The proposed updates were developed by city manager Walter Babicz
Changes to the City of Prince George’s whistleblower policy and a new policy guiding communications between elected officials and staff members were postponed by council at its Monday, Dec. 15 meeting.
The proposed changes were brought forward by city manager Walter Babicz.
Draft versions of the proposed changes circulated ahead of the council meeting showed the whistleblower policy being edited to note that it is to be used “where there are no other adequate procedures in place for doing so and provides protection from retaliation to those who report serious misconduct in good faith.”
It also included several new items exempt from the policy, including disputes between employees and union grievances, introduces a 15-day time limit for reporting misconduct and eliminates the consideration of anonymous complaints.
The new council-staff communications policy dictates that “council members shall not communication directly with staff who are not senior management unless the communication is minor and for the purpose of seeking administrative clarity,” instead directing questions through the city manager or the appropriate senior manager.
It also spells out that councillors cannot interfere with or obstruct staff’s work and cannot issue them direct instructions.
For staff, they must not communicate directly with individual councillors and instead must direct their inquiries through the city manager or the...
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