Dale commissioner asks for clarification on COVID guidelines

How to ensure that employees exposed to the coronavirus follow quarantine guidelines was a question at the Dale County Commission meeting Jan. 12.

Dale County Commissioner Frankie Wilson asked for clarification on the employee policy requirements for quarantine following COVID-19 exposure.

Wilson’s questions came as the commission was voting to rescind two resolutions they passed in 2020 granting special administrative leave with pay to be used by employees who came in contact “with a known case of COVID-19.”

In a commission resolution passed March 24, 2020, each county employee was granted 100 hours of special administrative leave with pay “to be used as directed by the administrative office of the commission, in consultation with department supervisors, for the purpose of minimizing the density of county workers so as to comply with Centers for Disease Control directives.”

A commission resolution passed April 14, 2020 grants an additional 40 hours of special administrative leave with pay.

The paid leave was made available through a federal CARES—Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security—Act economic stimulus bill signed into law March 27, 2020 in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

On Jan. 11, Association of County Commissioners of Alabama Executive Director Sonny Brasfield told the 67 member counties that some $70 million in CARES Act money not spent by the counties before a Dec. 30, 2020 deadline was being rerouted into the state’s unemployment fund.

“These resolutions were initially passed with the CARES Act funding in place,” Dale County Commission Chairman Steve McKinnon explained. “But the CARES Act came to a halt as of Dec. 30, 2020.”

The issue of options for an employee exposed to COVID-19 who has no sick leave or vacation time was discussed. Dale County Administrator Cheryl Ganey said that the current county personnel policy allows for employees to donate sick leave hours to another employee. “Someone who is new and doesn’t have sick leave accumulated can qualify for a sick leave donation from another employee,” Ganey said. “So we are asking all department heads to make sure that their employees know that.”

Ganey also noted that the county has spent CARES Act money available since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic to enhance social distancing mandates and sanitation measures and procedures in the county offices and buildings.

In unrelated business, the commission authorized the emergency expenditure of $4,672 to replace the cooling system in the county morgue.

In other business, the commission also appointed John Crawley, Casey Miller and Adam Bruhn as Deputy Dale County Coroners.

The commission also reappointed Dale County Commissioner Frankie Wilson to the Dale County E911 Advisory Board, appointed Tommy Farmer to the board and appointed Aubrey Peters as an alternate.

The next meeting of the Dale County Commission is Jan. 26 in the Dale County Government Building in Ozark. A work session begins at 10 a.m. and is followed immediately by a voting meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.