“The time system is broke,” said Glenn Brown, director of Paterson Police Department as well as the Paterson Fire Department, during Tuesday night’s city council workshop.
The broken system meant both of these departments had little choice but to resort to antiquated ways of tracking hours put into work by employees.
When Mr Brown, the director of the aforementioned departments, and William Fraher, the acting chief of police, stood in front of the council, William McCoy, 3rd Ward councilman, asked for how long the system had been broken, the director responded, it had been for a while.
When questioned by Mr McCoy as to how the police department kept track of officers’ work hours, Mr Fraher said when officers report to their work shift, there is a roll call, and when an officer completes his shift, a supervisor takes note. This information is then transcribed to a time-sheet, a piece of paper, which is signed by higher ranking officers, and sent to payroll.
The broken system revelation caught all in the council chamber by surprise except Mr Brown; this was the first time council members heard of the system being broken. Mr McCoy criticized both department, saying both were stuck in some former age.
It is yet clear how the broken system will be mended; however, some are hoping a new finance system the city is seeking to buy from Edmund & Associate, an accounting software company based in Northfield, will help correct the overtime issue with better and digitized record keeping.