One Augusta commissioner wants to require all employees, even those at the highest ranks, to punch in and out on a time clock.
The policy, requested by Commissioner Brandon Garrett, for some would replace an online system that doesn’t show the employee’s location.
Garrett said the change will increase accountability for employees’ time, especially their time off.
“There isn’t a lot of oversight for salaried employees’ time,” Garrett said. “Also, it’s come up that some employees are clocking in via a mobile device that does not have GPS information on where they actually are located when they did so.”
City employee use and abuse of time cards goes back years. In 2011, waterworks employees were caught punching one another out. The next year, Recreation Director Tom Beck was caught marking an employee’s time off as time worked. Beck said he inherited the practice, while the city would settle a lawsuit filed by the employee in question last year for $800,000.
Garrett said he’d like to see the change impact all employees, even those classified as “senior executive staff.” The classification was developed to add severance pay of a month’s salary per year worked to non-elected employees who resign for any reason except cause.
In 2019 the commission capped the payouts at three months’ salary and benefits for employees hired after that date.
Who are senior executive staff?
- Administrator and deputy administrators, clerk of commission, general counsel, senior staff attorney, staff attorneys, superior court administrator
- Public safety: Fire chief, sheriff’s chief deputy, sheriff’s colonel, Emergency Management agency director, 911, warden at Richmond County Correctional Institution, animal services director
- Department heads: Compliance, Central Services, Planning and Development, Procurement, Engineering, Elections, Transit, Utilities, Finance, Human Resources, Housing and Community Development, Information Technology, Recreation and Parks
- Taxes: Tax assessor, chief deputy tax commissioner
- Airport: Operations director, engineering and maintenance director, fire chief, marketing director, aircraft services director
In other action
Prior to the commission’s 2 p.m. meeting, it will hear from Developmental Associates LLC about the recruiting firm’s plan to solicit and vet candidates for the position of Augusta administrator at a 1 p.m. called session. In addition, the session will serve to “determine Augusta’s vision, goals and objective” for the position.
The commission voted to hire the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based firm last month to conduct the search for a $31,750 fee.
The commission has several other items up for approval as a group at the 2 p.m. Tuesday meeting. The items include:
- Rezoning applications for 2.54 acres at 3645 Wheeler Road and 5.66 acres at 1924 Barton Chapel Road sought by the Drayton Parker Companies for construction of Parker’s Kitchen convenience stores
- Naming “one of the Augusta Recreation athletic ball fields” at Diamond Lakes Regional Park for former Commissioner Andy Cheek
- Naming Augusta’s Riverwalk the Edward M. McIntyre Sr. Riverwalk Park and the Eighth Street Plaza as the Edward M. McIntyre Sr. Square at Eighth Street and placing the former mayor’s name on the Eighth Street bulkhead archway
- Naming the Augusta Utilities and Engineering building at 425 Walker St. for former Utilities Director Tom Wiedmeier
