St. Joseph City Commissioners have again balked at approving a policy that would grant city employees paid parental leave when they have a baby or adopt a child.

At a meeting this week, City Manager Emily Hackworth brought forward a proposal giving new parents six weeks of paid time off. That’s after an eight-week proposal was dismissed by commissioners at a previous meeting.

Hackworth said under federal law, all employees must be given up to 12 weeks off when a new child is born, although their employers aren’t required to pay them. However, she said a growing number of employers do offer such a benefit and having it in the city would help with retention and attraction. However, Commissioner Michael Sarola was opposed, saying such a use of public funds would be inappropriate. He suggested a hybrid policy in which an employee could bank sick or vacation time.

“Like maybe if we did something where we said we would honor up to six total weeks of pay, three coming from the employee and three coming from the employer, and the employee could use a combination of sick time, PTO, or vacation time,” Sarola said. “Maybe they just want to do four weeks total. We would match two and two.”

Commissioner Michelle Binkley said the city should have some paid parental leave, but she wanted more details. Commissioner Michael Fernandez made a motion to approve Hackworth’s recommendation as is, with Commissioner Tess Ulrey backing him up. She said such a policy is a chance for the city to state its values and support families.

“I’ve never had paid paternal leave,” Ulrey said. “I went back to work two weeks after a C-section. That’s not an experience I want to force on somebody else, and I will use this position to move forward.”

Mayor Brook Thomas suggested city staff go back to the drawing board and provide an analysis of all employee benefits so all questions can be answered.

The motion by Fernandez was then defeated on a vote of three to two.