ZELIENOPLE — The Western Butler County Authority approved new terms with employees relating to benefits, including time off, during a meeting Thursday night.

Autumn Crawford, manager of the authority, said at the meeting that a survey distributed to employees asked what were the most important benefits of working with the authority. Time off was found to be a high priority.

“The employees asked for federal holidays off,” Crawford said. “Their request was for 10 federal holidays off — we currently have six.”

Crawford said giving employees four more federal holidays off would increase the budget by less than $500 because the authority would still have to pay an employee time-and-a-half their rate to cover a holiday shift.

She said two employees — normally herself and one other person — need to be scheduled to work to keep the office open.

“We do have to have somebody here 365 days of the year to pull a sample and run daily testing,” Crawford said. “They are willing to do that and take a significantly smaller wage increase if they get the days off.”

Employees would observe 10 holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In return, the employees will accept a 2% wage increase across the board.

Crawford said it would be easier to keep all employees — with the exception of one or two — off on the same holiday, rather than giving them floating days off.

“It's still going to be easier to manage from an office standpoint,” Crawford said.

The Western Butler County Authority handles the sewage system for the communities of Zelienople and Harmony boroughs, as well as portions of Lancaster and Jackson townships.