As the town of Flomaton looks for ways to cut expenses, policies on employees taking town-owned vehicles home is one area the town council is looking at, but Town Attorney Chuck Johns said he can not get the information he needs to help develop such a policy.
Councilwoman Lillian Dean told fellow council members Monday night that policies need to be developed for all departments.
“Do we have policies to cover us?” Dean asked. “We need a policy on vehicles; can you do X,Y or Z or cannot do X,Y and Z.”
Johns told the council he had requested some information from the town, but has yet to receive it. He told the council the only vehicle-drive-home policy he's found involves the police department. He said there are no other policies in place concerning the maintenance or road crews.
Johns said he needed to look at the town's liability concerning take-home vehicles and said new IRS regulations may make some take-home vehicles taxable to the employee.
“I need to know what we own, what the IRS policy is and who has the vehicle,” Johns said.
Councilman Charlie Reardon asked Johns how long ago he asked for that information and Johns said “In excess of 30 days”.
“It needs to be addressed quickly,” Reardon said.
“It needs to be done,” Dean said. “If something happens we have no policy to back it up.”
Johns also told the council the town needed a cell phone policy.
