diff --git a/backend/.dockerignore b/backend/.dockerignore
index 03ae3be..bf231a5 100644
--- a/backend/.dockerignore
+++ b/backend/.dockerignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-# Python
+# Python - exclude ALL __pycache__ directories (not just root level)
+**/__pycache__/
 __pycache__/
 *.py[cod]
 *$py.class
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 079f034..09e37f9 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 # Copy project
 COPY . .
 
+# Remove any cached Python bytecode that might have been copied
+# This ensures fresh .py files are always used
+RUN find . -type d -name "__pycache__" -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null || true
+RUN find . -name "*.pyc" -delete 2>/dev/null || true
+
 # Make startup script executable
 RUN chmod +x startup.sh
 
diff --git a/backend/deploy-apprunner-dev.sh b/backend/deploy-apprunner-dev.sh
index 7298cc2..4d9bec0 100755
--- a/backend/deploy-apprunner-dev.sh
+++ b/backend/deploy-apprunner-dev.sh
@@ -72,8 +72,7 @@ if aws apprunner describe-service --service-arn arn:aws:apprunner:$REGION:$ACCOU
           "GITHUB_ENCRYPTION_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/github_encryption_key",
           "GITHUB_REPO_TO_STAR": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/github_repo_to_star",
           "RECAPTCHA_PUBLIC_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_public_key",
-          "RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_private_key",
-          "CRON_SYNC_TOKEN": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/cron_sync_token"
+          "RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_private_key"
         },
         "StartCommand": "./startup.sh gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --timeout 180 --workers 2 tally.wsgi:application"
       },
@@ -228,8 +227,7 @@ EOF
           "GITHUB_ENCRYPTION_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/github_encryption_key",
           "GITHUB_REPO_TO_STAR": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/github_repo_to_star",
           "RECAPTCHA_PUBLIC_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_public_key",
-          "RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_private_key",
-          "CRON_SYNC_TOKEN": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/cron_sync_token"
+          "RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY": "$SSM_PREFIX/$SSM_ENV/recaptcha_private_key"
         },
         "StartCommand": "./startup.sh gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --timeout 180 --workers 2 tally.wsgi:application"
       },