- The Montezuma County commissioners consider possible changes to the county handbook around personnel policies.
- Montezuma County commissioners vow to put pressure on the Bureau of Land Management to give the go-ahead to a proposed expansion of the Phil’s World bike trails.
The Montezuma County commissioners are set to talk Monday with department heads about possible changes to the county handbook. Last Monday, they discussed their concerns about current personnel policies, including the fact that employees can accrue large amounts of leave time for which they must be paid when they retire. Administrator Melissa Brunner said a 30-year employee could have six months’ accumulated leave and “that kills budgets”. Commissioner Larry Don Suckla had a different concern, saying the current practice of separating vacation time and sick leave makes people into liars because “during hunting season, everyone has the flu”. Suckla said he prefers “personal time off” for any reason. The commissioners also discussed implementing random employee drug testing. Attorney John Baxter said individual department heads may not want to control what employees do on the weekends and that they have the ability to opt out of the handbook for their departments.
Also last Monday, the commissioners vowed to put pressure on the Bureau of Land Management to give the go-ahead to a proposed expansion of the Phil’s World bike trail east of Cortez. Commissioner Larry Don Suckla said the Southwest Cycling Association is seeking a $100,000 grant for the expansion and needs BLM approval to get the grant, but the agency is not set to make a decision until April. The commissioners said they will take up the matter with BLM officials the next time they come before the board.
