Champaign Co., Ill. (ECWd)-
Over the years we have exposed more fraud related to handwritten timecards than imaginable. Time Card Tuesday comes to mind as one of the worst payroll issues we have seen which was by the Algonquin Township Road District.
When a push for electronic timekeeping gets made, we often hear accusations of lack of trust in our public officials is unfounded and we need to trust them to do the right things with their paper timecards.
While a recent exposure in Shelby County of an employee time card showing they were working when they were on vacation resulted in zero accountability, once again we see the unbelievable, this time in Mahomet Township in Champaign County.
Note the actual pay record for the Mahomet Township Road District reflects 5 employees who worked regular hours according to the records linked here – Pay Period 1/22/25 – 2/4/25
Bank records confirm payroll paid for that pay period, which is linked here.
Logic would indicate the supporting timesheets and timecards would support those payments.
- Employee Greg Richardson signed his time sheet, as did the highway commissioner – ZERO hours shown on the time sheet.
- Employee Paul Christie signed his time sheet, as did the highway commissioner – ZERO hours shown on the time sheet.
- Employee Shereth Doenitz (wife of highway commissioner), signed her time sheet, as did her husband the highway commissioner – ZERO hours shown on the time sheet.
- Employee Robert Harper signed his time sheet, as did the highway commissioner – ZERO hours shown on the time sheet.
- Employee Jackson Craig signed his time sheet, as did the highway commissioner – ZERO hours shown on the Time Sheet yet a separate timecard does show hours worked.
We welcome any explanation that makes it OK to pay people hourly wages when their timecard reflects zero hours worked.
We note this is the same Township Road District that the Illinois State Police identified in their prior investigation regarding alleged payroll and purchasing malfeasance. In that investigation, as outlined in this article, the report reflected the following quote:
“Doenitz also admitted that Harper has worked for him on his farm while getting paid by the township. Doenitz said Harper is paid full-time for both places at the same time.”
Stay tuned for another Mahomet whopper when it comes to accountability for township government and bidding obligations.
3 Comments
Brian K Anderson
Posted at 09:49h, 10 MarchMy question is, what statute or authority does a Road Commissioner have to “guarantee” employees 40 hours of compensation each week of the year? Unless you are self-employed, I can think of no other public or private employment that guarantees a person is paid beyond vacation, holidays, or sick leave if you don’t show up for work. Perhaps you can be guaranteed the “opportunity” to work 40 hours but if you don’t show up, you shouldn’t be paid. This becomes more concerning when it involves public body employees being paid with taxpayer money.
Greg
Posted at 13:01h, 04 MarchI worked at IDOT for 29 years. We used sign in sheets. Sometimes if the right employee signed in late the sheets would disappear and everyone would re sign in. They have a new
computer system at IDOT but they continue the old paper sheets. Every truck now has a notebook computer in them . They should be using these for time keeping as many of these
employees report to satellite yards for winter operations. We never had a time clock! That protected the habitual late employees or no shows.
Justice Seeker
Posted at 13:58h, 01 MarchIf memory serves me correctly, a prior Shelby county sheriff had some issues also. The current sheriff has not learned much from the past. Not sure I understand why government institutions are not held accountable to the same laws that the private sector is. Then again I am not sure why government leaders would not want the most accurate timekeeping in the spirit of full transparency? Payroll fraud is one of the simplest to commit and the most abused. Vote out any elected official that does not support electronic timekeeping.