Personal cell phone use on your dime? (Tip-Off).

As cell phones become more and more enmeshed in how we conduct business, many park and recreation agencies are grappling with a thorny issue: What to do about employees' personal use of agency-issued phones?

That was a recent topic on NRPA-net, NRPA's listserv that connects and informs NRPA members throughout the country. For information on how to join the discussion, select "NRPAnet" on the right-hand side of NRPA's home page (www.nrpa.org). Here are some of the responses to the phone-usage query.

* "We use Nextel phones/radios. Our policy is that if you use the phone for personal calls, you have to pay the city for your usage. It's a ton of extra work, because the supervisors have to get the bill, and go through the numbers with staff to see what was personal and what was business. So far no one has abused it."

* "Our policy states any phone calls made for personal reasons are reimbursed to the city at 18 cents per minute. This is our local per minute charge. We assume everyone will own up to their, calls. By the way, I always pay by check. This negates any questions on whether I paid or not."

* "Our city doesn't have a policy; we're just expected to reimburse personal calls. For phones without free minutes, like mine, that's easy to do and figure. It's kind of a tradeoff, as I did away with my pager and just started carrying a phone to be more immediately accessible, which my bosses prefer."

* "Our employees have to pay for their personal usage of the phones. We get statements with phone records and those that are personal are highlighted, calculated and billed to the user."

* "No personal business, period, unless an emergency."

* "Our city's policy is no personal use. There's no mechanism to reimburse the city if you need to make a personal phone call. (I wish there was.) The exceptions are if you need to call family if you are going to be later than expected, or of course, if there is some emergency. I know employees who carry two cell phones, a city one and their personal phone, for this reason. This is cumbersome, but the only way to live with this policy. There have been very public scandals in adjoining communities over the extent of personal use of cell phones, abuses, etc. (Another city's police department had incredible phone bills, most for personal use.) Our city regularly monitors the minutes of all employees. If there appears to be excessive use, it is questioned. I do not think they screen for which numbers are being called, but there is the capacity to do that."

* "We are allowed to use them personally, but the employee must pay if they are over the allotted minutes."

* "At this time in our organization, we give our employees a warning, and then we ask them to reimburse the organization if the amount was excessive and repetitive."

* "We have just established a new policy. Originally cell phones could not be used for personal business. Now, with the new programs of 2000 minutes, etc., we have changed to state the following: Employees may use the phone for personal use; however, the employee is 100 percent responsible for any costs over the base rate if there is one or more personal calls logged that month. We do get a print out every month of each call made on the cell phone and length of time. We also have a phone given weekly to different managers who act as managers on call, and if that bill goes over the base rate, we can track who made personal calls and they pay the cost difference between base and actual."

* "Our organization requires reimbursement of 20 cents per minute for every personal call, regardless of whether or not the maximum number of minutes are met each month. The detailed bill is sent to us and we are on the honor system to tally the number of personal calls and reimburse accordingly. My husband's organization, also local government, requires payment for all calls that exceed the maximum allowed per month."

* "We don't have a formal policy, but have communicated to all staff that city-issued cell phones are for city business. Additionally, all cell phones bills are subject to public information requests. We use Verizon as our provider and almost all of my employees (we have 15 phones) have either a 250-minute or 500-minute program. Half of the employees have their own personal phones. I am responsible for monitoring individual use on a monthly basis and check closely to monitor business versus personal. Occasional personal calls are acceptable, but when they become the primary use or result in additional charges, we are quick to remedy. I would say that more than 90 percent of the current use is for city business."

* "Our city has contracted with Cingular for a base service plan, which includes 250 minutes per month of nationwide coverage and no long distance charges (anyone can sign up for this plan). If they go over in minutes, we review their calls and make them pay for personal calls over the base. A recent internal survey averaged go percent of phone time for personal use, but still within the 250 minutes."

* "Staff are allowed to use county-issued cell phones for personal calls but must reimburse the county for all personal calls made. The monthly bill is given to each employee with a cell phone, and they are expected to indicate which calls are personal and pay for those calls. It is an honor system at this point."

* "We supply cell phones to staff that have to make out-of-town trips with participants and staff that are mobile during the day. Nextel has a good unit that is telephone and radio, with the staff sharing the same radio group and combined minutes. We do not limit staff on the amount of time for personal business but suggest that they use discretion in the use of the phone. The phone bills are reviewed and discussed if abuse is discovered."

* "We don't have an official policy. Employees are expected to pay for personal calls that exceed $3 each month. Finance did not want to deal with lesser amounts."