CENTERVILLE -- The city has finalized procedures to conduct criminal background checks on employees and volunteers who work with minors.
State law requires the city have such checks of criminal history files. The new regulations apply primarily to baseball coaches and recreation program employees who work with minors.
Each background check costs the city $15, so the recreation registration fees are increasing slightly to offset these changes.
City officials said the fee will be negligible once spread over the entire program, and adding it is a small cost for the protection afforded to participants.
Assistant City Manager Blaine Lutz said the discussion came about because the city is preparing to hire and recruit volunteers for baseball.
With that happening, the council had questions about the process of background checks for those working with youths, Lutz added.
Because of this, the city staff reviewed the procedures of these checks with the council at a recent meeting.
No changes to the process were made then.
Lutz and City Treasurer Jolene Jackson have applied and been approved to be authorized personnel to file and administer the criminal history requests.
They can request a criminal history background check on employees and volunteers who are in positions involving the care, custody or control of children.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation will run the report, review the history and give the city an "approved" or "needs more research" status for each individual.
The process to obtain criminal history reports on employees and volunteers in the recreation program will be operational this month. It will be implemented for the upcoming recruitment season for coaches as well.
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