Council looks to update employee handbooks

The need for a uniform, up-to-date employee handbook was the center of discussion at the El Dorado Finance Committee meeting Tuesday.

Committee chairwoman and Ward 4 Alderwoman Diane Hammond brought up the issue of creating a handbook for the El Dorado Water Utilities, which was recently put under the direction of the city council after the Water and Sewer Commission was dissolved in July.

Hammond said she went by the water utilities office and received a copy of the current handbook, as well as a copy that former general manager Mark Smith had been working on to present to the now dissolved water commission as a replacement.

Hammond said a committee should read over the documents and decide what policies should be included.

“I think this is going to take some research to do this correctly,” Hammond said.

Public Works Superintendent Robert Edmonds said that when the city took over the water utilities, every member of the company was issued a city of El Dorado employee manual and employees should be following those policies. Edmonds noted that the city handbook also could use an update.

“When we took the water utilities over, those employees were all issued our handbook,” Edmonds said.

Ward 3 Alderman Willie McGhee opposed the idea of setting up a committee at the finance meeting, noting that it should be an issue that the entire city council is involved in.

“I think since we are trying to make a policy for all the employees … every councilman should be a part of that committee, even if we have to do a Saturday workshop or something,” McGhee said. “We are about to take an entity that is used to working under their own umbrella to bring them back into the fold. I think that we all need to be on the same page when we make these policies and procedures so we all will know when we get a question.”

Mayor Frank Hash agreed with McGhee and suggested bringing the issue to the council at the next meeting.