Less than 24 hours after issuing a clear directive to city hall employees to stop using Sage accounting software to conduct the city’s business, the board of aldermen walked it back.
Monday night’s order was more of a clarification of one that was issued two weeks ago when the board voted to return city hall to the Delta software system that has handled the city’s transactions since 2006.
After that order earlier this month, it appears that training sessions with city employees on how to use Sage continued, which prompted the board to be more-clear this week in prohibiting the use of that product.
“I just want to warn y’all are not going to have payroll,” Dr. Phyllis Rhodes, accountant for the city, told the board after this week’s motion passed.
“Sage and ADP go together.”
ADP is the city’s current payroll software.
The board seems committed to negating the implementation of Sage and other software products but did back down during an emergency Zoom meeting that was called on Tuesday in an effort to make sure that the city’s payroll has no interruptions this week.
The lone agenda item was to rescind that Monday night directive.
“Mr. Mayor, I don’t want to rescind the order,” Ward 2 Alderman Darrell Simpson said. “I agree to use ADP one time for this week, but we need to get Delta in as soon as possible for training. I do not want to rescind that board order.”
Board Attorney Kimberly Merchant told the board they did not have to rescind the Monday night order. They could allow city hall to operate on Sage and ADP for one week or even longer if training on Delta is delayed.
According to City Clerk Angela Goodwin, Delta has suggested that the city shadow another municipality to learn the system.
Mayor Ken Featherstone said that Greenville uses Delta and could be approached for training purposes.
The software saga began last summer when Rhodes was hired to support Goodwin.
Rhodes said that she received negative feedback last year about Delta from some city employees, prompting the attempted switch to Sage, which led to the purchase or attempted purchases of supporting modules.
“We tried to pick software that would complement the city’s needs,” Rhodes told the board by phone on Monday. “Right now, we understand that Delta is not going to continue to last. It’s going to fail, eventually, we just don’t know when.”
Rhodes admitted on Tuesday that prior to ordering Sage, she did not know the accounting product lacked the utility billing integration.
“My pursuit was to get a new accounting system,” Rhodes said, adding that she still believes Sage is superior to Delta.
Since last summer, the city has switched its payroll software to ADP, and the board apparently did approve the purchase of MyGov, a software that supports the issuance of permits and GIS mapping.
The final component is utility billing, which could be run by gWorks, a software company that focuses on small to mid-sized municipal governments.
Lucas Casey, a gWorks sales representative, spoke to the board on Monday night.
The city did advertise for bids for utility billing software last month, but Casey said gWorks wanted to offer the city its full “enterprise” package that included utility billing as well as payroll, accounting, GIS mapping, permits and more.
“Why do we need Sage in the first place?” Simpson asked on Monday.
Rhodes said that Sage meets the governmental standards for municipal accounting.
Simpson asked if gWorks met those same standards.
“I have not fully explored it,” Rhodes said.
Casey said the city’s main priority right now is utility billing, something he said gWorks is ready to assist with, but he could not speak to the apples-to-apples comparison between his company’s software and the others when it came to accounting, permits and GIS.
There was an agenda item to pay for gWorks, at a cost of about $75,000 for the whole package.
This raised a couple of issues.
Rhodes had suggested the city could pay for the utility billing software with its Use Tax money. That is internet sales tax revenue that must be used on water and sewer projects, and while Rhodes noted that she confirmed through the Mississippi Department of Revenue that this is allowable, it was unclear whether the city could pay for non-utility-related components with those funds.
Also, the city advertised specifically for bids for utility billing software. In order to purchase all of the gWorks offerings, it may need to readvertise.
That item was tabled on Monday night.
The board voted 3-0 on Tuesday to allow city hall to process payroll through Sage and ADP this week. That board order also included a stipulation that city employees must begin training on Delta as soon as possible.
Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi and Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock were not present for the vote.
Merchant also suggested that Rhodes and Goodwin come up with a timeline for how long they think the training will take, explore exactly what gWorks is capable of doing for the City of Indianola and the exact cost of all of the options that are on the table.
