180.02 SUBSTANCE ABUSE POLICY; PURPOSE; APPLICABILITY; RULE MAKING AUTHORITY.

   (a)    Policy. It is the City's policy to provide safe, dependable and efficient government services to the public. City employees are a valuable and important resource and it is therefore the City's policy to provide a healthy, safe, and satisfying working environment for its employees and to assure that all employees working in that environment are fit to perform their assigned tasks. Federal laws and regulations have been adopted which require the City to implement a drug, controlled substance, and alcohol screening program for operators of a commercial motor vehicle and for employees who engage in certain safety sensitive functions. Accordingly, a requirement for entering City employment, retaining City employment, or advancing into positions to which the above-mentioned Federal regulations apply, shall henceforth be that such an employee is fit for duty in the additional sense that he or she is free of drug dependence, not a user of, nor a trafficker in, controlled substances or drugs, and free of alcohol dependency, or use such that his or her normal mental or physical capabilities are not impaired. In meeting these goals, it is further the City's policy to:

       (1)    Assure that covered employees operating a covered vehicle with or without a commercial driver's license are fit for duty and able to perform their assigned duties in a safe, productive, healthy, and unimpaired manner;

      (2)    Create a workplace free from the adverse effects of drug, alcohol, and substance abuse;

       (3)    Prohibit the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession or use of alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances, among persons entrusted with covered vehicles or persons employed by the City by contract to engage in work involving the operation of a covered vehicle.

   (b)    Applicability. This chapter shall apply to covered employees when reporting to work, when going to a work site, when preparing to perform work at a site, when performing work for the City, when on a break or at lunch while in the course of performing work, after concluding the performance of work at a site but before departing the work site, when returning to the City facilities following departure from a work site or when on the employer's premises as an employee.

   (c)   Rulemaking Authority. The City Manager or his designee is hereby authorized to adopt such rules and regulations as well as create forms, documents, and procedures for the implementation of this chapter. Such activities as are undertaken under authority of this subsection shall be consistent with this chapter and consistent with the relevant Federal laws and regulations governing substance abuse testing as the same are applicable to the City.

(Ord. 96-6-65. Passed 6-12-96.)