diff --git a/src/slurmctld/controller.c b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
index 1b857ce7c501e073268bc600a3d247eef9153aec..76b68003318f780f701a096f817ef914aae27c75 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/controller.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
@@ -195,8 +195,7 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
 				shutdown_time = time (NULL);
 				/* send REQUEST_SHUTDOWN_IMMEDIATE RPC */
 				slurm_shutdown ();
-				/* ssl clean up
-				*/
+				/* ssl clean up */
 				slurm_destroy_ssl_key_ctx ( & sign_ctx ) ;
 				slurm_ssl_destroy ( ) ;
 
@@ -325,13 +324,16 @@ void * service_connection ( void * arg )
 void *
 slurmctld_background ( void * no_data )
 {
-	static time_t last_sched_time = (time_t) NULL;
-	static time_t last_checkpoint_time = (time_t) NULL;
-	static time_t last_timelimit_time = (time_t) NULL;
+	static time_t last_sched_time;
+	static time_t last_checkpoint_time;
+	static time_t last_timelimit_time;
 	time_t now;
 	/* Locks: Write job, write node, read partition */
 	slurmctld_lock_t job_write_lock = { NO_LOCK, WRITE_LOCK, WRITE_LOCK, READ_LOCK };
 
+	/* Let the dust settle before doing work */
+	last_sched_time = last_checkpoint_time = last_timelimit_time = time (NULL);
+
 	while (shutdown_time == 0) {
 		sleep (1);
 
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h b/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
index f5ba092e663d9821400b1dfd888d98ea415d3739..e1b72cd65d3336516aab66f9defad4853c272007 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
+++ b/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
@@ -179,9 +179,9 @@ struct job_record {
 };
 
 struct 	step_record {
-	struct job_record* job_ptr; /* ptr to the job that owns the step */
+	struct job_record* job_ptr; 	/* ptr to the job that owns the step */
 	uint16_t step_id;		/* step number */
-	time_t start_time;      /* step allocation time */
+	time_t start_time;      	/* step allocation time */
 	bitstr_t *node_bitmap;		/* bitmap of nodes in allocated to job step */
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBELAN3
 	qsw_jobinfo_t qsw_job;		/* Elan3 switch context, opaque data structure */