JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The City of Jamestown Finance & Legal Committee will be looking over a changed policy for employee leave for employees.

Deputy Auditor Jay Sveum reports that in 2019 so far, there have been 15 near hires and there are currently 115 staff members with four openings. He says they’re looking at potentially 2 or more resignations before years end.

Sveum talked about changing the employee annual leave policy to make “cost effective improvement” to improve the city’s benefit package.

Sveum says currently, city employees must work one year of service to earn two weeks paid vacation. That’s for years 1 through 5. Each year after, they earn 8 hours so employees max at 160 total hours.

He stated the policy he’s submitting for consideration is similar to the county, but says he doesn’t need immediate approval and wants the committee to read over the adjusted policy.

The new policy would be 8 hours gained per month, making it 96 hours per year. After year three, it would go up to 10 hours per month. After 18 years, monthly generation would be 16 hours.

No motion was made on the policy, but Sveum asked the committee to consider making a decision before January 1st, 2020.