Issues arise about payroll at city council meeting

In the city council meeting yesterday morning, councilman Weston Lindemann brought up allegations of city employees abusing their overtime and getting paid more than they should. The claims docket was on the agenda for the meeting.

“Payroll apparently is an issue that we may need to look into, but my way of looking into things is different than some of the other people. My military background makes me look at things differently, it makes me look at the chain of command differently,” says Fannie Johnson who is the president of the Meridian City Council

Johnson suggested the claims docket be split into three parts. Part A being things the city has to pay such as electricity, gas, and insurance. Part B would be those on the payroll that there are not questions about, and Part C would be those that there are questions about. If someone being investigated in Part C has no issue, they can be moved to part B. If someone in Part C presents an issue within payroll, then they would be dealt with accordingly.

“But instead of voting no on the whole claims docket, which would mean none of our city bills get paid and nobody gets paid. In good conscious I can’t say to the person out there making nine or ten dollars an hour that we’re not going to pay you. I can’t do that. I can’t put the city in the situation to say, ‘ok, we’re not going to pay any bills.’ I don’t even know what would happen if we wouldn’t pay the power bills and the gas bills and the insurances and all the other kind of bills our city has.” -Johnson

Ultimately, the city council voted to keep the claims docket as a one docket. Johnson says there are some on the city’s payroll that are being looked into.