Chapter 2.35
OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES – REGULATIONS
Sections:
2.35.010 Compensation of officers and employees.
2.35.015 Meals furnished for certain workers responding to an exigency involving streets.
2.35.030 Authority of town council to reimburse town officials for certain expenses.
2.35.050 Military leaves of absence.
2.35.060 Municipal officers and employees bonds.
2.35.010 Compensation of officers and employees.
Officers and employees of the town shall be compensated at a rate as established by town council ordinance from time to time. [Code 2000 § 33.01].
2.35.015 Meals furnished for certain workers responding to an exigency involving streets.
(A) Whenever municipal employees are duly assigned and responding to an exigent matter involving the operating conditions of local roads and streets, as described herein, the director or assistant director of public works is authorized to furnish a meal for the assigned and responding employees, when it is deemed to be for the convenience of the employer in satisfaction of the relevant regulations adopted by the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Treasury Department;
(B) “Exigent matter involving the operating conditions of local roads and streets” means incidents of snow, ice, or flooding that compromise the safety of public ways and arrest the ordinary flow of traffic, and other extreme weather hazards for which there has been effort expended for at least four consecutive hours to remediate;
(C) Any accounts payable voucher for the furnishing of such meal shall be prepared with reasonable detail and filed in the usual manner particularly setting forth the employees for whom the meal was furnished;
(D) The amount expensed for any such meal shall not be in excess of the daily reimbursement limitations for meals while traveling as set forth and established by the municipality in its most recently enacted and effective compensation and benefits ordinance. [Ord. 1553 § 1, 2014; Ord. 1571 § 8, 2014].
2.35.020 Benefits generally.
Employee benefits, including but not limited to sick leave and vacation, shall be as determined by ordinance adopted from time to time. [Code 1983 § 2-51; Code 2000 § 33.02].
2.35.030 Authority of town council to reimburse town officials for certain expenses.
The town council is hereby authorized to budget and appropriate funds from the general fund of the town to pay the expenses of, and to reimburse, town officials for expenses incurred in promoting the best interests of the town. Such expenses may include, but not necessarily be limited to, meals, decorations, memorabilia, awards, expenses incurred in interviewing job applicants, expenses incurred in promoting industrial, commercial, and residential development, expenses incurred in developing relations with other units of government, and any other expenses of civic or governmental nature deemed by the town council to be in the interests of the town. [Ord. 880, 1982. Code 1983 § 2-52. Code 2000 § 33.03].
2.35.040 Retirement age.
(A) Except where otherwise provided for the purposes of this section, the term “employee” shall be defined as any person appointed, employed or retained by any public office or public body of the town, whether part-time or full-time.
(B) The term “employee” shall not include any person elected by the voters of the whole town in a special or general election or selected as a pro tempore appointment, pursuant to IC 3-13-11 et seq., or any person appointed by the municipal executive, the legislative body or the fiscal body to a board, council or commission of the municipality.
(C) Employees shall retire from municipal duty at the age of 75 years, and the date of such retirement shall be at the end of the municipal fiscal year in which their seventy-fifth birthday is attained.
(D) The town council may waive mandatory retirement and grant an extension of duties for each municipal year, upon making the following determinations:
(1) That an employee is deemed physically and mentally able to the perform the employee’s normal duties; and
(2) That granting such waiver and extension is in the best interests of the town. [Ord. 1560.1557-A § 1, 2014].
2.35.050 Military leaves of absence.
(A) All full-time, nonseasonal employees of the town of Highland, who are members of the Indiana National Guard, the reserve components, the retired personnel of the naval, air, or ground forces, or a reserve member of the Armed Forces of the United States, are entitled to leave of absence from their respective duties, in addition to regular vacation period, without loss of pay for such time as they are: on state active duty under IC 10-2-4-4; on training duties of the state of Indiana under order of the Governor as commander in chief; members of any reserve component under the order of the reserve component authority; or on temporary military training duties of the United States Armed Forces under orders from the Department of Defense or the Department of Transportation for consecutive or nonconsecutive periods not to exceed a total of 15 days in any calendar year.
(B) Such a person is required to provide the town with evidence of the dates of departure and return as soon as practicable prior to departure and shall be required to furnish the town, upon return, evidence of satisfactory completion of such training. [Res. 92-24, 1992. Code 1983 § 2-54; Code 2000 § 33.05].
2.35.060 Municipal officers and employees bonds.
(A) Except as otherwise provided by law or expressly indicated otherwise by ordinance of the unit, the clerk-treasurer shall, in the manner prescribed by IC 5-4-1, cause the purchase of a blanket bond in the sum of $60,000 payable to the state of Indiana, pursuant to IC 5-4-1-10, to be approved by the town council president.
(B) The bond shall be conditioned upon the faithful performance of all municipal officers, employees, commission members and persons acting on behalf of the local government including the municipal utilities, including the duty to comply with IC 35-44.1-1-1 and the duty to account properly for all monies and property received by virtue of the officers’ or employees’ service in the offices or positions.
(C) The premium upon said bond shall be paid from the proper funds of the municipality. Said bond may be executed with any recognized and responsible surety company authorized to do business in the state of Indiana, pursuant to IC 5-4-1 et seq.
(D) The bond shall be filed in the office of the clerk-treasurer and recorded in the office of the recorder of Lake County, pursuant to IC 5-4-1-5.1. [Ord. 1681 § 1, 2018].