Lennox council approves annual policy updates with revised parental leave language

The Lennox City Council on Dec. 23 approved its annual policy updates, including a new parental leave policy, and tabled detailed parks and recreation changes for further refinement.

Staff said most policy changes were technical but noted three substantive updates: revised tournament-team language in parks and recreation, a new parental leave policy, and minor updates to code enforcement complaint procedures. The council discussed how to define eligibility for parental leave and asked that language be clarified to refer to legal guardianship rather than relationship status.

One councilor recommended eliminating the phrase "committed partner" from the parental leave criteria and replacing it with a clearer standard such as "legal guardian" so the policy covers adopted or legally recognized parents. Staff and council agreed to omit or revise the contested language in section 7.11 and bring the modified policy back for final documentation.

Councilors also debated tournament-team rules, complaint routing between the parks director and park board, and the appropriate limit on roster sizes; parks and recreation changes were pulled from the motion to allow the director and park board to revisit specifics in January. The motion to approve annual policy updates with the parental leave addendum passed by voice vote.