Codington County Approves ADP Payroll and HR Platform After Year-Long Review
- Steve Jurrens
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The Codington County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to transition all county departments onto a synchronized, multi-featured time-keeping and human resources platform provided by ADP. The contract approval concludes a year-long diagnostic exploration aimed at fixing structural payroll gaps left by previous software failures.
Commissioner Tyler McElhany contextualized the high stakes of the procurement, recalling the administrative friction that the county experienced over the trailing twelve months.
“If you remember, last year was the year we were planning on moving forward, and we went with a time-keeping system that did not work out,” McElhany reminded the board. “After that, we put together a plan to look at some more companies, and we looked at ADP and Paylocity.”
The thorough cross-vendor evaluation spotlighted ADP as the optimal fit, uniquely suited to handle complex public sector shift patterns. Sheriff’s Deputy Brent Solum, who served on the county’s specialized tech committee, praised the platform’s reliability and operational dexterity based on direct local field testing.
“I was really impressed with ADP, their responsiveness to me,” Solum testified. “Going out and doing some checking with other people that have ADP—they all really like it. I spoke with the City of Brookings... nothing that they found that they couldn’t work through and work around. ADP was very responsive to them as well.”
Advanced AI and Automated Recruiting Features
The deployment includes an expansive onboarding and HR ecosystem that introduces machine learning to administrative processes. Solum explained that the software includes built-in links to aggregate and vet prospective job applicants automatically.
“Any new hires that you would bring into the county—it will actually go out and try to find applicants through HigherClick and through those things... it uses AI to kind of assist in determining qualification levels for what we’re after,” Solum detailed. “It’ll help us write job descriptions if there’s things we’re missing... it’ll fill a lot of our gaps where the county doesn’t even realize we’re missing.”
The automated landscape also features employee self-service modules, allowing personnel to text the system’s AI interface to modify W-2 dependency listings or evaluate specialized county healthcare options. Crucially for the Auditor’s office, technical vetting confirmed that the ADP platform is fully compatible with Ultra, the county’s primary accounting baseline, ensuring automated report data formatting.
Fiscal Safeguards and Implementation Timeline
The contract features a promotional “buy two years, get one year free” incentive, with the single-year discount mathematically amortized over the opening two-year cycle. To protect the county against late-stage software inflation, ADP representatives participated via live videoconference to address long-term cost controls.
John Beam, ADP Vice President of Major Accounts, clarified contract protections regarding standard annual rate evaluations, noting historically stable baseline adjustments.
“I’ve been with ADP for about 18 years; it’s typically in the 0 to 3% range is what I have seen,” Beam explained to the board. He demonstrated the low vulnerability of the county’s budget by providing a real-world calculation tailored to their workforce: “If you were to take that... you’re looking at like a $70 increase over a month.”
The framework also includes comprehensive Affordable Care Act (ACA) support.
“That’s the Affordable Care Act,” Beam confirmed. “So the 1095-C forms that need to be filled out and all the tracking—that’s included in this package.”
Because the contract offer was linked to a June 30 fiscal deadline, commissioners faced a ticking clock.
“This offer basically is good until the end of this month,” McElhany emphasized. “And then after that, it goes away... and they’d have to make a new offer.”
Recognizing the administrative advantage, the board passed the system overhaul unanimously, targeting an official implementation date of October 1, 2026, which will be accompanied by unlimited employee training.
