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REGIONAL NEWS & INVESTIGATIONS
PO BOX 161702, Duluth MN 55816
Email contact@duluthmonitor.com
Phone (218) 391 - 8791
- All rights reserved.
You are one of my favorite journalists, really, you have transformed my understanding of the city so many times, I can’t count.
But I think you are barking up the wrong tree, picking a fight that isn’t there.
See:
Minnesota labor laws require employer to provide employees restroom time and sufficient time to eat a meal. The meal time requirement applies to employees who work eight (8) or more consecutive hours. If the break is less than twenty (20) minutes in duration, it must be paid. Time to use the nearest restroom must be provided within each four (4) consecutive hours of work. Minn. Statutes 177.253 and 177.254.
Under twenty minutes, this is basically the standard bathroom break offered every retail employee, guaranteed them by law. Only when it cracks 20 minutes is there a problem.
Thank you for your comments. My issue is not with people getting paid for their breaks. My issue is that, in this case, they could be getting paid to conduct business instead. Forget about taking a break. Just go right into the next room and start the meeting. If anyone needs the bathroom, they can take a few minutes en route.
The regular board meeting starts at 9:30. Unless there are unusual circumstances, it is over by 10:30 or 11. According to the meeting agenda, the Committee of the Whole meeting is supposed to start “immediately following” the regular meeting. Instead, the chair says, “Let’s take five minutes,” and everybody disappears for up to half an hour. I have observed that people are accustomed to treating this break between meetings as a social hour. I just don’t think it’s the greatest use of their time–or the public’s. They could skip the break and start the meeting on time, and the public could go home 20 minutes early.
Journalist VS Columnist, what is the Monitor? You decide. I appreciate the Monitor for what it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist
Thank you for being a watchdog of the government.
I am interested in what is the per diem? Gas allowance? County cars? What is the pension contribution? Health insurance? All the other benefits?
Years ago (I do not know about now), the commissioners set their own hours and were not monitored or required to work 40 or 45 hours.
But thank you again. Government at all levels should be held more accountable. The time for tightening the purse strings is coming fast. The higher up you go in government, the more waste there is. The 100-dollar toilet seat from years ago maybe today is a bargain!
You are back!
Doing what I come to this web site for!!
Thank You!!!
Your analysis seems faulty, since if all these people are on salary, it doesn’t matter if they take one hour or 5 hours for each meeting, as long as the work gets done. There don’t seem to be larger costs incurred with longer meetings.
There is no extra $6,000 being paid in this scenario. This appears to be sensationalist reporting unless they are being compensated on an hourly basis.
There is no extra money being paid. However, taxpayers are paying $6,000 for commissioners and senior staff to drink coffee and swap jokes, when we could be paying them that same $6,000 to work. I’m sure they could find something productive to do with an extra 20 minutes in their day. There is no need for them to have a social hour between the regular meeting and the Committee of the Whole meeting. If the agenda states that Committee of the Whole meetings will begin “immediately following” regular meetings, then they should. Otherwise, larger costs are incurred by members of the public who show up on time, but have to hang around waiting for Beth Olson to finish her blueberry Danish.
The public have no say in the meeting conduct or scheduling. If the work gets done and all items are addressed, that’s all that matters. You cite an entirely fictional and sensationalist $6,000. This does not exist.
Ah, but the public does have a say: They have a right to expect that meetings will follow the Open Meeting Law. Under the OML, meetings are supposed to have specific start times. But the County Board merely says that Committee of the Whole meetings will begin “immediately following” the regular board meetings—whether the regular meetings are 20 minutes long or four hours long. Then, because the Board does not feel bound by any specific start time for their Committee of the Whole, they interpret “immediately” by adding another 20-minute break between meetings so they can eat doughnuts. If they followed the Open Meeting Law and held their meetings at a particular time, the social hour would be dispensed with and county employees could spend the time working instead. I am awaiting a formal opinion from the state auditor’s office on the county’s OML failings.