WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are debating the office’s compensatory time policy — specifically, whether the office employees should earn comp time for hours worked in the commissioners’ Trumbull County Fair booth.

In previous years, the staff has earned comp time for hours spent after a typical work day, in the booth at the fair. The commissioners said employees working the booth receive questions and complaints from citizens and write down those concerns. The booth also promotes the services that are available through the commissioners’ office.

At a July 6 commissioners meeting, Commissioner Niki Frenchko said she disagrees with giving comp time to employees who work the booth.

She said she believes it violates county policy, and she does not think it’s a good use of taxpayer money.

“That has been a standard that has been going on for years since before I took office,” Frenchko said during the meeting. “I said that I disagreed before with employees sitting there and walking around at the fair and receiving comp time, because it says in our policy that comp time can only be earned while at the office. It doesn’t say any type of remote location.

“Also, that is not necessarily part of the job description. I don’t think the taxpayers would be happy to know that they’re giving people compensatory time for working at the fair.”

PAST PAYOUTS

Four members of Trumbull County commissioners’ staff in 2022 received a total of 35.25 hours worth of comp time for working after hours and during the weekend at the fair, during the week of July 11 to 17, according to Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush.

The employees earned the compensation time because their fair work hours were in addition to the 40 hours they worked during the week.

“The commissioners’ booth houses information and employees who act on behalf of the county as public servants to answer questions, take complaints or compliments while, most importantly, promoting our bountiful public services,” DeVengencie-Bush noted.

The commissioners comp time policy does not mention working from the fair or any other location. Condition 6 of the policy states: “Any work performed at home, even if brought home in the evening, does not count as potential comp time.”

Other county offices and officials historically have allowed their employees to work their respective booths — either during their regular shift at their regular compensation rates, or earning comp time, if they’ve worked more than 40 hours during the week and beyond their regular shifts, according to DeVengencie-Bush.

“It is abundantly evident that comp time is not atypical for any of our county entities and it is in no way cashed out as a monetary benefit. Rather it is time off in lieu of overtime wages, which would be of substantial monetary value to the county and its departments,” she said.

WORTH IT?

Frenchko argued what employees have done in past years while working the fair booth has not been worth the compensatory time they have earned.

“Ostensibly, the office ladies are to sit in a booth and take names of those who have questions for commissioners,” Frenchko said. “My idea was to have a free suggestion box. Two years ago, a clerk was ‘working’ the booth but was absent, getting food and walking around, she told me. Unbeknownst to her, I was watching most of her shift from the Republican booth down and diagonal from (the commissioners).”

Responding to Frenchko’s comment saying that it was not part of the commissioners policy, board President Denny Malloy made a motion to allow employees within the commissioners’ office who work in the booth to earn comp time. Malloy argued that what employees do at the fair is important, as they are actively representing the county to the public. He believes some sort of compensation for that is fair.

“I don’t want anybody to have to donate time,” Malloy said. “This is a job, and if they’re at the fair, they’re representing the county office at the fair. They’re there as an employee, they’re helping people.”

Malloy said the employees at the commissioners’ booth bought a clicker to count how many people visit the booth, and he projects that they will interact with more than 3,000 individuals over the course of the 2023 fair.

Malloy said that during the work day, employees from the county auditor’s office have manned the booth, while commissioners office employees take over in the evening. He said the booth has two representatives available in the evening.

“Why wouldn’t we compensate somebody to be there?” Malloy asked. “It makes no sense to tell them that they have to go and do it for free.”

Malloy noted that other county offices, such as the recorder’s office, public health office, highway engineer’s office, and sheriff’s department, are all earning some sort of compensation — either overtime or comp time, for working at their respective fair booths.

APPRECIATIVE

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said that compensating employees for working the fair is not only needed, but that it benefits the county as a whole. He said that the commissioners should be appreciative that their employees are willing to work extra hours at the fair.

“We should feel fortunate that employees are willing to do those after-work hours,” he said. “We’re trying to disseminate valuable information to people and trying to do as much community outreach as we can, so we’re trying to get as much help as we can get.”

Cantalamessa also believes that Frenchko has some misunderstandings regarding comp time.

“There’s a fundamental misunderstanding as to what comp time is,” Cantalamessa said. “I think Miss Frenchko thought that there’s some cash-value wrapped into comp time. There is no cash value, that’s compensatory time. There’s no monetary value or cash behind it — it’s a time-off perk basically.”

DeVengencie-Bush stated the comp time issue does not apply to everyone working the commissioners’ booth at the fair.

“I will not be asking for comp time,” DeVengencie-Bush said. “We are working to minimize the issue.”

DeVengencie-Bush said she has met with nonbargaining unit county employees, such as county Auditor Martha Yoder, to see if they would take time to man the county’s booth during the after-hour times.

DeVengencie-Bush added county employees working the fair primarily are doing so after working their full day shifts in their office for the county.

“They are working a full 40 hours a week doing their regular duties and then are going to man the commissioners’ booth, so we can have a presence at the fair to answer questions residents may have.”

“This is what we, as public servants, are supposed to do,” DeVengencie-Bush said.

DeVengencie-Bush said the county could have more of a problem if it asked employees to work beyond their normal work hours and not compensate them.

“They can go out when they’re off work,” Frenchko said. “Everyone, me included, likes to go out and pet horses and see the animals — but they shouldn’t be earning comp time to do so.”