(A) Each employee must possess a valid state driver’s license before operating a county vehicle. If needed and available, county cars may be scheduled through the County Road Office. Employees will be reimbursed for verifiable (via receipt) expenses such oil, gas, emergency auto service and parking fees. An employee using a county car is responsible for assuring that the car interior is cleaned prior to returning the car.
(B) Employees required to commute in a county vehicle for valid non-compensatory business reasons may not use a county vehicle for personal use other than commuting.
(C) If space is available, an employee’s spouse and children, but not friends, can accompany them on a trip in a county car if it does not conflict with employees completing their assigned duties or put the spouse and children in harm’s way.
(1) When an employee is considering out-of-town travel with their spouse and children, they should evaluate the nature of the trip and what might they may be doing after hours. If the employee will be socializing or conducting private business, it may be better that the employee take a personal vehicle. Also, the employee needs to evaluate the need to take a specialty vehicle.
(2) If it is anticipated that the spouse will need to drive the vehicle, the spouse must sign a volunteer agreement with Human Resources and submit their driver’s license to the County Risk Manager for review and clearance by the Department of Motor Vehicle prior to the trip being taken. If this procedure is not followed and an accident occurs, the employee and spouse will be responsible for damages incurred. Furthermore, it should be understood that by allowing a spouse and children to accompany an employee is not an invitation to unlimited use of county vehicles for personal convenience. It is expected that prudence and good judgment will be exercised when determining when and how the vehicle will be used.
(D) It is the policy of the county that if a spouse and children accompanies an employee, it will not be in carrying out normal day-to-day duties within the county, but rather on those special occasions when out-of-town trips are required.
(E) On-call status employees, such as road deputies, snow removal crews or other similar job-related duties, will not be allowed to transport spouses or other family members to social events, church or other non-work related activities. However, if a specialty vehicle is going out of town for repair work, training, or for other non-essential work related activities, then the same rules apply as for motor pool vehicles.
(F) County employees are prohibited from smoking, picking up hitch hikers, talking on cell phones or giving rides to friends while operating county vehicles. Furthermore, Good Samaritan acts are to be limited to those outlined in § 32.257.
(Ord. passed 6- -2019; Ord. 2020-05, passed 2-18-2020; Ord. 2023-01, passed - -)