The employee handbook for Carter County employees grew by more than two dozen pages to add language that defines various aspects of the county’s leave policies and adheres to federal law. The Carter County Commission on Monday voted unanimously to approve the updates without any major changes to how the policy impacts employees.
The county still provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for most employees under the approved updates, but language now defines family leave, medical leave, and other qualifying reasons. Qualified military leave still provides up to 26 weeks of paid leave during a single 12-month period, according to the updated employee handbook.
The update to the handbook is in compliance with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, first passed by Congress in 1993 to protect workers who must take extended time from work under qualifying conditions. County staff said the updates were recommendations from the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma for insurance purposes.
The Carter County Commission on Monday also approved state acquisitions of right-of-ways for planned improvements on Newport Road. Commission Chair Barry Lee-Brinkman said that commission approval of five claim forms totaling $6,375 is for Oklahoma Department of Transportation to make the purchases for the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) project through the Circuit Engineering District.
“All of this will not be paid directly out of Carter County, this will be paid by the state through the CIRB project in coordination with the federal funds we received from Sen. (Tom) Cole’s office,” he said.
Lee-Brinkman also said that some residents have asked about the scope of the Newport Road project and if it would include a large truck route. He said that the road will be improved but will remain the same width despite recent right-of-way acquisitions.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation. When there’s 89 parcels to deal with, its not like you can just go out and visit with everybody. Some of them live here, some of them don’t,” Lee-Brinkman said.
In other business, the Carter County Commission on Monday:
- took no action regarding a plat of Silver Creek Ranch citing lack of jurisdiction;
- approved two road crossing permits on Knob Hill Road and one road crossing permit on Continental Road, both for Select Water in District 2;
- approved one road crossing permit for LTP Enterprises on Yellow Page Road in District 2;
- approved transferring $4,500 of appropriations from Sheriff’s Maintenance and Operating Fund to Sheriff’s Travel Fund;
- approved payroll affidavit for February;
- approved monthly appropriations and officers’ reports;
- approved requisitions and purchase orders for county highway, general government, and all cash accounts.
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