Changes in procedure to address employees not showing up or responding to their supervisor’s phone calls were discussed this week by the County Road Commission.
According to Road Commission Chairman Bob Joyce, Superintendent Dave Priest is being stretched thin, covering weekend patrols for absent road commission employees. And as Priest noted at the meeting, the road commission is short-staffed to begin with.
“It’s been brought to my attention — guys aren’t answering their phones. Dave (Priest) is coming in and working eight hours. The other day he ran four different routes because guys didn’t want to come in. Guys didn’t answer their phone. Someone from the shop, I understand, didn’t answer his phone. Didn’t call back. What are we going to do about this? It’s ridiculous,” Joyce asked.
According to Priest, years ago, a former manager wrote a “strongly worded” work rule requiring that employees had a certain amount of time to return their calls, and more than two missed work days would result in termination.
“This is definitely a big gap in our contract. It’s not well defined. It says, ‘always on call and reasonably available,’ but obviously that’s not specific enough,” Road Commissioner Manager Brendan Mullane said.
Mullane added that last time this happened, the road commission contacted their legal counsel, who recommended that they just address the individual employees who missed work. Since a different group of employees missed work last weekend, Mullane said he feels that is no longer the right answer.
The road commissioners agreed by consensus to draft a policy or work rule to make certain that employees come into work or at least return their supervisors’ phone calls. This policy will be discussed and considered for approval at a future meeting.
The road commission also approved material purchases for 2024 road projects, including:
• Bids from Team Elmers for 2024 hot-mix asphalt paving for $531,563, for chipseal aggregate, and for 22A gravel, 23A gravel and 10A drain stone.
• A bid from Michigan Paving & Materials for chipseal emulsion and fog seal emulsion.
• A bid from Wolverine Sealcoating, LLC, for crack sealing in the amount of $52,207.25.
• A bid from PK Contracting for pavement marking.
• A bid from Kasson Sand & Gravel for winter sand, riprap 4”-8”, and riprap 8”-16”.
The road commissioners also cast a vote for Jerry Heim of Kalkaska County for the Michigan County Road Association Board of Directors, who was the only candidate on this year’s ballot.
