New timecard system considered by Limestone commissioners

Jan. 18—ATHENS — A timecard system long used by county employees that has operated on an honor system may soon be replaced by a computerized system the Limestone County Commission hopes will be more accurate and reduce paperwork.

The topic was on the commission agenda for discussion Tuesday, and Chairman Collin Daly said the commission has for years discussed changing how county employees record their work hours.

"We just thought we'd do it in a public meeting where we could see how the interest was and kind of let everybody know that we were looking into it," Daly said. "We didn't want to surprise anybody because we have been looking into it for quite some time."

Currently, Daly said, the system consists of employees writing down the amount of time they have worked daily.

"We just do a paper timecard. You write it down on the honor system," he said.

Daly said the county has one payroll specialist who enters into the computer all 296 employees' biweekly timecards.

"If payroll falls where it's on a Tuesday because there was a holiday on Monday, we have to rush to get all that done, to get everything keyed in," he said. "It's just overwhelming."

District 2 Commissioner Danny Barksdale said paper timecards take up too much of the payroll specialist's time.

"One of the girls has to sit there in the office for a half to a whole day on Monday and key those timecards in individually," he said. "If everybody checked in on the computer, that would eliminate a half a day to a day's work."

District 3 Commissioner Derrick Gatlin agrees that the current system is too time-consuming.

"Trying to do the payroll for 300 employees, going through every timecard and we're on a two-week pay cycle so you've basically got to look at 80 hours for each employee," he said. "Key it in the system, make sure their timecard's right, make sure it's added up, totaled up right. Going to a computerized system would save a lot of time, be a lot more accurate, I think, than what we're doing now."

Daly said the county is required by law to keep all timecards for a certain number of years.

"We've got boxes and boxes and boxes of timecards rubber-banded together in a vault," he said. "When you do that 26 times a year, you've got 26 pieces of paper for each employee. You do the math on that; it can build up pretty quick."

Barksdale said Limestone County has fallen behind the rest of the state and needs to switch to a computerized version.

"We're probably the last county in Alabama that uses a manual timecard," he said.

Changing the timecard system will also eliminate human error, Daly said. He said there are several options for a new process.

"It can clock you in when you go to your computer, when you log in it times you," Daly said. "We're just looking at options right now."

District 1 Commissioner Daryl Sammet said he is willing to look at all the options.

"We need a system that will work for all the county, not just part of it," he said. "Revenue commissioner, license commissioner, those are pretty well set. ... It's easier for them because they're in one location."

Sammet said for departments like the Sheriff's Office, clocking in and out on a computer would be more difficult because some deputies are out in the field.

Barksdale said an option for departments who are out in the field could be clocking in on a cellphone.

"If you're a sheriff's deputy and going on duty, you may not have to go to the Sheriff's Office to clock in," he said.

District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend agrees that whatever system is chosen, it must work for all county employees.

"My guys, when they leave the shed, they may eat lunch at a store or restaurant out there in the field," he said. "It's going to be too hard for them to come back in and clock out if we put a clock right here at the shed."

Whatever system is chosen, Sammet said, it will have to be computerized in some way.

"We live in a computer world anyway so it's going to have to go that way," he said. "Especially with the way we're growing; we're getting bigger and bigger."

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.