Committee OKs inclement weather policy for veterans office
Balancing keeping the office open to serve veterans and the safety of staff was the goal of a new inclement weather policy for the Taylor County Veterans Service Office.
On December 20, members of the county’s veterans service committee approved the new departmental policy drafted by Veterans Service Officer Sheila Wundrow with input from the county’s human resources department.
Under the policy, if there is bad enough weather to cause school cancelations, staff will work from home until the roads are clear enough for them to get to the courthouse. At that point, the benefits specialist will come to the courthouse and open the office to accommodate walk-ins. Wundrow, who lives in the Thorp area, will drive into Gilman and hold office hours from the county building there.
According to Wundrow, they would check the weather for upcoming storms and plan to bring their office laptops home, along with necessary computer files, in order to work remotely. Under the policy, the DAV Van will not run during inclement weather, which is per DAV rules.
The staff is able to forward calls to cellphones and can either talk with veterans on the phone, via Zoom or reschedule appointments if necessary due to weather.
“We will be checking road conditions. If road conditions improve we will come into the office and the Gilman center,” Wundrow said.
Committee member Larry Peterson expressed concern about potentially setting a precedent for the county when it comes to inclement weather. “I think it should go to personnel or somebody to get the policy straightened out,” he said.
Committee chair Catherine Lemke, who also serves on the county’s finance and personnel committee, said the remote work issue has been addressed at the county level and for these types of situations it is up to the department heads and committees to make decisions for specific departments.
Wundrow praised the work done by the county’s highway department for clearing roads after storms, noting how much better Taylor County roads were from those in Clark County during storms this winter. She said one of the reasons for asking for this policy was to help keep cars off the roads while plow crews were working. “Taylor County does an amazing job with the roads being plowed,” she said.
“I think this is a well put together and well thought out plan,” said committee member Bud Suckow. He said it is unlikely that if there was a snowstorm going on that any veterans would be coming to the office in person anyway.
The point of keeping cars off the roads to allow crews to clear snow resonated with committee member Rod Adams. He noted that as town chairman, his town’s grader operator spends half the day following a storm, pulling cars out of snowbanks because their drivers were attempting to get into work.
Committee member Lorie Floyd was also in favor of the policy. “If there was a major blizzard I don’t expect the courthouse to be open,” she said.
Committee member Sue Swiantek was more cautious noting that manufacturing places don’t shut down for the weather unless the highways are closed.
In the end, a majority of the committee voted in favor of approving the plan.
In other business, committee members:
Approved using $1,500 of department authorized federal ARPA grant funds for advertising outreach for a monthly veterans service office page in The Star News in 2024.
Approved purchasing a $100 gift card to a local hardware store to help cover the cost of a volunteer who makes flag display boxes for the families of deceased military veterans. It was noted the display boxes cost more than $300 each if they would have to pay for them. They have been able to give out 30 of them in the past year.
Approved using grant funds to purchase an identifying jacket for DAV driver Richard Michling who has done about 95% of the driving for the DAV van in the past few months. This will help identify him as the driver to improve security for the veterans using the service.
