By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Now that it has the results of the forensics audit of the Salina Fire Department leave time, the city will move to reviewing in a personnel matter format the information as is may pertain to individual fire department employees.
Deputy City Manager Jacob Wood will be looking at the specifics of the information as it applies to individuals believed to be involved and making recommendations for resolution of the issue, City Manager Mike Schrage said. The review through whatever conclusion is determined will follow due process as outlined in the city's personnel manual.
Schrage said he delegated the review to Wood because the person serving in the city manager position serves as the final arbitrator in city personnel matters.
As Salina Post reported last week, the forensic audit of Salina Fire Department leave time found that some "Chiefs of Staff" (CoSs) took time off without applying it to vacation.
READ: Forensic audit of fire department leave time shows misuse
The forensics audit report from Kansas City, Mo., firm BKD CPAs & Advisors found a pattern of some "Chiefs of Staff" (CoSs) collecting time worked beyond the normal work day or shift and taking the time off later. According to the report, this is "what is commonly referred to as 'compensation time.' Generally, this time is referred to in the Fire Department's historic data as 'admin time' or 'admin days,' and more recently referred to as 'executive leave.'"
According to the report, city policies and procedures do not permit compensation time, such as admin time or admin days.
The audit noted that "Chiefs of Staff" includes the fire chief, interim fire chief, battalion chiefs, fire marshal, EMS chief, and training chiefs. It is important to note, however that, per the audit, only some of this group took admin time/executive leave.
"A total of 265 shifts were identified during our scope period as time off not applied to vacation, which is valued at over $198,000. In addition, we identified 24 shifts where it appears to be additional personal time or sick time not reported, valued at over $18,000," the audit report noted.
According to the report, the use of admin time did not impact the amount of vacation time the CoSs accrued.
"Therefore, the CoSs had their full allowable vacation time and/or were able to sell up to 50% of unused vacation in addition to the admin days," the audit report stated.
The report continued, "Our analysis calculated that the impermissible use of admin time facilitated over $75,000 of vacation buybacks during our scope period that would not have been possible had vacation days been used to provide the admin time off."
The report noted that the use of "admin" was last seen in the data provided by the city in February 2020, however "the pattern of CoSs being marked as on vacation with no reduction in the payroll software's vacation accrual continued through the end of 2020
Mayor Melissa Hodges said that senior staff were informed of the investigation on Feb. 10, 2020.
"For the staff timeline provided, on Feb. 10, there was a meeting disclosing the investigation to senior staff and senior staff was asked not to disclose that within the department, but yet we do see at that moment in time that the use of administrative leave ceases or ceases to be reported like it had been previously," Hodges said.
The investigation
BKD's investigation included a review of Microsoft Outlook (email) files for fire department employees, fire department Outlook calendar activity, payroll reports, electronic timesheets, Data Tracker (fire department scheduling system) reports, the city personnel manual, the city executive leave manual (specifically Policy Number P-33), and reports from both the city human resources director and the deputy city manager.
The investigation used keyword searches, emotional tone detection, a search of fire department communications with personal email accounts, searches of rural fire district communications, and concept searching.
BKD also conducted two sets of interviews with fire department personnel.
To read the BKD report that was presented at Monday's city commission meeting, click here.