The payroll department has been moved from the third floor of City Hall to the second floor of City Hall with NO vote from the Board of Education. A committee made the decision. Since when does that happen? Where's the transparancy from the transparency party? Where's the vote?
As I understand it, this move had been in the works for some time. The "Payroll Department" seems to be one employee who has, God bless her, been responsible for making sure that everyone gets a check on a regular basis. The move to the second floor put her with the City Comptroller staff and some cross training was expected. That means that there would be help and the payroll system will be part of the MUNIS system rather than having it done the previous way. Combining the systems was done to save money. From the minutes of the BOE/BET study group, you'll see that the Mayor, Tom Hamilton, Dr. Marks and her successor Dr. Papallo, and the chairs of the BOE were part of the decision making process along with others.
ReplyDeleteWhy would the rest of the Board care which office the "Payroll Department" such as it is, is located? Why would that be considered an issue of transparency. It's all documented. The meetings were all noticed, posted and open to the public. And at what point does "transparency" become micro-managing?
I was waiting for the "micro-managing" red herring to get caught up in the net.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, this move says everything about why we don't trust the BOE and the whole school department.
You have maybe 2 or 3 BoE members who dare to question what goes on. They get the snot kicked out of them by the "civility" crew. So, as far as the public sees, we have a BoE which rubberstamps the superintedent.
Then you have another in a long line of superintendent's who do whatever they please.
Is it any wonder the school budget always get shat from the BET?
Micro- managing? This should have been a BoE vote for sure!
ReplyDeleteOne main reason why a vote should have happened-- the BoE is responsible for setting every worker's jojb description. Job descriptions changed if someone's supervisor changed.
ReplyDeleteI think it involved two people, not just one, who moved down to the second floor.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is not where they are currently located or if it matters where they are, but rather the process in which took place. The BOE has a responsibility and procedures and it was not followed. I understand the services were combined with the City but what was the point of physically moving the bodies - was it to save space on the 3rd floor because another dept needed the space? What savings or efficiency is it saving if we still have the same two employees doing the job? If other city employees are assisting with the BOE payroll are they held accountable for confidentiality terms as the BOE employees? This is not micro managing - its about understanding and clarifying the roles and responsibilities between the BOE and City employees and who is accountable for whom. Part of the process is understanding the fine line between the BOE and the City - which appares not to be the case at this point. If you have clarifications on this - please share.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the supervisors have changed, I think the only thing that changed was the location.
ReplyDeleteThe BOE is, of course, free to install their own MUNIS system, but if they do so on their own, it's going to cost a lot. It's not an easy system to work, either, from what I understand. The Board could conceivably vote to move the payroll department back upstairs and go back to the old system of handwritten time sheets which were entered by one employee,which is what I was told the old system was based on. However, it seems that Ms. Murray had asked last time she was on the Board for some very detailed reports on employee time, vacations, accrued sick time and other information, which would not be readily available.
Just remember one thing, the City didn't have to make room for the BOE payroll department. They didn't have to try and help cut costs so the savings could be used elsewhere. I'm sure Tom Hamilton could find more interesting things to do with his time than attending the BOE City meetings about saving money for the BOE. The BOE is the largest employer in the City of Norwalk and if the Board wants to go back to the old way, have at it.
The one question that remains is that when the BOE committee was set up to work with the City, if the Board was so intent on having a vote on everything, why didn't they say so back then? This particular issue was discussed at least three times and in the minutes, which the BOE Board members got. If they wanted to vote on it as a full Board, they should have let Glenn and Jody know. Crying foul now seems a bit disingenuous.