projection for 6 months, 12 months?

[21:34] Because I look at the vacancies and I look at the turnover.

[21:38] Are we going to see a spike in those vacancies and that turnover rate?

[21:43] At that point?

[21:44] I don't think so.

[21:45] Okay.

[21:46] I expected more to— I expected about 8 people to take this when we implemented,

[21:52] and that has not been the case.

[21:55] So we revisited, and we would like for it to be 60 or 30 years of service.

[22:01] We think that may appeal to some other employees. And they may take that.

[22:07] I do think it will pay for itself because most of those employees are going to be at

[22:14] the high end of the pay scale,

[22:16] and we'll replace them with employees on the lower end of the pay scale.

[22:22] Sure.

[22:23] Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Chair.

[22:24] Commissioner Combs?

[22:28] Yes, I would just like to publicly thank Ms. Dana for her help.

[22:33] When I retired from the State of Tennessee, I TCRS,

[22:36] they were going to pull my retirement, and that would be bad.

[22:41] But then they found out how much I was going to make as a commissioner,

[22:46] and with Dana's help, we got that all straightened out.

[22:50] And so I was able to retain my retirement.

[22:53] So thank you for all your help, and you do a great job,

[22:56] and I just wanted to just thank you publicly. Thank you.

[23:00] Thank you.

[23:01] Thank you, Chair.

[23:05] Commissioner Holt.

[23:06] Ms. Dana, the $8,100, does it stop at age 62 or age 65?

[23:12] Age 65.

[23:14] Thank you.

[23:16] Thank you, Chair.

[23:16] No more questions. We're going to take a

[23:21] vote to send this to budget. All in favor?

[23:26] Approved.

[23:28] Okay, uh,

[23:30] our next one.

[23:34] Next one.

[23:36] Thank you.

[23:38] Um, the next item is a request to,

[23:41] to approve the remote work policy and IP address acknowledgment.

[23:46] I did have the county attorney review my policy and he added some language to my

[23:53] policy. Thank you. And, uh, we would like to present it to you.

[23:58] It was attached for approval.

[24:01] Motion.

[24:04] Motion to approve.

[24:06] Somebody.

[24:13] Motion to approve, anybody?

[24:16] You can make a motion.

[24:18] I'll make a motion to approve.

[24:21] You need a second.

[24:22] Commissioner Morrow seconded. Any discussion?

[24:29] Yes.

[24:32] Commissioner Morrow.

[24:34] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dana, how many people do we have working remotely?

[24:40] I'm not sure.

[24:44] Is this hybrid or full-time remote?

[24:48] This policy actually really discourages

[24:52] the remote work, only if it's necessary.

[24:57] Okay.

[24:58] So I'm not really sure how many people—

[25:01] that's something that the department head approves,

[25:05] and since we do have that going on,

[25:08] we felt the county attorney attorney and I felt that we did need a policy regarding

[25:15] that. There are occasions where it's— if it's inclement weather,

[25:21] things of that nature, we do need to allow that.

[25:25] Of course, we would—

[25:27] we want our finance payroll team to print our checks in inclement weather.

[25:33] So there are cases that, you know, we do need to allow.

[25:37] Well, yeah.

[25:39] But this policy just simply states that we will allow it on a

[25:45] case-by-case basis, but it has to be the benefit of the county and not

[25:52] the employee.

[25:53] Okay.

[25:54] It's not just because the employee is, you know,

[25:56] wanting to go somewhere on vacation or wanting to go visit somewhere and we're

[26:01] wanting to go visit somewhere and we're going

[26:01] to allow them to work from home. There has to be a necessity to Okay, that's fine.

[26:06] I mean, I know, I know the world operates that way these days.

[26:09] It just, uh, I know it's sometimes subject to abuse too.

[26:13] Yes, and that is one of the reasons that we did put the policy to try to

[26:18] curb the abuse and to let the employees know that, um, you know, they, um,

[26:24] they have to be authorized to work from home.

[26:27] They can't just work from home.

[26:30] Well, that's fine. I know you're good about policies and y'all are good about

[26:35] policing things, so I think it's fine. I just want a little clarification on that.

[26:39] Thank you.

[26:40] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[26:41] As Dana mentioned, I worked closely with her to make sure that the policy was

[26:46] something that would ensure,

[26:48] really ensure the integrity of Of what was occurring really sort of on the timesheet

[26:52] side of things, to be honest.

[26:54] We wanted to make sure that, um, you know, when people were clocking in,

[26:58] things were where they said they were.

[27:01] And we want to make sure that people are doing the work when they say they're doing

[27:05] it. So, um, I think we were really diligent in how we put this together.

[27:10] Um, you know, there are certain accommodations— individuals who have

[27:13] accommodations— individuals who have injuries,

[27:14] individuals who have disabilities—

[27:16] and it's a department-by-department sort of decision, I think.

[27:20] But we broke it up into a designated home office and sort of a primary work

[27:24] location. So if you're at your primary work location, you know,

[27:28] you should be there when you say you're going to be there,

[27:31] especially if you're an hourly employee.

[27:33] It's important that, you know, we have those things in place.

[27:37] But there's also a carve-out for reasonable accommodations,

[27:40] and there's also plenty of wiggle room if,

[27:43] if you're an individual who can still get their work done from home.

[27:47] So I think it was intelligently thought out. There was a lot of research into it.

[27:51] And, um, yeah, I appreciate Dana's help and everything.

[27:55] Dana, what are some of the changes that have occurred inside the policy?

[28:00] Uh, reading the 9-page document without seeing the previous policy,

[28:05] it's hard for me to tell what those changes are.

[28:08] I know you answered some of that, but can— is there anything that—

[28:13] This is a brand new policy. We've not had a remote work policy.

[28:17] Never had a brand new policy like this.

[28:19] Okay.

[28:20] And it was recommended that we have a policy.

[28:23] Sure.

[28:24] And looking at this policy, when I look at page 6,

[28:27] it talks about homework environment and expenses and that the county is not

[28:31] responsible for personal expenses associated with the employee's homework

[28:36] environment. Is there something in here that I'm missing that talks about the

[28:40] technology that they would use— computer systems, cameras,

[28:43] anything that could be used to double-check whether or not they're at the

[28:48] double-check whether or not they're at the computer

[28:48] working or anything like that? that the county does provide?

[28:52] That's going to be more of an IT question.

[28:57] I'm not going to know.

[29:00] The department head should know if the employee is logged

[29:08] in, if they VPN and are working in the system.

[29:19] Does the policy also cover—

[29:20] I didn't see anywhere in here where there would be some type of daily work log that

[29:25] would be required regardless of what job you hold that would show the work that was

[29:29] completed from the work-at-home program or policy that we have and allowing someone

[29:33] to do so.

[29:34] It just states that the department head or the supervisor is responsible for that.

[29:45] I think that's all I have. Thank you.

[29:46] Doug, you got to say something.

[29:49] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[29:50] I just want to try to help further answer a little bit more of your question,

[29:54] Commissioner Barnes.

[29:56] We do have some technology when it comes to like our timesheet software,

[30:00] and Dana's aware of this, where it will show geotags of where they clocked in.

[30:04] So if they didn't clock in at home, we will know.

[30:07] If they're trying to work out of a McDonald's or something like that,

[30:10] it'll be very clear. So we have geofencing and things like that.

[30:14] Does that geofencing automatically clock the employee out if they leave that fenced

[30:20] area?

[30:20] No, it does not.

[30:22] Is there a way to implement that?

[30:23] Yeah, we can do a lot of things with it.

[30:26] We can basically not allow this,

[30:28] and right now we have it turned on to where if you're in the parking lot and you

[30:32] where if you're in the parking lot and you try

[30:33] to clock in with your phone, it won't let you.

[30:35] Okay.

[30:37] Now, those things in the software, sometimes technology takes time to get

[30:41] sometimes technology takes time to get that good,

[30:42] and it's not as exactly precise as you would hope,

[30:45] but it's getting better every single day.

[30:47] The second thing is, is we— my team specifically uses Microsoft Teams a lot.

[30:52] If you're at your computer and your hand's on a mouse, you get a green checkmark.

[30:56] Now, could you buy a fake hand Put it on the mouse and leave it there for a minute?

[31:01] Sure, you could do that.

[31:03] But as soon as somebody doesn't respond to a message or something like that,

[31:07] or it's clear that that person's not getting done, department head can step in.

[31:12] What I try to do for my employees specifically,

[31:15] because we fall kind of under the inclement weather situation,

[31:19] payroll's got to go out whether it snows or not, and we have the ability Uh,

[31:23] to not put our employees at risk when the roads are like that.

[31:27] And so there's a lot of communication and it, and, uh, we, we do say, okay,

[31:31] you're going to, this is who's going to work from home today and this is why,

[31:36] and these are the tasks that we're going to do.

[31:39] So that's kind of something we've handled internally.

[31:42] When you mentioned a log, that, that,

[31:44] that's something we have to hold our accounties or our employees accountable

[31:49] accounties or our employees accountable for.

[31:49] But no camera system exists to monitor the— what the employee is actually doing.

[31:54] You could have them log into a Teams meeting for the day and have a camera on

[31:58] meeting for the day and have a camera on them

[31:58] the whole day.

[31:59] I'm not suggesting Big Brother go that far, but yeah, but I was curious.

[32:04] We could do that if—

[32:06] yeah.

[32:06] Yeah.

[32:07] No, no, I think that's a little intrusive. I was just curious.

[32:12] Yeah. Mr. Dobies.

[32:14] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[32:16] I think if— so I kind of sometimes like to take my lawyer hat off and look at like 2

[32:21] things of this. So there's one phrase that I think sums up what we're trying to

[32:26] avoid here, and that's time fraud. It's that simple.

[32:29] There's policy in place, but, you know,

[32:31] the employees are competent and they're adults, and a lot of them,

[32:35] if not all of them, are capable of doing a lot of the work from home.

[32:39] It's important to have policies in place so that things aren't abused.

[32:43] If you scroll down a little past the policy,

[32:46] we have what we call the Murray County Employee Time Clock Location and IP

[32:50] Employee Time Clock Location and IP Address

[32:51] Acknowledgement. That's the meat and potatoes of the IP tracking software to

[32:55] potatoes of the IP tracking software to ensure

[32:56] that employees aren't stealing county funds because they're abusing time fraud.

[33:01] That's the real crux of it.

[33:02] The other stuff in terms of home and work environment is,

[33:06] It's crucial that we get that right from a legal standpoint because of

[33:10] accommodations and individuals with disabilities, that they can do their work.

[33:14] And if they can do their work from home and the department head believes that

[33:19] and the department head believes that that's

[33:19] well within their ability and power, then that is authorized.

[33:23] But the crux of it, speaking plainly,

[33:25] is we don't want employees stealing time by saying that they're working when

[33:30] by saying that they're working when they're

[33:30] not.

[33:31] Commissioner Burford.

[33:36] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just— my comment, and then I have a question for

[33:42] comment, and then I have a question for you.

[33:42] I'm, I'm of the opinion most employees are basically honest.

[33:47] We just don't want to give them an opportunity to, or make it too tempting to

[33:52] opportunity to, or make it too tempting to cheat.

[33:53] But, uh, I, you know, but there needs to be checks and balances and accountability,

[33:59] but I, I don't see our employees deliberately trying to To cheat the county

[34:05] deliberately trying to To cheat the county out of

[34:05] anything. My concern is data security.

[34:08] And are the employees working from home using county equipment or their personal

[34:14] equipment, their computers?

[34:16] Most employees have a county laptop.

[34:20] Okay.

[34:21] The ones that work from home.

[34:23] So they wouldn't commingle personal and—

[34:25] They should not.

[34:26] And county, because You know,

[34:28] one of the easiest ways to get hacked is open up your email and off you go.

[34:33] And if it's on our system, then, you know, we're vulnerable for that.

[34:38] But I'm knowing our IT, they probably have some safeguards in place for that.

[34:43] So that's my main concern, state of security. Thank you.

[34:47] Commissioner Mullen.

[34:49] Thank you, Chair. My comment also echoes Commissioner Burford's.

[34:55] About the use of personal equipment, and are there barriers in place for VPNs,

[35:02] especially for those sensitive positions where they may be dealing with payroll or

[35:09] other HR activities?

[35:11] They are using county equipment, and if they VPN,

[35:17] it does go to our server.

[35:20] So RIT has their sights on that.

[35:23] Okay.

[35:24] Thank you.

[35:25] Chair? No more questions? All right.

[35:30] We're going to take a vote. All in favor? Approved.

[35:34] We're going to send that to full commission.

[35:40] Next one.

[35:44] Thank you. Building and Zoning Monthly Report. Robert Caldero.

[35:48] It's emailed and he is not here today, so we're going to move on to new business.

[35:54] Approval of the trustees bond. Oh, sorry, Doug.

[35:58] Mr. Chairman, I would like to add an item at the end of new business if you would

[36:03] oblige, um, and I'd take an assist from you, uh, County Attorney,

[36:08] if you could help me out on this.

[36:10] I had a situation come up today, uh,

[36:12] and I have an opportunity to hire an excellent candidate,

[36:16] but I need to hire them above the The first quartile,

[36:20] and that's a policy decision that would usually fall under the HR department's

[36:25] report. It would have been on this committee,

[36:29] but this is something I came across an hour and a half ago,

[36:33] and I'm trying not to wait a month to hire somebody.

[36:36] If you would oblige to add that to the agenda.

[36:39] If not, I can— we can forego it,

[36:42] and I can take it to either next month or the Budget Committee,

[36:46] but it is a policy issue.

[36:48] Okay.

[36:49] Commissioner Saunders?

[36:49] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[36:51] Uh, if you want to do this,

[36:53] you have to suspend your rules and 2/3 majority vote to suspend your rules to

[36:57] add that to the agenda.

[37:10] I'll make a motion to suspend the rules and add it to the agenda.

[37:15] Commissioner Burford.

[37:17] Who else?

[37:18] Commissioner Morrow.

[37:20] So we're going to add that to the agenda.

[37:26] Roll call vote. Commissioner Green?

[37:30] Yes.

[37:31] Commissioner Burford?

[37:33] Yes.

[37:33] Commissioner Morrow?

[37:35] Aye.

[37:36] Commissioner Barnes?

[37:37] Yes.

[37:38] I say yes.

[37:40] So now we've suspended the rules. Now you need to add— vote to add it to the agenda.

[37:47] So we need to vote to add that to the agenda. Motion to add it to the agenda.

[37:53] All in favor?

[37:54] You need a motion and a second. You need a motion and a second.

[37:59] Commissioner Morrow? Thank you, Commissioner Green. Any discussion?

[38:07] Commissioner Morrow?

[38:09] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Doug mentioned this to me earlier, and I support it.

[38:14] It's the candidate that's been identified as an internal promotion from what I

[38:20] gather, and I'm all about promoting internally when we can.

[38:27] That's it. Now you need to let Doug speak. Doug, they gotta vote.

[38:33] We gotta vote.

[38:33] They gotta vote that. They gotta vote on the motion to add it. Yeah. Yeah.

[38:38] So we're voting on the motion to add it to the agenda. All in those favor?

[38:42] That wouldn't—

[38:43] no, we did that.

[38:46] Yeah, we did that.

[38:47] Yeah.

[38:48] It's added to the agenda now.

[38:50] Doug's good.

[38:52] Yes. We didn't vote.

[38:56] So all in favor to add it to the

[39:02] agenda? Against? Approved.

[39:07] Motion passed.

[39:11] All right, Doug.

[39:11] Thank you. And I really appreciate y'all's support and helping my office run

[39:17] efficiently. So as Commissioner Morrow pointed out,

[39:21] I had an accounting operations manager position that was approved by the

[39:26] position that was approved by the commission

[39:27] last year, or in this budget process.

[39:29] I promoted internally,

[39:31] and that candidate that already worked for me accepted that position.

[39:36] It opened up her position, which is the senior accountant position.

[39:41] I had a person here local, highly educated, has their master's degree,

[39:46] in the middle of sitting for the CPA exam,

[39:49] that works with our office closely from the state perspective,

[39:54] that was really competitive in the interview process,

[39:58] and the request was $3,800 above the first quartile, if I'm doing that math right.

[40:04] So I wanted to make sure that I could fund Um, getting this position on there.

[40:09] I have the budget already. It's already in there.

[40:13] Um, so I'd just really like to move on this candidate with their level of

[40:18] this candidate with their level of education

[40:19] and expertise. They're also local to the community.

[40:23] And, um, so happy to answer any, any questions about this candidate,

[40:28] but meets all the minimum and preferred requirements of the job,

[40:32] which is kind of hard for us to find. Joey Allen.

[40:36] I appreciate your support to allow me to hire this person still within the range

[40:42] that is for the position, but above the first quartile.

[40:46] Right now, county policy says you can hire someone at the minimum pay for that

[40:51] position up to the first quartile, but not above it.

[40:55] And so that's why I'm here asking the admin committee for permission.

[41:00] I have the funding through the my budget to go ahead and cover that already.

[41:08] So—

[41:08] Thank you, Doug.

[41:09] I need a motion and a second. Commissioner Morrow? Commissioner Green?

[41:15] For discussion? Any discussion?

[41:17] Yes. Commissioner Morrow?

[41:18] Commissioner Morrow?

[41:20] Just for those of you that are fairly new to the commission,

[41:24] this is not an unusual proceeding.

[41:26] We do this where you have really qualified candidates and And reiterating,

[41:30] I do think it's important that we hire from and promote internally where we can.

[41:35] That supports employee morale, gives us good people, familiarity.

[41:39] They're already established with us. They're already in the community.

[41:43] And I think we benefit from doing that wherever we can.

[41:46] I'm glad to know that there is a candidate suitable to be promoted for this.

[41:50] Thank you.

[41:51] That's it.

[41:53] Any other questions?

[41:55] We're going to take a vote to send this to

[41:59] budget. All in favor?

[42:01] Aye.

[42:03] Opposed? Motion passed.

[42:07] Send it to budget. We're doing approval

[42:12] of trustee bonds and approval of all

[42:17] constable bonds.

[42:23] Separate.

[42:23] Trustee first. Randy Meese, his bond.

[42:28] I have a motion and a second.

[42:30] I need a motion and a second. Connie Green? Commissioner Burford?

[42:34] Commissioner Green?

[42:35] Okay. No discussion.

[42:38] No discussion?

[42:39] No.

[42:41] We need a vote. All those in favor?

[42:44] Aye.

[42:46] All those opposed? Ayes

[42:50] have it. It's approved.

[42:55] It can go to consent.

[42:58] That goes to consent to—

[43:01] what, the budget?

[43:02] Budget.

[43:02] That goes to consent to the Budget Committee. Constables.

[43:09] So then I'm going to read these names off.

[43:13] Erin Easton, Ronald Barnes, David Combs, Ronald Shelton,

[43:19] Joey Potts, Steve Margram, John Tomlinson, Timothy Clark,

[43:25] Nathan Popwell, Roger Maddox, Padraig Ryan.

[43:30] I need approval.

[43:34] Can I get a motion to approve, Commissioner?

[43:38] Commissioner Morrow, Commissioner Green,

[43:42] any discussion?

[43:44] No discussion.

[43:47] See, now we can vote.

[43:51] All those in favor? Sending it

[43:56] to consent.

[44:00] Commissioner Holt.

[44:03] Question, does the county pay for the trustee's bond?

[44:08] No.

[44:08] No, thank you.

[44:09] Oh, does it?

[44:10] The bond for the trustee? Oh yes, for the trustee, yes.

[44:15] Constable or trustee?

[44:16] Oh yes, trustee.

[44:19] For the trustee in Murray County, we absolutely do pay for the bond,

[44:22] and it's because of the amount of money their office handles.

[44:26] Yeah.

[44:26] Why don't we pay for the constable's bond?

[44:29] We don't.

[44:32] I think that Mark may have something on that.

[44:37] No, that's a good question.

[44:38] To my understanding, it's just a state law requirement as part of the office,

[44:42] but I can look more into it.

[44:43] I know some counties do pay for the constables.

[44:45] Is that right? Okay. All right.

[44:47] So maybe it's a county-by-county thing. I can look into that for you, sir.

[44:55] Uh, Commissioner Barnes has a question.

[44:57] Commissioner Barnes.

[44:58] Just to ask a question because I,

[45:00] I don't know the answer to this.

[45:03] What does a bond cost for a constable right now?

[45:06] Uh, hang on, hold on.

[45:10] I want to say it's $100,

[45:13] but I'm not positive.

[45:18] Does anybody know?

[45:20] I think it's $100, but I'm not positive.

[45:22] What does the bond cost for somebody like the trustee?

[45:27] Oh, it's— I'm not entirely sure. He'll know.

[45:34] Trustees for— or sorry,

[45:35] bonds for most of our elected officials are covered under our insurance policy,

[45:41] and even before that, it was as low as $100 a bond back in the the day.

[45:46] Now it's just part of our plan,

[45:48] but the trustee is unique in which they have a lot of money and things that they

[45:53] handle, so I believe we're paying $39,000 for their bond,

[45:57] which is actually not as bad as it has been in the past.

[46:01] I've seen it as high as $74,000.

[46:03] That's a lot of money.

[46:05] Yeah, so it just depends on who bids on it. It's a competitive bid process.

[46:09] We go with the lowest and best. Um, and that's what it was this time.

[46:14] We had one bid on it.

[46:15] Not a whole lot of people were lining up to, to do this one,

[46:18] but it was amenable and we got it done before the statutory, uh, requirements.

[46:23] So thank you.

[46:24] Yes, sir.

[46:25] Does that cover the constables? No.

[46:30] Is there anybody for public comment?

[46:32] No.

[46:34] Nope.

[46:37] We're going to move on. We're going to move that to next month.

[46:42] The appointment for 3 members to the

[46:49] Audit Committee, we're moving that to

[46:56] next month. There's going to be a

[47:02] public hearing, 6 o'clock,

[47:07] September 21st, on—

[47:10] For all those.

[47:12] For all these.

[47:14] We need to—

[47:16] we need to say all of them?

[47:17] Yeah, you need to read it.

[47:19] Okay. So, announcement, public hearing of Plan Development District Map Amendment,

[47:26] Snow Creek Road, requesting approval of Plan Development District map amendment

[47:33] Plan Development District map amendment for

[47:34] Snow Creek Ranch Project.

[47:36] The request including rezone 2 parcels from RG, Residential General District, to

[47:43] from RG, Residential General District, to PD,

[47:43] Plan Development District,

[47:46] approximately 141.8 acres located at 5593 Snow Creek Road, Columbia,

[47:52] Tennessee 38401. That is county tax map 21, Parcel 052, approx—

[47:57] the approximately 103-acre— 103.49 acres located on Snow Creek Road, Columbia,

[48:04] Tennessee. County Tax Map 21, Parcel 54.

[48:08] Proposed Snow Creek Road—

[48:10] Snow Creek Ranch PD would allow the establishment of faith-based retreat

[48:17] establishment of faith-based retreat center for

[48:17] associated recreational facilities and overnight lodging.

[48:23] Second.

[48:25] Darryl and Beverly Mazaleen, applicants and property owners,

[48:31] rezoning approximately 15 acres to property located on 2626 Double Branch,

[48:37] property located on 2626 Double Branch, Columbia,

[48:38] Tennessee, from RG, Residential General, to the AP,

[48:42] Agricultural Preservation District.

[48:45] The property is further identified as a county tax Yes. Map 067, Parcel 11.

[48:52] Theresa Sparks, Jonathan Sparks, Lauren Sparks, Jonathan Sparks, applicant,

[48:59] property owners, rezoning approximately 17.4 acres of property located at 3090

[49:06] Sheepneck Road, East Sheepneck Road, Collioca, Tennessee 38451,

[49:11] from RG Residential to AP Agricultural. Agricultural Preservation District.

[49:18] The property is further identified as County Tax Map 180, Parcel 21.

[49:24] East Sheepneck Valley, LLC, applicant property owner,

[49:28] rezoning approximately 94.57 acres of property located at 3083 East Sheepneck

[49:35] property located at 3083 East Sheepneck Road,

[49:36] Collioca, Tennessee 385451,

[49:38] from RG Residential General District to AP Agriculture Preservation District.

[49:45] The property is further identified as County Map 180, Parcel 21.01.

[49:51] It's 2021 Sparks Community Property Trust, applicant property owner,

[49:57] rezoning approximately 105.28 acres of property located at 3192 East Sheepneck

[50:04] property located at 3192 East Sheepneck Road,

[50:04] Collioca, Tennessee, 38451 from Residential General District to AP,

[50:10] Agriculture Preservation District.

[50:13] The property is further identified as county tax map— county tax map 182,

[50:19] parcel 004.02. Mike Foster, applicant and property owner,

[50:24] rezoning approximately 47.64 acres of property located at 2691 East Sheepneck

[50:31] property located at 2691 East Sheepneck Road,

[50:32] Collioca, Tennessee, 38451, from Residential General District to AP,

[50:38] Agriculture Preservation District.

[50:41] The property is furthermore identified as County Tax Map 180, Parcel 008.

[50:47] Christopher Grambling, Appleclanton property owner,

[50:51] rezoning approximately 37 acres of property, portion located within Maury

[50:58] property, portion located within Maury County,

[50:59] located at 101 East Sheepneck Road, Collioca, Tennessee 38451.

[51:04] From Residential General to Agriculture Preservation District.

[51:09] The property is further identified as County Map— Tax Map 180, Parcel 02200.

[51:16] Asked if anyone has any announcements.

[51:20] Does anyone have any announcements they'd like to make?

[51:24] Budget meeting at 4:30 Monday.

[51:31] Budget meeting, 4:30 Monday.

[51:33] Motion to adjourn.

[51:36] Motion to adjourn. Commissioner Barnes, Commissioner Morrow.

[51:40] We're adjourned.

[51:41] We're adjourned.

Regular September Admin Meeting

Transcript