By Cindy Cardinal

The Owen Personnel Committee met on Monday, September 28 to take up items they didn’t get to at their last meeting.
Timekeeping software was discussed. Committee member Jason Thornton said he didn’t understand why the city of Owen doesn’t have some type of time tracking software for their employees. Committee member Ken Martine didn’t see the need as the city has only a few employees and he trusts them to record their time correctly. Each department writes their hours down in different formats. It was noted that for public works, DPW Chad Smith breaks down what each employee does by what they do during a day, whether that be water, sewer, parks, streets, etc. Personnel suggested having Workhorse demonstrate their timekeeping software.
The committee wasn’t ready to do employee handbook updates at this meeting. Most of them relate to changes in hours, etc. They felt there was no rush to get it done. Committee members will go through their copies of the handbook and mark what they feel needs to be updated. Deputy Clerk Kelly Booth can do the updates and the committee will take a look at the updated handbook before it goes to the council for approval.