Becoming a parent can bring a lot of uncertainty, financial and otherwise even with good pre-planning. The first few months can be especially hard for new parents.

The city of Superior’s human resources committee Monday night laid out a proposal for extending paid parental leave for all city employees.

Superior police chief Paul Winterscheidt told the committee that he and his wife have had four children while he’s been with the Superior police department and he feels this policy change would be good for his police staff and for the city as it would help with recruiting.

“I believe it’s going to reduce barriers for women entering our police department,” Chief Winterscheidt said. “We have more women in policing on our department today than we’ve had I believe in the history of our department and I believe a policy like this will reduce the barriers and attract more women to this line of work. They know they don’t have to sacrifice a part of their life to be a police officer. I think that’s very important.”

The fire chief of Superior Camron Vollbrecht agreed, adding that this expanded parental leave policy will be good for all emergency responders and in turn keep the city safer.

“It’s an opportunity for them to have time with their spouse and their children when they’re being born and focus on that so when they get back toward the job, they can focus on what we’re doing here,” Vollbrecht said. “We do dangerous things at times, so having someone who’s completely focused on their job is really important. And I think this will help with that.”

Under the city’s current model, employees need to save up their paid leave in advance. Committee members know of employees having to hold off on starting a family because of the current policy.

In end on Monday night, the city’s human resources committee voted to approve the expanded parental leave proposal. It now heads to a vote by the full Superior city council. Their next meeting is Tuesday, May 7th.