Township to Cut IT Department's Hours

Washington Township’s two-member information technology (IT) department will have its weekly hours reduced from 40 to 35 per employee after the township committee moved to vote on a resolution at its Wednesday, Dec. 14 work session. 

The decision, according to Mayor Ken Short, came about after it was learned the IT department had the only municipal employees still working a 40-hour week. All other municipal employees work 35-hour weeks.

Before the township committee made the motion to create a resolution, it asked Ray Kenny and Bob Kelly–the IT employees–what would be lost if the hours were cut.

Kelly, a township employee for eight years, explained that his weeks are completely full now, at 40 hours. Kelly said everything from computer maintenance and restoration to major projects, like helping the township’s police department switch over to county dispatch, are just some of the tasks he and Kenny are involved in.

“We’d really have to prioritize our tasks,” Kelly said. “We’ve got a decent back log now, and some things take time to get to. That would continue to happen if we had less hours to work each week.”

Kenny tried explaining to the committee what any given day could look like for the department, likening it to the police department’s fleet maintenance team.

“There are days when something urgent comes up and needs to be fixed immediately,” Kenny said. “When it’s unexpected and needs to be done right away, it can push off other tasks. Everything is different from day to day.”

The cut in hours, a 12.5 percent decrease for Kenny and Kelly, would save the township $20,662 annually, Short said.

Members of the committee agreed that it would be hard to quantify the day-to-day operations of the IT department, and would have to wait and see how the new set up would work.

Short said the committee would be willing to reassess the situation a month or two after the change is made, to see if any problems have occurred.

“A lot of their work is reactive,” said Vice Mayor Jim Harmon. “We don’t know what will happen because we don’t have (an IT) plan for the long term.”

Committeeman Jim LiaBraaten opposed the motion, saying “If you have a backlog now and can’t finish tasks, and we reduce the hours, we’re going to lose something. I’d like to see the township spend less on everything, but I don’t know where this is going to fall.”

In the case of an emergency, under the resolution, approved overtime hours for the department would be paid at the employees’ regular rate of $36 per hour.

Once approved at the Dec. 19 regular meeting, the department’s hour reduction will be effective Jan. 1, 2012.