Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jan 2007
Source: News Democrat (Georgetown, OH)
Copyright: 2007 Brown Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2886
Author: Michael Arthur, Associate editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)

DRUG TESTING POLICY CONSIDERED

Georgetown Council Discusses Electric Fee

GEORGETOWN - Drug testing may soon be required of all  persons 
employed by the Village of Georgetown. At the  regular meeting Jan. 
25, council discussed progress on  the development of a mandatory 
drug policy. Some months  ago, council member Gloria Parker began a 
discussion  about the possibility of mandatory drug testing for 
village employees, including policemen, firefighters  and utilities 
workers. Council generally agreed with  the idea, although it has 
taken some time filling out  the finer points.

During Thursday's meeting, council member Ray Becraft  gave an update 
from a personnel and ethics committee  meeting the night before. 
Becraft told council that,  save a few questions, the policy is 
nearly complete.

"I think just about everything is covered," said  Becraft.

Questions were raised if volunteer and part-time  employees will be 
included in the mandatory testing.  Becraft believed personnel other 
than part-time would  have to fulfill the requirement as well.

"The original policy we had had all volunteers  (included)," said Becraft.

Including part-time help led to more questions about  arranging the 
tests. Nearly all police and fire  department volunteers work day 
jobs outside the village  and most part-time workers have other jobs 
as well.  Council had discussed possibly requiring one random  test 
to each employee through the course of the year,  and councilman Dale 
Cahall said it would be difficult  for the schedules of part-time and 
volunteer workers to  coincide with a random test.

Council discussed requiring part-time and volunteer  employees to be 
tested only in the event of an accident  or suspicion of drug use, 
but no concrete decision was  reached.

Becraft said the village will try to utilize Brown  County General 
Hospital for drug testing services,  although other facilities are 
being considered as well.

"Our first choice would be to try to do it (testing)  locally," said 
Becraft. "But once the policy is  finished we may need an alternative."

Testing is available at BCGH from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30  p.m. and may be 
available after hours for a higher fee.

Other questions included rehabilitation and the testing  of elected officials.

Becraft asked if the village would be required to  provide some type 
of treatment if an employee failed  the test, and if that treatment 
would be covered by the  village insurance policy.

Village solicitor Jay Cutrell said the village would  probably not be 
obligated to provide treatment.

As to elected officials being tested, Cutrell indicated  there is no 
prevision barring the testing of elected  officials, although statute 
does not allow for an  elected official to be dismissed or 
disqualified for  failing.

Council and Cutrell agreed to look over a draft of the  policy and 
discuss it again at the next meeting.

Also Thursday, council discussed charging residents for  the 
installation of secondary electric. The village  recently approved a 
rate hike for several village  services, such as gravel and some 
utilities, but  council is yet to decide if Georgetown will charge 
for secondary electric, which is the line that runs from 
a  transformer to a home.

When the rate changes were enacted, the utilities  committee 
recommended a charge near the village's  actual cost of installation, 
which would be around  $1,700 or $1,800 if the secondary were to run 
over 100  feet. Primary installation (from transformer to 
transformer) would still be covered by the village.

Some council members initially thought the charge would  be too high, 
especially since the costs will eventually  be regained by the 
village through electric rates.  Other council members thought 
secondary takes a long  time to install and prevents workers from 
doing more important jobs, such as installing primary.

The issue was previously returned to committee, but  Becraft said it 
came back out of committee with a 2 to  1 vote.

While Georgetown has traditionally offered primary and  secondary 
hook-up free of charge, nearly all  surrounding villages have some 
fee for the secondary  service or require customers to do the 
installation themselves.

"All surrounding communities have a charge for this,"  said Cahall. 
"We ought to try to recoup some of that  expense.

After discussion, council instructed Cutrell to draw up  an ordinance 
with the rate change to present at  council's next meeting.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman