JOHN COFFELTEditor

Outgoing Manchester Finance Department Director Lisa Myers brought to light details of the department’s staffing concerns during a Finance Committee meeting held Feb. 20, building on a series of conversations held at public meetings over the last month.

According to public statements made in recent weeks by aldermen, the department has faced an ongoing problem with employees being overworked that dates back at least to former Finance Director Bridgett Anderson, who resigned in November of 2022. Myers was hired shortly after that and has since faced what employees feel is an understaffed office, with them working weekends and holidays.

According to a report Myers brought to the February meeting, since the city switched over to a third-party payroll company, the finance department’s salary positions’ overtime has been documented for the first time.

Since June 19 to February 11, one employee worked on average 17 hours over per two week pay period. Another pulled 28 hours over and the third pulled 15 hours over during the 80 hours of the pay period.

“That’s a total of 69 extra days in that time period,” Myers reported. “On average we’re working almost 7.5 days extra in a pay period.”

“I say that that is proof enough that we need another staff member,” she said.

In this year’s budget, The Board of Mayor and Aldermen removed a position in order to go with the third-party payroll company Paycom to perform the service.

At the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Feb. 6 Mayor Marilyn Howard commended both finance directors at the meeting.

“It’s hard when you’re behind to get caught up,” she said. “It was hard for Bridget and I didn’t realize how much she had on her.”

At a Jan. 22 Finance Committee meeting Myers approached the committee for help. Myers reported that the department is all new and learning their jobs, so she wanted to ensure the department struggle to keep up was due to being understaff rather than new.

“I feel like the finance department is understaffed,” she said, comparing the city’s staff to that of the county. Despite not having HR or receiving cash, the county’s finance department staff is double the size of the city.

Myers said that person could be added to solely handle cash received into the city.

Alderman Donnie Parsley questioned where the money for the position would come from.

“Where does all this damn money going to come from for us to keep doing this?” Parsley asked. “Adding people, we just ain’t got it.”

HR person Christine David, payroll said that the “city keeps growing, and as the city grows the amount of things coming through the office increases at that point.”

“It’s just a lot for one person…to handle,” Myers added.

Messick said that the city had overworked the former finance director and she quit.

“I felt so bad. I never knew there was an issue there. I thought we were doing ok. She was way overworked, but she got things done,” he said. “But she worked overnight.”

Myers said at the time Anderson left, the whole department turned over.Losing that brain trust is continuing to impact the efficiency of the department.

“There’s nobody there to show us what to do because the whole department turned over,” Myers said.

“Unless I work all weekend and every holiday, I don’t make any progress,” she said.

Myers had worked up January through September, seven days a week including holidays.

Messick said in January, “we don’t need to dig you in the same and work you to death. You shouldn’t have to work on holidays, on weekends or 10 o’clock at night.”

Myers submitted her resignation for personal reasons earlier this month.

“There’s a lot that we want to do, we just don’t have the time,” Myers said.

At the Feb. 6 meeting, the board approved hiring a year-end closing service (5-1 with Alderman Bob Bellamy offering a no vote) with the stated goal of keeping the incoming director from facing some of the same issues Myers did when taking over the position.

Alderman Ryan French said that a $20,000 year-end closing service should have been hired when Myers was hired. Vice Mayor Mark Messick agreed, saying that the one-time charge was necessary.

Bellamy commended the employees for their hard work. Bellamy has historically supported contacting the payroll service with the stipulation that it was to replace the need for a finance position.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.