Lawrence to outsource payroll processing to Payor after staff presentation

The Lawrence Board of Public Works and Safety on May 28 approved a professional services agreement with Payor to manage the city’s payroll processing.

City Controller Terry Faulker told the board the payroll module in the city’s current financial software "does not... work well" and has made payroll processing unduly time-consuming. Faulker said the current arrangement has placed an excessive burden on the staff member who processes payroll and that outsourcing to a specialized vendor would streamline the work.

Megan Fay, representing Payor, described the company as a provider of an integrated payroll and human-resources platform that will automate and simplify payroll tasks. Fay said Payor’s software will take over processing while the city’s financial system will continue to hold payroll data; staff said they would retain the current system for the first two payroll runs as a backup while Payor is implemented.

Board members asked procedural questions about maintaining both systems during transition; staff confirmed they would not run both systems concurrently beyond the initial safeguard period. Following the presentation and questions, a motion to confirm the professional services agreement passed.

The transcript did not include contract dollar amounts or a roll-call tally for the vote; the board recorded the result as "motion carries." Implementation steps in the meeting included running initial payroll cycles with the existing system retained as a safeguard and producing a transition report back to the board.