NEW PALESTINE — The town council has hired a contractor to handle the town’s payroll, essentially taking the job away from Clerk-Treasurer Tonii Pyle.
The move had been in the works for months after Pyle, who took office in January, complained about having too many other responsibilities associated with the job to learn. As with many interactions between Pyle and the council, the decision at a council meeting on Wednesday, July 15, did not come without complication.
Council members had asked Pyle in March to search for a business to take over the payroll responsibilities. With no information forthcoming, the council voted to hire Payroll Professionals, LLC of Greenfield to handle the work at a cost of $2,196 per year.
“We waited four or five months at least,” for information from Pyle, council member Angie Fahrnow said.
Pyle objected to the move, telling the council she wanted to talk with the firm before it was hired. She also said she would not share with the contractor the information it would need to do the job. But the council passed the measure 2-1. Council vice president Clint Bledsoe voted against it. Fahrnow and Bill Niemier voted in favor. (Council president Brandee Bastin was on vacation, while council member Jan Jarson listened via video streaming but did not participate in any of the votes or discussions.)
Bledsoe said he couldn’t understand the need for a payroll service when it’s the clerk’s job to handle payroll. Niemier reminded him the service would be far less expensive than the $25,000 the town has already paid a consultant who has been helping Pyle do the payroll, bank reconciliations and other accounting services.
Also Wednesday, the council held a public hearing and then amended an ordinance to put a cap of $2,500 attorney fees for the clerk-treasurer. The move was to satisfy state statutory requirements that allow for a clerk-treasurer to have their own attorney, yet gives the council the power to set limits on funding.
Pyle has submitted attorney expenses of more than $8,000 to date.
The council also moved to limit the amount of money Pyle will be allowed to use for consultants after consulting bills to a county accountant to date have totaled nearly $25,000. Those expenses were not budgeted for 2020.
From now on, the clerk’s office will only have consultant funds approved to iron out the 2021 budget.
Also during the meeting, the council rehired Susie Morris, who was Pyle’s deputy assistant up until this week when Pyle fired Morris, saying she no longer needed Morris’ services. Morris will now be an administrative assistant to the council, the police department and town manager Jim Robinson. She is expected to work 30 hours per week at the same rate before Pyle let her go.
