By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Salisbury city employees will be allowed to take up to 48 hours of leave per year to mentor young people.
Salisbury City Council, whose members are mentors themselves, approved the policy Tuesday.
“I’m just very happy to see this finally in place,” Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy said.
Mentoring is a key component of the Salisbury-Rowan United initiative against gangs and youth violence.
The community “told us loud and clear” that mentoring is important, Mayor Susan Kluttz said.
“It is the city’s philosophy that mentoring provides opportunities to help young people develop and succeed,” states the new city policy, titled the Mentor Partnership Leave Program.
A city employee can receive a maximum of 48 hours of leave each calendar year.He or she will have to submit a “Request for Mentor Partnership Leave” form provided by the city’s human resources department and have approval from a certified mentoring program partner and the employee’s department head.
The human resources director will review each mentoring application, and the city manager will have to approve the leave requested.
Councilman Mark Lewis said the city is setting a great example for the business community to follow.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka @salisburypost.com.