The Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District held its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19.

WARSAW — An employee handbook update and educator’s report were the main topics of discussion during the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Education and Outreach Coordinator Suzanne Stokes was present at the meeting to deliver her report on current and upcoming programs.

Several February classes were rescheduled for March due to schools closing for inclement weather. She said a high school environmental science class will visit the depot next month.

Stokes will also host a terrarium craft event Thursday, Feb. 21. She told the board that spots for the event filled up within 24 hours.

She also talked with the board about her future plans, including the possibility of hosting an introductory compost class.

“I’d like to reach out to the farmers’ market in Warsaw,” said Stokes. “Their Facebook is very active, and I think it’s very important to get our foot in the door with them to further discuss recycling and composting with people.”

Stokes also is planning to reach out to area libraries to get involved in their summer reading programs.

“I’m going to see if I can bring in some environmentally-minded books to read to kids,” said Stokes.

To conclude her presentation, Stokes compiled an outlook list for ideas and projects she has in mind, especially during the summer when school is not in session.

“I think my big goal for the summer is to re-align our curriculum so that it’s more relevant to what’s currently going on with recycling,” said Stokes.

During the meeting, Kosciusko County Recycling Depot Director Tom Ganser gave a quote for employee handbook revisions. The quote ranges between $10,840 to $12,620.

“I think your policy still leaves a lot to be desired when the switch was made regarding the hours that employees were working,” said Treasurer Michelle Puckett. “The last time a small rewrite was done on the policy was a small fraction of the quote you were just presented with.”

Puckett told the board members that if a full policy rewrite is completed, it would not need revisions for another five to 10 years.

Board Member Cary Groninger discussed how the county commissioners have addressed handbook policies.

“I’m really trying to get to where we stick to the handbook,” said Groninger. “And if you don’t have a good handbook, you can’t stick to it.”

City Attorney Scott Reust said the human resources aspect of any handbook policy is a challenging task for any lawyer to handle.

“Even though it’s a small group, it could only take one person to get sideways and harm the policy,” said Reust. “And that becomes a litigation concern because you don’t have a good, concise policy.”

Board President Brad Jackson asked about the possibility of a local company or attorney handling the handbook revisions.

“I think you may have difficulty finding another attorney who can handle the human resource aspect of that,” said Reust.

The board agreed to continue the discussion on handbook revisions at next month’s meeting.

The board’s next meeting is at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 19.