Osage County payroll switch to third‑party prompts Road & Bridge concerns over connectivity, clocking and timing

Commissioners and Road & Bridge staff spent more than an hour on March 4 discussing the county’s planned move to a third‑party payroll processor and the practical impacts on field crews who lack reliable internet access.

Commissioner Michelle Morris said county leaders intend to move payroll processing to a contractor so payroll will not be interrupted by personnel changes in the county office. “We’re trying to make it so that you guys have the least hiccups in payroll as you can have,” Morris said during the meeting, acknowledging the transition won’t be perfectly smooth.

Road & Bridge employees told the board they regularly lack sufficient cell or Wi‑Fi service at their transfer station and in the field and that rolling out an app to clock in could fail where crews work. One Road & Bridge worker said delays and time‑card mixups have caused frustration and “hate and discontent” among employees when pay was held up.

County staff and commissioners described a multi‑part plan meant to reduce disruption: (1) an extra pay period before the first ADP payroll to prevent any lost wages for employees during the transition; (2) continuing paper timecards in parallel as a backup while the system stabilizes; (3) tools such as an iPad or a tablet installed at the shop so crews can clock in without using personal devices; (4) working with IT to install a hard‑line internet connection or an external repeater and wired link so the transfer station has reliable service.

Michelle Morris and other county staff said they had considered different pay‑date schedules to minimize disruption, and had coordinated with department heads about the timing of the sheriff’s office schedule and the rest of the county. Morris acknowledged prior payroll practices contained inconsistencies and some practices “that weren’t quite legal,” and said the new process is intended to produce cleaner, auditable payroll data for budgeting.

Commissioners and staff urged employees to report problems promptly so the county can address them during the rollout. “If we don’t know [about hiccups], I can’t fix them,” Morris told employees. The board said payroll time will continue to be reviewed by county staff before submission so corrections can be made.

The board also discussed operational details raised by Road & Bridge staff: how on‑call time and continuous shifts will be handled in the new system, whether employees must clock out for lunch if they do not take one, and how mobile crews will clock out if they do not return to the shop. Commissioners said those are among the configuration items the county will settle with the payroll vendor.

Separately during the meeting the board approved a personnel payroll action form brought forward by the county’s grounds/maintenance supervisor (Franny Peters) and accepted a status payroll change report submitted by Ryan Fein of Road & Bridge; both motions carried by voice vote.

Why this matters: The transition affects every county employee and multiple departments. The board framed the move as a modernization intended to reduce recurring payroll errors and create consistent payroll data for budgeting, but acknowledged field connectivity and training are immediate operational risks that the county must manage to avoid short‑term pay problems.