The Rugby City Council approved updates to its employee handbook related to performance evaluations and heard an update on legislation that would affect “Back the Blue” funding, which supported local law enforcement in previous years.

The board reviewed updates to the city employee Introductory Period and Performance Evaluations, which are performed after a six month introductory period. Any employee given a score of two or lower will be placed on an employee improvement plan. The only major change noted by Council Member David Schneibel was a policy related to salary adjustments after the introductory period.

Schneibel said the form for performance evaluations was trimmed from nine categories to four, related to attendance, teamwork, knowledge and protection of city owned assets.

“I didn’t think we needed nine. I took (out) a lot of those sections. I thought these four painted a pretty good picture of the roles of these individuals. I just didn’t want to create a form that takes supervisors three days to sit down and fill out for a performance appraisal. I wanted something we could move forward with without taking up a lot of time,” Schneibel said.

Council member Neil Lotvedt said he thought it looked good but deferred to the opinions of the supervisors. City Attorney Racheal Mickelson Hendrickson recommended including removed language that clarified that employees are not under contract during the introductory period, and the board approved a motion to that effect.

Public Works Director Troy Munyer reported a couple of water breaks had been addressed recently, which included a service line. Munyer said future breaks were still likely due to cold temperatures, and a sewer line was frozen.

Board member Jon Nelson, who is also a state legislator, updated the board on the status of a bill to expand the “Back the Blue” legislation, which the city had utilized for payments to local law enforcement officers. Nelson said the new bill would have changed the payouts to officers with four years of tenure and expanded it to cover Highway Patrol, Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other state law enforcement agencies.

Nelson said the bill “was going nowhere” until he initiated amendments, reverting it to previous language after punting it to the appropriations committee.

“There’s $3.5 million, I think, that’s in that bill, and that came up to the floor and passed, so that’s going on to the Senate. There were some upset people because of the strategy, but I was pretty up front on the floor that this was what I was going to do. I think I saved the bill. Hopefully, it passes the Senate, and we’ll be able to continue that for two more years,” Nelson said. “I think it’s been beneficial. It’s been supportive to the people that are working in Rugby. We’ve tried to use it as a recruiting tool, but as far as the personnel that are getting that, they appreciate it.”

Nelson clarified the four years of tenure was not included in the bill passed by the House, and it has been returned to its original intention of supporting law enforcement and correctional officers working in rural communities like Rugby.