MARSHFIELD, MO - The City of Marshfield will be reviewing its employee vehicle use policy after City employees voiced their opinions during a Board of Aldermen's meeting, according to the Marshfield Mail.

Adopted in late August, the City's vehicle policy states, "City vehicles are only to be used as necessary to conduct city business and operations." The policy also spells out that emergency personnel may be assigned a take-home vehicle and on-call personnel can take a qualified service vehicle home.

Marshfield's police chief stated that it would not be in the best interest of the city to not allow department personnel to take home assigned patrol cars. He added that common practice in surrounding counties and the state allowed for take-home patrol vehicles, and the previous policy allowed officers to take home cars. Officers who take home vehicles are required to respond at all times, which helps save time in the event of an emergency, he said.

The current policy states the police chief and investigators who may be called for immediate response can drive assigned department vehicles home after their shifts, but other officers are not to drive vehicles home without permission from the police chief or mayor.

Four other City employees voiced their complaints. They cited waste of time and gas in having employees switch to their personal vehicles during the workday for meals and breaks, employees' use of personal resources for City purchases, agreements with City employees about take-home vehicles at the time of hiring.

The City administrator is re-working the vehicle use policy to make it more acceptable to City personnel and will bring it back before the board, according to the newspaper.