Closing of the public service agencies or ATS must take into account that "County offices must remain open and operating with full services whenever possible." (from Hennepin County Weather Emergency Policy)

Because of geographic variations, the closing of the library system may or may not coincide with the emergency closing of other Hennepin County offices. The decision to close the library system will remain with the County Administrator. The decision to close an individual library due to local weather conditions or inaccessible parking lots has been delegated to the Library director by the County Administrator. The Library director has, in turn, delegated this decision to public service coordinating librarians in consultation with the Director of Administration or any member of the Director's work group.

Mobile library trips may be cancelled due to weather or road conditions. The decision is delegated by the library director, through supervisory channels, to the bookmobile supervisor. Staff members scheduled to work on the cancelled trips may be assigned to work by the bookmobile supervisor.

If a decision is to be made to reopen the library system or individual libraries, information must be obtained from appropriate staff as to when the parking lots will be plowed and ready for use. A decision must be made three hours prior to the time of the opening and no later than 12:00 noon. If it is not possible to open by 3:00 p.m., the libraries will remain closed for the entire day. Only those agencies, which would be open until 9:00 p.m., should be considered for reopening.

The regulations regarding pay and the making up of time are established by County policy

(Hennepin County Administrative Manual, Weather Emergency Policy - HR 3).

If the release of employees occurs before the start of a work shift, employees will not be paid for that shift except by utilizing vacation, sick leave, compensatory time, or leave without pay, or by making up the time in accordance with Hennepin County Human Resources rules or labor agreements. Employees are expected to listen to WCCO-AM radio for announcements of closings of county facilities and are not to report to work if their work site is not open. Employees reporting to work when a public announcement has been issued one hour or more prior to their scheduled start time that their work site is closed, will not be eligible for call-in or show-up pay.

If the release of employees occurs during a work shift, employees on duty will be paid for hours actually worked and may utilize vacation, sick leave, compensatory time, or leave without pay for the remainder of that work shift, or may make up the time by balancing those remaining hours within the current and/or subsequent pay periods as authorized by the appointing authority. (Non-exempt, full-time employees may only make up the lost hours in that week. They may not make up the hours in either the next week or subsequent payroll periods. Non-exempt part-time employees may make up the lost hours but they are not authorized to work over 40 hours in any week.)

Employees and citizens may be advised not to leave the premises because of severe weather or other emergency conditions continuing after regular working or office hours. Remaining on the premises after hours will not entitle employees to overtime compensation or compensatory time off at a later date unless they remain to work because they are required by departments to assist during the emergency situation.

When employees, in general, are not released but an individual faces hardship due to special travel problems, department heads or those authorized by them (division heads, managers, supervisors, or others at each facility) may authorize those individuals not to report for duty or they may release those individuals requesting to leave early. In the event time cannot be made up by balancing hours within the current and/or subsequent pay periods, employees must charge the leave to vacation, sick leave, compensatory time or leave without pay. (The same rules for non-exempt staff as noted above also apply in this situation.)