Mahoning elections board institutes changes

By David Skolnick | May 31, 2012 at 12:05a.m.

Kale-Pesta

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Board of Elections is tightening work rules for its employees, including a new face-recognition time clock, requiring workers to contact the director or deputy director when leaving the office, docking pay for being late and restricting cellphone use.

There have been some abuses of work rules, but nothing serious, said board Director Joyce Kale-Pesta.

Leaving the office without clocking out is “an issue during” slower times of the year, she said. “Not that anyone abuses it. I want to avoid that.”

A memo given to all board employees last week by Kale-Pesta and Deputy Director Thomas McCabe details work rules.

Employees leaving the board office at Oakhill Renaissance Place on professional business must inform Kale-Pesta or McCabe about why they’re leaving.

They also must clock out when leaving for personal reasons.

“Anyone leaving this office on personal business without clocking out will be reprimanded,” the memo reads. “Three reprimands will result in time off and possible dismissal. Leaving the office for hours at a time will no longer be tolerated. If I cannot find you in this office or building and you are not clocked out, I will take it as being on personal business and it will result in a reprimand.”

Employees who are one to 15 minutes late for work will lose 15 minutes of pay, those who are 16 to 30 minutes late will lose a half-hour of pay, and so on, Kale-Pesta said.

Also, the use of cellphones in the office, except in cases of emergency or for board business, is prohibited.

“I don’t want people taking personal calls while working,” Kale-Pesta said.

The board recently purchased a face-recognition time clock to replace its punch-card clock, she said.

The new clock costs the same as the old ones, about $600, Kale-Pesta said. The punch-card clocks kept breaking about 14 months after being purchased, she said. The new clock has a five-year warranty while the punch-card clocks had one-year warranties, she said.

“This is much more proactive board, and this is the direction they want to go,” Kale-Pesta said.

Also, the board is revamping its website — http://www.mahoningcountyoh.gov/DepartmentsAgencies/Departments/BoardofElections/tabid/740/Default.aspx — with improvements to be done by late August.

Among the changes will be the inclusion of campaign finance reports for local candidates, both current and those going back six years, Kale-Pesta said.

It would also include voter precinct locator maps and YoungstownHappenings.com, a local website that films various government meetings in Mahoning County, would film board of elections meetings that would be shown on both that website and the elections board’s site, Kale-Pesta said.

Board Vice Chairman David Betras’ recent suggestion to let the public watch what’s being filmed by 24 video cameras at the board on its website doesn’t look like it will happen.

Those cameras, installed and monitored by the sheriff’s department, don’t have sound.