The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors discussed department heads’ conflicts with the county employee handbook, despite the absence of a mediator from law firm Ahlers & Cooney at Tuesday’s meeting.

Attorney Mike Galloway was planning to attend the Board’s meeting to discuss revisions he made to the handbook based on the version the Supervisors approved last November, and edits suggested by three department heads whose offices have not been given the remaining 25% of this fiscal year’s budget: Attorney, Recorder, and Sheriff. However, Galloway was ill, so County Attorney Brenna Bird recommended to the Board that they wait to discuss these changes until he is able to meet with them and Human Resources Director Pam Lane, “Because the reality of the way a handbook works for an elected office. The reason why we need to get it right and have something that is agreed to is because the way it works in an elected official’s office, if they adopt a handbook one day they can go ahead and repeal it or change it the next day. We’re trying not to do that, we want to have something that we’ve all worked through, we just have to drag it across the finish line. We’re not here yet, none of us planned on Mike (Galloway) not being here.”

Bird stated that not all of her proposed changes are in the latest version of the handbook, and there are complaints from Lane on the language as well. The Board insisted on going through the points of contention of the handbook, including language on sexual harassment investigations, doctor’s notes for employees on sick leave, and storage of medical records for those receiving workers compensation. No action was taken on the handbook, and the Board tabled the third appropriations resolution for the three departments. Those offices currently aren’t funded for April through June. The Supervisors agreed to schedule a discussion with Galloway, Bird, Lane, and Board Chair and Vice Chair Mike Dickson and JD Kuster to come to an agreement on the handbook.