Indianola has decided to part ways with contract employees Dr. Phyllis Rhodes and Astrya Zachary.
Rhodes has been providing budgeting and accounting services for the city, among other things, since this past summer, and Zachary, who works at Rhodes’ Jackson-based firm, has been focused on payroll since January.
The decision to oust Rhodes and Zachary comes after months of fierce debate between some board members and city hall administrators over budgets, payroll and the purchase of new accounting, payroll and utility billing software.
The software transition has proven to be more expensive and involved than what the board was led to believe when the process began last summer, which led the board two weeks ago to order city hall to return to using Delta instead of Sage, which was the initial software purchase in 2023.
On a 4-1 vote this past Monday night, the board opted to terminate Rhodes effective the end of May. Zachary’s last day will be the end of this month.
Rhodes was hired last summer to help the city complete its fiscal year 2024 budget and then provide support for then newly-appointed City Clerk Angela Goodwin. Rhodes’ contract was open-ended, and Goodwin indicated last month that she still needed Rhodes’ daily support as she continues to learn the duties of city clerk.
Zachary joined the city as former Human Resources Clerk Cheryl Thomas retired at the end of 2023.
That transition, along with the implementation of a new payroll software, ADP, has led to a host of payroll problems since January 1, including apparent miscalculations of personal leave, sick leave, retirement and federal taxes.
Rhodes and others have maintained that Delta is the source of the payroll debacle, while board members and city employees have pointed to the fact that these problems were not apparent prior to January 1.
Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder was the lone no vote on both motions.
