Feb 02 2026: implement remembering logged in, correct timezone

app/utils/time_utils.py

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+"""
+time_utils.py
+-------------
+Centralised time helpers for the JQC application.
+
+All timestamps are stored as Eastern Time (America/New_York) so that
+displayed dates reflect the local business timezone without any
+conversion layer in templates or reports.
+"""
+
+from datetime import datetime
+import pytz
+
+EASTERN = pytz.timezone('America/New_York')
+
+
+def now_eastern() -> datetime:
+    """Return the current wall-clock time in US/Eastern (naive datetime).
+
+    Stored as a naive datetime in the database so that existing DateTime
+    columns require no schema change.  The value is always Eastern local
+    time (auto-adjusts for EDT / EST).
+    """
+    return datetime.now(tz=EASTERN).replace(tzinfo=None)