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There will be some changes coming soon to the Bridge City personnel policy.

The Bridge City City Council met for their regular meeting on Tuesday night. On the agenda was a workshop amending the policy.

City Manager Jerry Jones reported three items in the personnel policy he wanted to address: sick leave, employees taking off for Veterans Day and paying for meals for out-of-town travel.

Jones said the issue of sick pay was addressed during the last police contract negotiation. It was agreed for the police the amount of sick leave accumulated would be from 350 hours to 500 hours. The police agreed upon the 350 hours contract.

Councilman Kevin Mott asked how the new policy would affect the city financially. Jones said there is additional money set aside in the general fund for a worst case scenario if all eligible employees retired did so at the same time.

Mayor Kirk Roccaforte asked the number of employees who accumulated 500 hours. He was told there are less than 10. Jones said he doesn’t want employees to use the sick days as another vacation day. “We want to discourage them not to burn it,” he said. On the second item, Jones said the council added Veterans Day as a paid holiday, giving employees a total of 12 holidays. Jones introduced an ordinance to rescind that.

Employees also have a floating holiday to use if, for instance, a holiday falls on a Thursday and Friday would be a holiday. The floating holiday has already been taken this year.

Mott was concerned for the city to pay a whole day’s wage of cost and not have it in the budget.

The motion was approved.

Employees’ meals will increase from $25 to $40 a day. Jones said he checked with surrounding cities that pay their employees $40. Jones also said the city formerly used a rating system to grade employee performance. The city no longer grades employees and now looks at the entire city to evaluate. Mott asked how employees are evaluated in order to receive pay raises.

Jones answered employees are visited with throughout the year. “The evaluation process really doesn’t work,” he said. Roccaforte said the council can decide in the future if they want some kind of evaluation system. Jones added the city is too small to use the evaluation system.

“If the employee is not doing what he supposed to be doing, then we call them in that day with their supervisor,” Jones said. “If they’re not doing the job expected of them the supervisor will get rid of him. We’re so small, if one guy doesn’t carry the load, we’re in trouble. The incentive is to do this and get more money.”

In other council business, Jones reported shoulder work and driveways on Sudduth have been completed and work on the streets of East and West Darby, La Mesa, Romero, Gilmer Street Extension and Short will be completed at the end of the month. The council approved changing an Office District at 810 W. Roundbunch at Lot 1 Block 2 Palm Ridge #1 to be C-3, Third Commercial District.

Paul Zoch is making the request to place a sno cone business on an .267 acre tract. Roccaforte said there’s not enough room on the land for anything larger.

Lastly, a commercial lease agreement with Tony Houseman Companies for a 12-month period commencing Sept. 1, 2014 and ending Aug. 31, 2015 was renewed.

The property is on Texas Avenue, south of Cow Bayou on a 4.5 acre tract.

Photo -The week of November 3 through November 7 was proclaimed as “Municipal Court Week” in Bridge City.

Pictured from left are: Mayor Kirk Roccaforte, City Secretary Sherry Tisdale, Judge Jimmy Scales, Lisa Hammerly, City Attorney Paul Fukuda, Don Peters and Terry Smith.

RECORD PHOTO: David Ball