ARLINGTON — The Arlington City Council considered cost-savings measures and infrastructure improvements March 9.
City administrator Paul Ellis presented a review of the NOVAtime 4000 Software electronic timekeeping system.
“Currently, all our employees use paper timecards to record their vacations and shifts,” Ellis said. “Everything’s entered in manually.”
Ellis touted NOVAtime as compatible with the city’s existing software, and suggested leasing rather than buying it.
“If we lease it, we’re not tied to it if we decide to change our software, and they’ll be the ones to maintain it,” Ellis said.
Although leasing would cost the city $660 a month, Ellis expects savings, when compared to the hours that staff spend entering data manually.
“Is this going to be able to handle differentials due to different employee groups and unions?” council member Marilyn Oertle asked.
Ellis replied: “NOVAtime is very in tune with the needs of municipalities. They know that each bargaining group has its own rules.”
When fellow council member Jan Schuette expressed concerns about pay data being stored online “in the cloud,” Ellis assured her that sensitive information such as Social Security numbers would not be compromised.
Ellis noted that the city was still checking the reviews NOVAtime had received from other cities, some of which were negative, and would opt for another option if the negatives outweighed its positives.
Public works director Jim Kelly presented the plans for the new parking lot and protection storm drain at Haller Park. City staff has completed the bid package for construction of a 38-stall lot next to the public works building, as well as a storm drain system in Cox Avenue to protect the water quality of the Haller well field.
Kelly added that the project would include crosswalks and at least eight lights.
“It’s smart to do all these at the same time,” Ellis said.
The construction estimates are $170,000 for the parking lot and $55,000 for the water-quality improvements. The council will vote on this project March 16.
Ellis returned to address Frontier America’s Best Communities Award. A team from Washington State University is writing a grant proposal on behalf of Arlington and Darrington for the award, and the Snohomish County Economic Alliance will submit the grant and act as the fiscal agent.
Ellis hopes to see this award help foster retail and industrial broadband Internet access, to make the area more attractive to businesses.
