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overtime payouts, declining morale, and up front costs to ensure compatibility with our payroll system. She stated that staff was scheduled to attend a webinar last week on time clocks, but were unable to attend, but there is another one scheduled for this Thursday. She stated that staff is looking for feedback on whether the Personnel Committee would like to pursue the use of time clocks for regular employees. Councilmember Jeffrey stated that he thinks it is a terrible idea and the potential disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. He stated that he is not in support of this idea. Mayor Ramsey stated that he agrees and after giving it some thought has somewhat changed his original position. He stated that the real heart of the issue is that the new Councilmembers don't have a good understanding of what staff is doing. He stated that they understand what department heads are doing, but don't have a good idea of what staff is doing. He stated that he looks as this as a possible tool for staff. He stated that if staff sees this as something that they would like to use, he would support it. He stated that the real issue for him is not knowing whether the City is really productive or not. Chair Dehen stated that he agrees that time clocks would be impractical. He stated that his last experience with time clocks was working on the ballfields in Anoka and remembers standing there just waiting for 4:30, so he could punch out. He stated that he is not advocating time clocks, but if there is some other method that can be used to enhance productivity, then he would be in favor of it. He stated that perhaps there may be a Public Works project where it would be helpful to know how long certain projects take. He asked if there was a way the City could use some sort of tool like this to enhance productivity. He stated that perhaps something should be looked into, like the thing mentioned at a Work Session that could hang in pick up trucks. Councilmember Jeffrey stated that with there would be an expense to get this up and running, it is a buzz kill and a morale buster for employees and somebody would have to monitor it. He stated that the only thing he would support is, instead of putting in paper time cards, a way to do exception reporting electronically. He stated that he thinks the Council has to trust staff, field supervisors and department heads on this. Councilmember Dehen stated that he is just curious if there is some way it can be used as a tool to get better productivity. He stated that he thinks there may be some creative options out there that may give some valuable information to the City. City Administrator Ulrich stated that the City can pursue the electronic time sheets, which he sees as an advantage to eliminate paper. Mayor Ramsey stated that he sees this as two issues and it doesn't really have anything to do with time clocks. He stated that the way the system generally works in government, is you can get away with things because you can, for example, forget to turn in your time sheets. He stated that he hears time and time again about people out surveying and people questioning why there are so many people standing around. He stated that he wants to have the confidence to tell the people that staff is doing what they are supposed to be doing and not just standing around. Personnel Committee / February 24, 2009 Page 2 of 5