By Kyle Wind
The Times-Tribune
SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna County Prison’s warden on Monday disputed that employees ever vandalized time clocks at the facility.
County Chief Financial Officer Thomas Durkin raised vandalism of biometric readers at the jail last week among challenges that have so far limited the rollout of an electronic timekeeping system after the controller’s office questioned the initiative’s progress in a payroll audit.
Warden Robert McMillan said Mr. Durkin must have confused the jail with another department. Mr. Durkin said he confirmed at least two instances of vandalism with the payroll department and suggested the damage may have happened before Mr. McMillan took the reins in 2011.
Mr. McMillan checked with supervisors who predated him, however, and no one was aware of it ever happening there.
“My staff tells me it never happened at the prison,” Mr. McMillan said.
The warden said the reason the jail does not use the system is that the facility has a different version of the software that cannot count overtime. Mr. Durkin said the prison is on the same server as the newer Kronos system and doesn’t have that problem.
County commissioners could not be reached Monday.
The controller’s office’s 2012-14 payroll audit noted the county invested $422,587 in the time-and-attendance system over nearly a decade, but it still only tracks hours and benefits for about 31 percent of county workers.
Given the numbers, Controller Gary DiBileo called the effort a failure. However Mr. Durkin said the system works well in the departments where it is implemented.
He cited a small payroll staff, information technology issues and what appeared to be vandalism by jail employees among reasons the rollout has been slow.
The administration still envisions the system eventually tracking hours and benefits for all county employees, Mr. Durkin said.