Few managers would operate their private companies without basic rules spelling out things like how hourly employees record the hours they’ve worked or descriptions of exactly what employees are supposed to be doing.

From our vantage point, these types of guidelines might be even more important in the public sector because public jobs so often are coveted, and hiring often is scrutinized by members of the taxpayers who pay the bills.

This is why we are so puzzled about why Trumbull County government operates without clearly defined or up-to-date policies like employee job descriptions, time-clock guidelines or a standard hiring policy.

Even more puzzling is why two of the Trumbull County commissioners, Frank Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa, seem averse to creating or approving such policies.

It was Sept. 22 when Fuda and Cantalamessa voted down several county employment policies proposed by their colleague, Commissioner Niki Frenchko.

Now, it’s an understatement to say that Fuda and Cantalamessa, both Democrats, routinely split from Frenchko, a Republican, on issues like governing the county, managing employees, conducting meetings and, well, virtually everything else that comes up for discussion.

We get it — the three rarely see eye to eye.

But whether or not the two Democratic commissioners approve of the way Frenchko conducts business, the fact remains that some of Frenchko’s suggestions are warranted. Case in point, Trumbull County should have rules on how it advertises job openings. That would ensure that everyone who is qualified will have a fair and equal opportunity to apply and be considered for the job.

Fuda and Cantalamessa voted no on Frenchko’s suggested policy.

Additionally, the two voted no on a resolution put forth by Frenchko that would require job descriptions for employees who don’t have them and updating them. Frenchko says the last time these job descriptions were updated was in the 1990s.

Fuda and Cantalamessa also voted no on requiring county employees who don’t punch a time clock to keep a written record of their time.

Cantalamessa did say he believes some good ideas exist in Frenchko’s proposals, but it also contains some things with which he’s not comfortable.

“I would like to rework some of those items,” Cantalamessa said. “You put your agenda items on; I’ll put mine on.”

Great! That’s a start.

Regarding the motion made by Frenchko to implement a time-card policy for commissioners employees, Fuda said he “saw some merit” in the time sheet idea but doesn’t agree with the wording of the motion. He voted no and said, “We can revisit this.”

But since that Sept. 22 meeting, the matter has not been revisited.

If the two commissioners truly agree, as they stated, that there is a need for these policies but they simply disagree on the language, then why not open the matter up for orderly public discussion? Or if that isn’t possible (and based on their routine conduct at weekly commissioners board meetings, we suspect it isn’t), then we urge them to sit down individually and redraft the language in a way that they feel would be more appropriate and then present it for a vote at an upcoming meeting.

We’ll be eagerly waiting.

editorial@vindy.com