CHARLESTON -- Mississippi County Sheriff's Department employees will soon be punching the clock.
County commissioners approved the purchase of a $3,000 computer-based time clock system from Scheffer's Office Furniture and Business Machines during their regular meeting Thursday.
The cost includes installation, training and supplies, according to County Clerk Junior DeLay.
There are currently 51 employees working for the Sheriff's Department which includes the sheriff, six deputies and Mississippi County Detention Center staff.
Commissioner Martin Lucas said the time clock is needed because "they can't keep up with the payroll over there."
Currently time sheets are filled out and sent to the county clerk's office. "It's hard to reconcile them," Commissioner Homer Oliver said.
For example, according to the time sheets, one deputy apparently worked a 72-hour shift during a recent pay period.
"This will take all the guesswork out of it," DeLay said. The time clock system will be administered by the county clerk's office, he said.
Employees will use a card similar to a credit or debit card to "swipe" through a reader on the time clock to clock in and out, according to DeLay.
"If you don't swipe, you don't get paid," Lucas said.
Officials hope to have the new time clock delivered and in operation for the next 28-day pay cycle at the Sheriff's Department. The current pay period began Sunday.