DRUG TESTING POLICY CONSIDERED

Georgetown Council Discusses Electric Fee

GEORGETOWN - Drug testing may soon be required of all persons
employed by the Village of Georgetown. At the regular meeting Jan.
25, council discussed progress on the development of a mandatory
drug policy. Some months ago, council member Gloria Parker began a
discussion about the possibility of mandatory drug testing for
village employees, including policemen, firefighters and utilities
workers. Council generally agreed with the idea, although it has
taken some time filling out the finer points.

During Thursday's meeting, council member Ray Becraft gave an update
from a personnel and ethics committee meeting the night before.
Becraft told council that, save a few questions, the policy is
nearly complete.

"I think just about everything is covered," said Becraft.

Questions were raised if volunteer and part-time employees will be
included in the mandatory testing. Becraft believed personnel other
than part-time would have to fulfill the requirement as well.

"The original policy we had had all volunteers (included)," said Becraft.

Including part-time help led to more questions about arranging the
tests. Nearly all police and fire department volunteers work day
jobs outside the village and most part-time workers have other jobs
as well. Council had discussed possibly requiring one random test
to each employee through the course of the year, and councilman Dale
Cahall said it would be difficult for the schedules of part-time and
volunteer workers to coincide with a random test.

Council discussed requiring part-time and volunteer employees to be
tested only in the event of an accident or suspicion of drug use,
but no concrete decision was reached.

Becraft said the village will try to utilize Brown County General
Hospital for drug testing services, although other facilities are
being considered as well.

"Our first choice would be to try to do it (testing) locally," said
Becraft. "But once the policy is finished we may need an alternative."

Testing is available at BCGH from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and may be
available after hours for a higher fee.

Other questions included rehabilitation and the testing of elected officials.

Becraft asked if the village would be required to provide some type
of treatment if an employee failed the test, and if that treatment
would be covered by the village insurance policy.

Village solicitor Jay Cutrell said the village would probably not be
obligated to provide treatment.

As to elected officials being tested, Cutrell indicated there is no
prevision barring the testing of elected officials, although statute
does not allow for an elected official to be dismissed or
disqualified for failing.

Council and Cutrell agreed to look over a draft of the policy and
discuss it again at the next meeting.

Also Thursday, council discussed charging residents for the
installation of secondary electric. The village recently approved a
rate hike for several village services, such as gravel and some
utilities, but council is yet to decide if Georgetown will charge
for secondary electric, which is the line that runs from
a transformer to a home.

When the rate changes were enacted, the utilities committee
recommended a charge near the village's actual cost of installation,
which would be around $1,700 or $1,800 if the secondary were to run
over 100 feet. Primary installation (from transformer to
transformer) would still be covered by the village.

Some council members initially thought the charge would be too high,
especially since the costs will eventually be regained by the
village through electric rates. Other council members thought
secondary takes a long time to install and prevents workers from
doing more important jobs, such as installing primary.

The issue was previously returned to committee, but Becraft said it
came back out of committee with a 2 to 1 vote.

While Georgetown has traditionally offered primary and secondary
hook-up free of charge, nearly all surrounding villages have some
fee for the secondary service or require customers to do the
installation themselves.

"All surrounding communities have a charge for this," said Cahall.
"We ought to try to recoup some of that expense.

After discussion, council instructed Cutrell to draw up an ordinance
with the rate change to present at council's next meeting.