After Merger Lay-Offs, Council Questions Pay-Outs

Keokuk (Iowa) police dispatcher Debbie Cruickshank has been working at the agency for 35 years, and has accumulated 1,400 hours of sick leave, a benefit that’s now the subject of controversy after the city council voted to close its comm center and moving dispatching operations to the consolidated Lee-Comm center. Council members voted last year to make the dispatching change to streamline operations and increase safety, not to save money. But now the council is questioning the $17,521 that Cruickshank, dispatcher June Billups (22 years, 488 hours) and dispatcher Cara Johnson (8 years, 90 hours) will take with them when they move to the county center. “This is an awful lot (of money),” said council member Karole Smith said at a recent meeting. But police chief Tom Crew said the payout had been budgeted and is owed to the dispatchers. He said the city had attempted to have the sick leave transferred to the county, but procedurally could not. Ironically, the city caps sick leave accumulation at 568 hours, so Cruickshank will receive only about 40% of the sick leave she actually accumulated over 35 years. Read more here.