Tompkins County Administrative Policy Manual

EMERGENCY CLOSING OF COUNTY DEPARTMENTS

Effective: November 21, 1995 01-42

Objective: To institute procedures for the closing of County departments during emergency situations. and to minimize inconvenience to recipients of County services.

Definition: "Emergency" means any situation endangering the personal safety of employees or of recipients of County services.

Policy of the Board of Representatives:

Compensation rights of County employees during emergency situations are defined in union bargaining agreements and, for employees not eligible for union representation, in Board Administrative Policy 03-01, Benefits for Non-Unionized Staff.

The County Administrator shall have the sole authority formally to close some or all County offices and operations. This decision shall be coordinated with the decisions of authorized public safety and public works officials, and convenience to the public. Every effort shall be made to communicate effectively during the emergency to employees and to the public the status of County operations.

The County Administrator shall promulgate procedures that carry out this policy.

Procedures of the County Administrator:

1. During typical county-wide weather emergencies, the decision whether and when to close is based solely on the decision of the legally constituted authorities (currently the Chief of Police in the City of Ithaca, and the Sheriff outside the City) to close roads to non-emergency travel. County offices are then closed so that employees may reach their homes or other places of safety while they still can, or (when roads are being closed outside of normal County hours of operation) in acknowledgment of the fact that employees will be unable to reach their places of work.

2. Whenever this decision is made, the County Administrator will close all offices and operations that do not play a role in addressing the emergency.

3. All employees as individuals have the right to safeguard their own personal safety during emergency situations. Therefore any employee who wishes to leave work, or to refrain from coming in to work, when the department has not officially closed, may do so when that employee reasonably believes the emergency situation poses a danger to his or her personal safety. That employee must use an earned fringe.

4. During other kinds of emergencies the County Administrator shall confer with the Fire and Disaster Coordinator, the Chief of Police, the Sheriff and the Public Works Commissioner, as appropriate, and shall then base the decision on whether and when to close some or all offices and operations on the advice received.

5. If a situation arises during an emergency when the number of employees who are at work is so small that the work of the department cannot be effectively carried out and/or the public served, department heads are authorized, on their own initiative, to notify the public using the communications media that their department is closing, or is opening late. This does not constitute an "official closing" as described above. Employees then have the option of reporting or remaining, or not reporting or remaining, at work depending only on their best judgment of the risks that they face. If they decide not to report to work, or if they decide to leave work, they must use a fringe benefit.

6. Department heads are authorized and encouraged to establish their own policies to supplement the above where this is needed to further the objectives of this policy.

7. Notifications of the decision to close and of the time of closing will be made through radio stations WHCU 870 AM and WTKO 1470 AM and through the use of a telephone tree. All employees are advised to rely first on the radio since telephone lines tend to be tied up during emergencies.

8. When the County Administrator has officially closed a department, an office, a building, or an operation the employees who are affected by this are entitled to be paid for "time worked" and to code their time sheet as "Code 1" for the closed period that falls within their department's hours of operation.

Consult bargaining agreements for the details of this, and to determine how this affects employees who had previously scheduled time off.