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Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District told KC Recycling staff they need to review and update their employee handbook.
During its board meeting Tuesday, it was discussed that in the last year there have been a few instances where personal time off hours from the previous year were permitted to be used in the current year. This included time used by Tom Ganser, executive director of KC Recycling. This is not explicitly laid out in the KC Recycling handbook as an option.
City attorney Scott Reust insisted Ganser and the board needed to revise the handbook to protect the organization from the State Board of Accounts, which has recently been “more of a watchdog than ever before” and has gone after other entities in the county recently.
Ganser argued all PTO hours permitted to be used from the previous year were presented and approved by the board.
When asked why he had not updated the employee handbook yet, Ganser pointed out KC Recycling had traditionally done and based them off of the county’s employee handbook. However, Ganser had been told Kosciusko County will be updating their handbook soon.
Board member and County Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell agreed with Reust.
Reust pointed out not having an official policy on the books opens KC Recycling up to an employment lawsuit.
Reust told Ganser and the board hiring a professional, employment-focused law firm would be "money well spent." Ganser responded they approached a law firm in 2019, when they last updated the company handbook, to review the document and received a quote of $40,000 for their services.
Board member and Winona Lake Town Councilman Barry Andrew pointed out that Ganser had access to several different employee handbooks, including Kosciusko County's, the city of Warsaw's and private businesses owned by other board members. Andrew described them as “copy and paste options,” since Ganser would theoretically be able to just copy and paste the wording most relevant to the organization’s needs.
Ganser told the board he would work on the employee handbook moving forward.
In other business:
• There was a decrease in the number of tire drop-offs during the Tire Week event in July.
In the May Tire Days, 164 tires were brought in to be disposed of; in the July Tire Days, 149 tires were brought in. This decrease was attributed to the Kosciusko County Fair running the same week, and the decreased air quality due to the wildfires in Canada.
• It was determined KC Recycling will accept tractor tires at the next Tire Week, which is from Monday, Sept. 14 through Friday, Sept. 18.
• The next document Shred Day will be Aug. 12.
