Palatka staff outline larger draft city budget and ADP HR rollout; public-requests software proposed

City staff presented a revised second draft of the general fund and departmental budgets and briefed the commission on planned HR and public-records technology changes.

Staff said the draft general fund total moved from initial first-draft figures to a current planning figure (staff cited a working total in the mid‑$70 million range), and emphasized that numbers will be refined in a third draft once year-end rollovers and grant awards are clearer. Staff noted salaries were set to reflect current staffing and negotiated changes and that grant revenue assumptions were now included compared with the first draft.

Human resources staff reviewed an ADP implementation intended to centralize payroll, benefits, onboarding and performance management. Payroll go‑live is scheduled for early July (presenter cited July 2), with additional ADP modules (onboarding, performance evaluations, benefits) phased in after payroll; staff said the system will allow digital probationary reviews, anniversary reminders and attachment of evaluation forms to employee records. Commissioners asked about training, parallel testing and ongoing costs; HR said manager training and employee training are scheduled and cited ongoing support from the vendor.

City clerk staff recommended purchasing NextRequest (a public‑records request management product, sometimes offered via CivicPlus), requesting a one‑time setup fee (presenter cited about $12,000) and an annual subscription (presenter noted about $10,000 per year); the clerk said NextRequest would route requests to departments, publish frequently requested records and reduce duplicate public-records processing work. Commissioners asked for a comparative procurement analysis; the clerk said she had evaluated at least two other products and would provide a side‑by‑side recommendation.

Ending

Staff will return with a more detailed third draft of the full city budget, a procurement comparison for public-records software and a module rollout schedule for ADP including target dates and training plans.