“It also includes when an employee enters their user name and password to utilize the time clock system’s app or web portal.”
The in-person system requires “the employee’s fingerprint to assure the employee’s identity.”
Fiscal Officer Julie Joyce-Smith told the Journal-News they were considering making changes prior to the investigation but said, “I guess it’s collateral damage.”
When “payroll irregularities” were discovered, the trustees alerted Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, who turned it over to BCI for investigation.
Joyce-Smith said they got an electronic time-keeping system in 2020, at her insistence, and that’s when they implemented the policy they are adjusting.
“When I came in I was the one that insisted we needed a system beyond punch cards, because too many mistakes were getting made,” she said.
All hourly employees are governed by the time clock policy except full-time firefighters and medics. Joyce-Smith said the new system “is pretty bare bones” and isn’t equipped to handle 24-hour — a normal fire department day — shifts or anything longer, so they are on a their own system.
The trustees haven’t been able to discuss the BCI investigation in-depth. As to the policy change, Trustee Russ McGurrin, who just joined the board in June, told the Journal-News the trustees are “currently reviewing all of our HR policies and that is one of them.”
The BCI investigation came to light last week. The trustees held an executive session on Sept. 27 and issued a joint statement. The statement notes at first all departments in the township were under investigation. The inquiry is now focused on the police department.
“In early July, anomalies were discovered in the use of the mobile application in use with the township’s timeclock system,” the statement reads. “While we are not rushing to judgment on whether there is any wrongdoing in this matter, it is the responsibility of the elected officials of Ross Twp. to ensure that our residents’ best interests and tax dollars are being appropriately overseen, therefore the administration consulted the county prosecutor for advice.”
Gmoser told the Journal-News he can’t comment on the investigation but said, “government efficiencies can be a learning experience through trial and error and I applaud their effort to increase efficiencies of their system, that’s all I can say at this time.”
Dominic Binkley, deputy press secretary for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, told the Journal-News there is no estimate for when the BCI investigation will be complete.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Binkley said. “Every investigation is unique and is handled on a case-by-case basis.”
In their statement the trustees alluded to the two police levy questions on the November ballot. Voters will be asked two tax questions to keep the police department afloat — a 3.75-mill renewal that won’t raise taxes and an additional 1.5 mills that would cost roughly $52 per $100,000.
“The investigation does not negate the need for a permanent police department,” the statement read. “Nor does it negate the need for funds to support our police department moving forward.”
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