New Mayor Of Harvey Determined To Weed Out Employees That Don't Exist, Requires Employees Pick Up Paychecks In Person
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Workers in south suburban Harvey had to show up in person if they wanted their paychecks Friday. It's an effort by the city's new mayor to weed out employees that don't really exist.
The new mayor was sworn in last week along with several new aldermen. Some got a chance to tour offices of city hall and dicovered a mess with record keeping. So, Friday employees did not get direct deposit but had to show proof of identity before receiving their paychecks one by one.
"I took in my application. They looked over my information. I showed them my ID, and my check was released to me," said Tyrone Britton, who works for the city's water department.
He said they even gave him a new personnel policy and procedure handbook.
"I know it's going in the right direction," Britton said. "I had to prove to get my check, so I got my check. So I'm happy about that."
Britton understands with the new administration come new changes for his city.
Marshun Tolbert is ready. He's the new alderman of the 2nd Ward.
"There's just a lot of work to be done," he said. "It's kind of devastating to see the condition that the city is left in."
The 22-year-old was born and raised in Harvey. He said he's frustrated by the mess left behind by the previous administration, including the disorganization of payroll.
"We assume there's some ghost payrolling, and the city finances, as you might know, are real tight nowadays," he said. "One way we're looking at it is the salary and the wages, but there was no organizational charts for job, nothing left to my knowledge."
So how many people work for the City of Harvey?
"I was told over 200, and like I said, I've lived here for 22 years," Tolbert said. "I haven't seen 200 employees. I'm just going to be quite honest with you."
Tolbert couldn't believe it. For now he's just waiting for answers from the new mayor of Harvey.
"We're just asking the citizens of Harvey just to be patient with us," he said. "We are going to get through it all. We need patience, and a new day is coming."
CBS 2 reached out to Mayor Christopher Clark, but his office said they won't be making a comment until they get a chance to review all the files.
