• Council discussed revisions to Employee Handbook §1.6 to clearly define the policy's purpose and scope; what constitutes a whistleblower or integrity matter; how concerns can be reported; protections against retaliation; and how reports are reviewed and investigated.

Integrity Officer / Inspector General Concept

• Council discussed the possibility of an Integrity Officer or similar function rather than immediately creating a separate department. The Committee will further evaluate whether the function should have broader responsibilities similar to an Inspector General, including its authority, independence, responsibilities, and reporting structure.

Anonymous & Confidential Reporting

• Council expressed support for providing employees with a safe way to report concerns, including options for anonymous or confidential reporting and the ability to track a submission. The Committee will evaluate potential reporting models, including a third-party system.

Learning from Spartanburg County

• County Administration will contact Spartanburg County to learn more about its whistleblower and ethics reporting process, including how the program was established, whether an RFP was conducted, implementation and ongoing costs, the vendor arrangement, and how NAVEX is being used.

Clarifying How Complaints Are Handled

• Council discussed the importance of distinguishing whistleblower and integrity matters from routine HR, employee-relations, management, discrimination, harassment, and other workplace concerns. The revised policy should establish appropriate routing for each type of concern so that matters are not simply dismissed because they do not meet the whistleblower definition.

Independent Investigations

• The Committee will also consider when an independent outside investigator should be used, who would authorize an investigation, who would receive the findings, and how confidentiality and timelines would be handled.

Council’s Role

• Council’s role will be to establish the policy and oversight framework, not to investigate individual complaints, or manage personnel matters. The final structure will need to provide appropriate oversight while maintaining the County Administrator’s responsibility for County operations and personnel matters.

The Finance, Administration & Economic Development Committee will continue working on these issues at its September 21 meeting, with the goal of further defining the Integrity Officer/function and continuing to strengthen and finalize the whistleblower policy and overall program structure.

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Looking for more details or a specific item not covered in this release? Check out BCTV for full meeting recordings, agendas, and other details! BCTV can be found on cable channels Comcast - channel 2; Sparklight- channel 9 and 113; Spectrum - channel 1304. BCTV also streams live on ROKU and Amazon Fire.