No criminal charges will be filed against Wright City employees accused of falsifying time cards, according to Leslie Tolliver-Rogers, city attorney. However, employees may be required to pay restitution she announced at last Thursday's board of aldermen meeting. "From the review of the time cards, there may in the very near future be a request of restitution provided to the city," Tolliver-Rogers said. "We haven't finalized that by now." Efforts to reach Tolliver-Rogers for further comment following last weekend's meeting were unsuccessful. When contacted earlier this week, Mayor Roy White said Rogers' announcement came as no surprise. In April, he claimed employees were being paid for working on a scheduled vacation day. He contacted the "state" regarding the alleged misuse, but was told the investigation needed to be turned over to Tolliver-Rogers for review. When asked to identify the "state" agency, White refused. White said he reviewed three time cards of employees who were eligible for 80 hours of vacation time, but had been paid for vacation time ranging from 104 to 134 hours. He blamed the department heads and city clerk for failure to review the time cards and question the alleged excess use of vacation time. Per city policy, employees receive one week of vacation following their first year and a second week. "It was blatant," White assures. "It was right there." However, city officials dispute White's allegations. In previous meetings, Alderman Jim Schuchmann stated he had reviewed time cards and didn't see any issues. He felt that the extra hours were related to unforeseen circumstances, such as clearing roads in the winter or fixing water line breaks. White didn't know what the next step would be for the city to receive restitution if the investigation determined an overpayment. He said he only forwarded two time cards to Tolliver-Rogers for review. "Restitution has to be paid if they took extra vacation," White vowed. "In the time cards I reviewed, three out of five had vacation overpay. It will now be up to the board." At last week's meeting, the board voted 3-1 to reinstate the city's comp time policy. In addition, the board will receive a payroll report notifying them as to how much comp time has been accrued. "I have no doubt that we can have a greater accountability by this method," Schuchmann said. In May, the board voted to eliminate the comp time policy over disputes on how it was being used. All comp time that had been accrued by city staff had to be used by Sept. 30. White argued that the comp time policy would not save the city money since it requires employees to be paid time-and-a-half. However, Schuchmann disagreed saying that a city employee could work 55 hours one week and then only work 25 hours the second week of the pay period. By doing that, Schuchmann said, an employee's time card will remain at 80 hours despite the additional pay. Without the policy, the extra hours would be added to the employee's regular 40-hour work week. While the new comp time policy covers all city employees, Alderman Jamey Abercrombie argued that the policy should be used only for the police department. Due to the department's short staff, at least two officers have had a request to carry over their vacation time approved since they could find no time to be off. "I don't have a problem with them taking if off because of the stress level," said Abercrombie, though he later voted to put the policy back in place. "The stress level is so much higher. That takes a toll." The lone negative vote came from Black, who said he agreed with Abercrombie that the police department should have its own comp time policy. "I think the police department should be separate, private almost," Black remarked. "They should be taken care of."