By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


The Howell City Council met virtually Monday night and adopted two resolutions deemed necessary in order to continue providing emergency response services.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the ongoing pandemic, Congress adopted the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. A memo states while the Act provides some assurance to the public as they deal with the potential illness, family and employment; it has a potential negative impact on the ability to provide emergency services in communities. Due to the need for first responders to continue providing critical services to the community, it’s been recommended the City exempt Howell emergency responders, Howell Police Officers, from portions of the Act. The exemptions from the Family Medical Leave Expansion Act and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act were said to be highly recommended by the City’s labor attorney and are compliant with current law.

Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Manor raised some questions about how the action would be perceived by employees. Manor said he understood why it was need but was concerned about the un-implied message being sent – that the City is not concerned about the health and safety of its employees and they need to come to work. He stressed they recognize first responders are vital to protecting health and safety but had questions on how it would impact other employees.

Interim City Manager Erv Suida responded that they are only permitted to exempt first responders, which includes sworn officers and firefighters. He said the Act allows an extension, along with paid family medical leave and two weeks of paid leave. If the exemptions weren’t approved, then Suida says the City risks the ability to not have enough first responders to respond appropriately. He added this is industry-wide and came highly recommended by their labor attorney. Suida said another industry that is pretty vital that they could be looking into adding is critical infrastructure such as water and wastewater employees to limit them but he thinks everyone understands the importance of what they do and doesn’t think it’s an issue. Suida said he hadn’t heard anything, adding these are unique times and uncharted territories and thinks everyone in the City understands the role they play in providing in critical services such as water, sewer treatment and public safety.

Councilman Randy Greene commented there are some good protections included in the ACT and wanted to make sure if an employee were to become infected, that the benefits would still cover them if the exemptions were passed. Suida commented that they have several programs if a city employee was to become affected or ill and it’s more than seven days long - including long and short-term disability. He noted all employees would be covered under short term disability up to the point they’ve recovered. Suida says the Act really offers a little more assurance that they can take care of family members and loved ones under the same guidelines of the Family Medical Leave Act, other than the City would have to pay it at 60%.

Both resolutions were approved unanimously.