By VICKI URBANIK

VALPARAISO -- A new policy in the Porter County Assessor's Office dealing with expected workplace behavior is raising some eyebrows, with one county official saying it smacks of "Joseph Stalin tactics."

Porter County Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, questioned the new office policy during budget hearings last week as the council was beginning to review County Assessor John Scott's 2009 budget for his recently expanded office.

Burge said based on what he was told by some employees, he finds the new policy disturbing and not in line for county government since it seems to limit freedom of speech.

But Scott and Chief Deputy Assessor Shirley LaFever said the policy is not unlike rules in other county offices, while council member Dan Whitten, D-at large, said the policy's emphasis on workers getting their job done professionally doesn't seem unreasonable.

In any event, council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, said the matter has been forwarded to the Porter County Commissioners since they are the ones who set employee policy.

Among other provisions, the new policy offers employees one day off with pay every three weeks if they work through their two 15-minute daily breaks.

County Council member Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, a county employee, said it's not fair to give employees a full day off if they voluntarily choose to work through their breaks, which are offered by the county but not mandatory. She also said the council has tried to stop this practice in other offices, but LaFever said other offices offer this same benefit.

Later during the budget hearing, County Auditor Jim Kopp said he, too, gives days off in exchange for working through breaks. But Kopp also said he also incorporates flex-time, with most employees working four days a week by putting in three, nine-hour days and one eight-hour day.

The provisions in the assessor policy that prompted Burge to make a comparison to Stalin dealt with expected behavior.

"Effective immediately, strolls down the hall to other offices and gossiping or socializing is not acceptable behavior," reads one part of the policy. "If you need to go to another office, get what you need and get back to your work station. Socializing can be done at lunch or in off work hours."

Burge said employees are interpreting another part of the new policy as preventing them from talking about what goes on in the assessors' office. "What goes on in our office stays in our office. (A)nything (that) leaves this office will be grounds for automatic termination," the policy reads.

Other parts of the policy deal with penalties for being late or not reporting off work promptly, expectations for office attire, and a prohibition on lunches and snacks at the work place.

Scott said if anyone is interpreting Gestapo-like tactics, they are wrong. He and LaFever both said that other offices have similar rules in place and that the new policy is aimed at establishing a clear chain of command in the office.

As of July 1, the county assessor office added 11 employees as a result of a new state law that abolished the duties of most elected township assessors. Scott hired all but three of the elected assessors to work in the county office. Scott said the new policy has not prompted any complaints from the employees who have been in the office prior to the July 1 transition.

Budget On Hold

The council tabled consideration of the county assessor budget -- along with the 2009 budgets turned in by the former township assessors -- due to uncertainties involving the county takeover of township assessor duties.

County Council Attorney Dave Hollenbeck said the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance now has the position that the new law, H.E.A. 100, requires counties to pay the salaries of elected assessors through the end of their terms in 2010 -- even those who aren't now working for the county assessor. The Indiana Attorney General, however, is of the position that the pay is only required through the end of this year.

Accordingly, the county is still paying all the elected township assessors, even those not working in Scott's office, their 2008 salary. The township assessors submitted budgets keeping their salaries in place for 2009.

Hollenbeck suggested postponing the assessor budgets until the county gets better information on who needs to draw a salary and at what level. The assessor pay issue is now the subject of a lawsuit expected to have statewide implications.

Scott submitted a 2009 proposed budget totaling $548,862, considerably more than the $150,749 budget for this year. The flip side is, pending the outcome of the pay issue, the county won't have to fund individual township assessor budgets, which this year totaled in excess of $640,00 for the 10 townships affected.

Scott's proposed budget set the pay for the five new first deputies at $30,205, which represents a pay cut from the $35,991 salary now being paid to several township assessors hired by Scott. Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st, suggested keeping their pay levels at the same level as this year's, but that prompted one of Scott's new department heads, Janine Crisman, to point out that as a supervisor, she would then be getting less pay than those who work under her.

Posted 8/25/2008