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FD council OKs police contract

COVID leave also approved

A new contract with police officers was unanimously approved by the Fort Dodge City Council on Monday.

It is a one-year deal that goes into effect July 1 and ends June 30, 2022.

Officers will receive a 2 percent raise on July 1 and a 2 percent raise on Jan. 1, 2022.

Detectives will receive supplemental pay of 25 cents an hour whenever they are called out at times when they are not scheduled to work.

The pact with Public Professional and Maintenance Employees Local 2003 covers patrol officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants.

In another human resources matter, the council extended some additional leave time for workers who become ill with COVID-19 or have family members that get sick from the virus.

Full-time employees will be able to get 80 hours of that leave time if they are impacted by COVID-19. However, the opportunity for that additional leave ends March 31.

In a report to the council, Jamie Anderson, the city’s human resources director, wrote that the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act required employers to provide special leave for COVID-19 so that workers would not have to use up sick time or vacation days. That mandate expired Dec. 31, 2020.

Anderson wrote that about 22 percent of city employees previously tested positive for COVID-19 and used the leave time for their own recovery last year. She added that 32 percent of the city’s workforce have used the leave time to care for a sick family member or because of a quarantine.

The council approved the additional leave unanimously.

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