LUB to examine personnel policie

Parker Wright news-herald.net

Loudon Utilities Board could make changes to policies affecting personnel.

The current policy requires LUB employees to live within the utility district limits. Ty Ross, LUB manager, requested at Monday’s workshop that the policy be lifted because it is “archaic” and is causing issues among some employees.

“We have a utility employee that has inherited property just outside the district,” Ross said. “It’s a nice, inexpensive place to live, but again they are unable to take advantage of it because of the policy. We also have a situation where an employee has a spouse who has a great job in Knoxville, and simply desires to split the commute between two work places.”

Ross suggested when hiring that LUB look at a potential employee’s ability instead of where they live. However, if two equally qualified employees are “standing beside each other,” the local employee would be preferred, he said.

“In today’s world, you’ve got people living everywhere,” Tim Dixon, LUB board member, said. “You know, they don’t just live in the current location here.”

Bart Watson, LUB board member, worried about employees being able to report to work on time.

“In addition to that (policy change request), I would ask that we remove the nepotism clause that’s inside the policy because — and it’s a personal belief of mine — if someone, if the best qualified candidate for a position just happens to be related to someone at the utility, well that’s not really fair to our rate payers,” Ross said.

As long as common sense is used, kin working together would not pose any conflicts of interest, he said.

Watson said having family members work alongside each other might not be a good idea. He gave the example if two family members worked in the same team and one died, the team would temporarily lose two members while the one family member took leave of absence for grieving.

“Side by side, we would do our best to avoid that scenario because you wouldn’t want a single crew or department dependent on one family,” Ross said.

Dixon pointed to the unlikelihood of such events taking place. Most of the board members spoke out in agreement with the requests for change.

Gene Farmer, LUB board member, advised it would be best to “leave (the decision) to the discretion of each department and they can make the decision.”

“What if in 12 years, it’s run amok, and we need to bring it back in? Will we be able to simply make a change?” Dixon said.

Ross assured board members once passed the ordinance could be revisited and amended.

“I think we’re up for the change,” Don Campbell, LUB board chairman, said.