As a public employee for the past 25+ years, I am familiar with how public employee benefit systems work. Vacation and sick leave is accrued at a fixed number of hours every month, and those hours are documented in an employment record keeping system, where both the employer and employees know monthly what their vacation and sick leave accruals are. Sick leave balances are forfeited when leaving public employment. Vacation balances are limited to a fixed number of hours that will be compensated for when leaving public employment. Every public employee receives some type of public employee handbook when they are employed by a public governing body, where these policies are clearly written.
I have several questions for Cris Patnode that pertain to public employee benefits policy on vacation leave. Did you ask the Gilliam County Court to compensate you for 19 years of undocumented vacation leave you claimed to be entitled to from your position of Justice of the Peace? Did the Court decline to accept your request, and instead agree to pay you for 240 hours of undocumented vacation time at a cost of $12,000 to county taxpayers?
Another public employee benefit issue pertains to mileage reimbursement. Work-related mileage is reimbursed at a per-mile rate set by the state, with required documentation including odometer readings, points of departure and destination, as well as the reason for the use of a private vehicle for public business. Law enforcement and other emergency service personnel are often required to have their public vehicles available to them at all times, and this mileage is included in the agency budget. The mileage incurred by most public employees in commuting from their chosen place of residence to their work place is the responsibility of the employee, and no reimbursement is allowed.
My question for Cris Patnode pertains to private vehicle mileage reimbursement. Did you suggest to Commissioner Shannon that you might bill Gilliam County $85,000 for the commuting mileage you incurred for the last 19 years while serving as Justice of the Peace?
If elected County Judge, Cris, do you intend to offer these same vacation and commuting mileage benefits to all Gilliam County employees? Will these benefits become a part of the public employee handbook, or just allowed without any formal public policy or documentation?
Respectfully submitted,
Jordan B Maley
Condon, Oregon
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