Findlay committee pushes HR access, asks law director to draft pay-ordinance amendments after timekeeping rollout problems

Findlay City's finance committee voted on March 17 to ask the law director to draft two resolutions after a lengthy review of the city's move from paper timecards to an electronic timekeeping system.

The committee's action follows a presentation from the city auditor, who said the state auditor's office and the U.S. Department of Labor require accurate time accounting and that the city's records showed problems with how some overtime-exempt employees'hours were being recorded. The auditor told the committee that the city must standardize time reporting in a digital format to protect public funds and to meet audit standards.

The auditor proposed two steps: amend the salary ordinance so certain unclassified, salaried employees could be designated as "accepted" (an assumed 40-hour workweek and different accrual treatment), and give the human resources office administrative access to the payroll/timekeeping software so HR can help departments implement the system. The committee voted to move both recommendations forward and asked the law director and HR to develop draft resolutions and implementation options.

Deputy Auditor Ginger Samson described why the city selected the electronic system (it links to payroll, provides transparency and multiple ways for employees to record time) and detailed implementation difficulties: vendor/implementer turnover, server and network delays, more than 250 pay codes that must be mapped, and differences in departmental schedules that complicate automatic coding. Samson said most departments are live on the system but police patrol and the fire department have not completed implementation.

Several department heads told the committee the rollout created operational challenges. Fire leadership said the typical 24-hour fire schedule and Kelly days present unique scheduling needs that punch-clock approaches do not accommodate. Police Chief Jim Matias said the department supports better electronic scheduling but that the system currently covers only a small portion of his staff and continues to mis-handle shift differentials, day-boundaries for midnight shifts and other pay codes relevant to union contracts.

Heather Igel, clerk of courts, said court administrators are salaried and often on call for evenings, weekends and holidays; she described a payroll error in which a young deputy was briefly underpaid before the problem was corrected and said departments needed clearer communication and safeguards while the system is refined.

Public Works leadership described field realities such as employees taking trucks home and responding to offsite calls; the department said managers need operational discretion and raised concerns about mobile-location accuracy. The IT supervisor requested separate follow-up on cybersecurity and logging controls for the new system.

Human resources told the committee the city should answer three questions before imposing a single timekeeping method: does it meet audit standards, does it comply with labor contracts, and does it fit operational needs. HR said the auditor's office had implemented the system with limited collaboration and recommended joint, practical solutions that account for department-specific work patterns.

The committee's near-term direction is procedural: the law director will draft potential ordinance language defining how certain salaried positions would be treated for accruals and reporting, and HR will be added as an administrative user in the payroll/timekeeping software to assist departments and reduce single-office bottlenecks. The committee emphasized that any ordinance or resolution must avoid unintended consequences (for example, removing existing accruals or severance rights) and be checked for compliance with state and federal law.

What's next: the law director, HR and the auditor's office will collaborate on draft language and implementation plans to present to council. The committee did not adopt a final ordinance at the meeting; it voted to pursue drafting and vetting the proposals with stakeholders before a council vote.