The city of Stevens Point changed its policy for disciplinary firings of its employees from an “at will” policy, meaning the city could fire an employee without explicit reasoning, to a “just cause” policy, meaning the city would need to follow specific guidelines when firing an employee.

Stevens Point Director of Public Works Joel Lemke said the just cause policy is how he and other department heads have been operating at an unofficial capacity for years and setting a legal guideline and creating a uniform policy could be beneficial to the city.

“I talked to staff, I talked to individuals who would be affected as employees by this and I think this is a really fair and considerate (policy). I think it’s going to make everybody happy, I think it’s good for everyone,” said Heidi Oberstadt, District 4.

“I went and spoke to the directors and this is better than the first (draft), I still have the feeling of ‘why change something that’s not broken?’ But this is better,” said Jeremy Slowinski, District 6.

“I spoke with management and employees regarding this issue,” said Denise Mrozek, District 2. “It’s pretty clear to me that there are a handful of streets employees that are led by the AFSCME Local 309 president that feel slighted. Because with the passing of Act 10 in 2011, the just cause policy language was removed.

“The request to add the additional language that we’re looking at doing is to satisfy those individuals and the president and is not representative of all city employees or the constituents. I feel the addition of this wording can be left to individual interpretation, thus making it more difficult for a manager to do their job,” said Mrozek.

“I can tell you what I have heard from speaking with both employees and management is that a lot of the fear with the passing of Act 10, there’s actually been improvement in the workplace,” she said. “It’s been a more relaxed atmosphere with more communication between employees and management. When I asked both sides to give me some clear examples of what’s wrong (with the current policy), neither side could do that. They could not point out examples of unfair disciplinary actions that have occurred.”

Mrozek said her research tells her the policy wasn’t broken and didn’t need to be fixed.

“Several employees have talked to me about wanting to have the “just cause” in (the city’s policies), and that was really the main thrust. They want it in there,” said Tony Patton, District 8.

“To say this wasn’t broken is inaccurate, I provided the (Personnel) Committee with an instance where it was broken and it cost the city $60,000,” said Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza. “It has happened before, I hope it doesn’t happen again, but this came from me. This didn’t come from AFSCME.

“I want to make sure all the employees feel like they can be treated fairly and that there is some guidance as to what fair means. Because it’s going to mean something different to you than it does to me. (The policy draft) isn’t as clear as I’d like it, but this at least gives our employees some assurances they can’t just be arbitrarily fired,” Wiza said.

Mrozek noted that the incident was in regard to an employee on his probationary period and the policy, even if changed, wouldn’t have applied to that individual.

Wiza said the incident was an example of how it could happen.

“I would rather err on the side of clarification, of clear language, and this is really a compromise. We spoke with both sides, and both sides said they think this is going to work for us as a city. That’s the best we can get to have both sides say it’ll work,” said Oberstadt.

Mike Phillips said he had a list compiled of Wisconsin communities and what their employee termination policies were. Out of the 28 municipalities that responded to the query, 23 had “at will” policies.

I don’t think my constituents who I represent in District 10 want any undue burden by our directors to discipline people,” Phillips said. “When I talked to the workers, they want the bad apples to be gone too. They don’t want them around. They want a speedy process. They did say, ‘maybe it’ll muddy the water,’ but they did like the compromise. But I disagree, I say we should lean more to at-will and by changing this language we’re moving in the wrong direction.”

“I used to be a manager, and I had a difficult performance issue with one of my employees and, honestly, if we would have had this language it would have helped me a lot. So, from a management perspective, I like the way this clarifies things,” said Mary McComb, District 9.

“I agree with Lemke, it’s not a huge departure from what we’re already doing. However, it does lay it out in a way that’s right there in black and white. There’s some value to that and I’m comfortable with the language as it’s proposed,” said Andrew Logan Beveridge, Stevens Point city attorney.

“This is what staff is doing already, and I think making things clear and on the books is really what we want,” said Oberstadt.

Lisa Jakusz, director of personnel, said she had concerns about changing the policy because the employees who have been in danger of being fired were warned, counseled and guided repeatedly and firing an employee is never taken lightly. So, when it comes time to actually fire the individual, she wouldn’t want that process to get over complicated and dragged out by red tape.

The Personnel Committee voted 4-1 to deny the policy changes at its Monday, Dec. 14, meeting.

However, Alderperson Mary Kneebone, District 7, made a motion to pull the item out of the minutes and actions of the Personnel Committee for further discussion a week later during the Common Council meeting Monday, Dec. 21.

Now back on the table, Kneebone said the policy change is an issue of fairness and letting city employees know their jobs are secure if they perform to the specifications of management and follow workplace rules.

Ultimately, the council voted 7-4 to pass the policy change.

Voting to amend the policy were Shaun Morrow, District 11; McComb: Patton; Kneebone; Van Stippen, District 5; Oberstadt; and George Doxtator, District 1.

Voting against the policy change were Phillips; Slowinski; Garret Ryan, District 3; and Mrozek.