CITY LOOKS AT EASING DRUG TESTING POLICY

Council Asked To Eliminate Requirement For Umpires, Referees

PORTAGE -- Officials at the city's park department are faced with a
real challenge when hiring umpires, referees and other seasonal help.

A local ordinance requires that the part-time help not only undergo
drug testing, but also agree to pay for it themselves.

While the policy has gone unchallenged for the past eight years, City
Council member Mark Oprisko is now saying that enough is enough.

Oprisko is asking his peers on the council to consider removing
umpires and referees from the drug testing policy. He also supports
the idea of lifting the requirement for other part-time employees as
well, yet does not expect that part of the proposal to go too far.

"I personally feel the amendment will not hurt the integrity or the
positive growth of the Park Department's recreational activities,"
said Oprisko.

The amendment will be taken up for discussion at 4 p.m. Friday by the
City Council's Ordinance Committee.

As chair of that committee, Council member Donna Pappas said that she
has no problem lifting the drug testing requirement for umpires and
referees.

What she is not comfortable with is excluding other part-time
employees who are charged with supervising children and/or operating
machinery.

The drug testing policy in question was adopted by the city eight
years ago as part of a requirement to continue receiving federal
funding, said city attorney Gregg Sobkowski.

The policy requires that anyone seeking a city job submit and pay for
a drug test, he said. Once hired, city employees are also subject to
testing if drug use is suspected, if a job-related accident occurs, or
if the individual holds a position that has an impact on public health
and safety.

The policy has been applied from the start to anyone who could be
loosely be defined as a city employee, whether that be full-time or
part-time status, said Sobkowski, who was among the first to be tested.

The blanket application of this policy poses a real challenge when
park officials need to seek out qualified umpires and referees,
Oprisko said, particularly when there is a last-minute cancellation.
The policy shrinks the pool of eligible candidates.

"I thought, 'This is crazy,' " Oprisko said. "You can't even run a
league."

As far as Park Superintendent Carl Fisher could remember, a game has
never been canceled due to a lack of qualified referees or umpires.

He, nonetheless, agrees that it is time to review the requirement not
only for umpires and referees, but other seasonal help as well.

"It's just something that needs to be resolved," he
said.

A key issue that needs to be kept in mind during this discussion is
that the city is required to test any of its employees whose work
involves the use of federal funding, said Sobkowski. This clearly
would not interfere with the attempt to remove umpires or referees
from the policy, he said, but leaves a need for further research when
it comes to other positions.