Tusten’s tech challenge

Clock glitches and computer control

By FRITZ MAYER

NARROWSBURG, NY — The biometric time clock was supposed to make it easier to calculate the payroll for the highway department, but it’s not working out that way. One problem is that the clock starts calculating overtime pay after a total of 40 hours, but the department employees start accruing overtime after 10 hours in a single day. According to Tusten supervisor Peg Harrison, there is no way to change that feature of the clock.

And the shortcomings of the biometric time clock don’t stop there. The clock records an employee’s hours by the swipe of a hand, but it does not read a handprint; instead, it reads the size of the hand. At the town meeting on March 8, Harrison said there are two men in the department with the same size hands, and they could clock in and out for each other.

George Kinch, the highway superintendent, added that one man in the department has rather large hands, and the clock won’t read his hand at all.

All of this is causing extra bookkeeping work and requires significant changes to the record kept by the clock. Because of this, Harrison wanted the board to rescind the policy that named the biometric clock as the “official time keeper of the highway department.”

The board did so after Harrison agreed to further investigate to see if the clock could be made to work in a manner that would satisfy the needs of the department.

But that wasn’t the end of Harrison’s technology-related resolutions. She wanted the board to rescind the Internet policy it adopted in December before Harrison took office. This led to a sometimes-heated discussion about who has authority over the computer system.

Harrison accused town clerk Kathy Michell of ignoring her request for information about the various programs contained on town computers. Michell replied that the request had come at a busy time for her in her position as a tax collector.

The board voted to adopt the policy in December 2009. Harrison said it was designed, “for whatever reason, to take control of the system out of the hands of the supervisor.”

Board member Carol Wingert said that the policy had been adopted after the New York State Comptroller’s office asked that it be approved.

The board tied on the motion to rescind the policy, with Wingert and Lisa Dowling voting against and Harrison and Eileen Falk voting in favor; therefore the vote to rescind was not approved.

Michell said that she would provide Harrison with the information she requested.

The Narrowsburg School

Also on the agenda, Jane Luchsinger, president of the Narrowsburg Chamber of Commerce, said the committee that is considering possible futures for the Narrowsburg School building said that they have come up with with a business model that might work for the community and a future owner.

The committee said that a boutique hotel, with about 30 rooms, would return the building to the tax rolls, and according to their computer model might also turn a profit in a couple of years. But finding a willing buyer might present challenges.

The board will meet again on March 22.