Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Common Council Members are calling for an audit of city employees on paid leave, following word that a city clerk collected over $600,000 after being placed on administrative leave in 2016 for allegedly tampering with the payroll.
The city should have held a hearing to resolve the employee's status within 60 days. But it went unresolved for over seven years.
Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski introduced a resolution
directing the comptroller's office to conduct an audit of all city employees on paid administrative leave.
He noted during Tuesday's meeting that he is still waiting to discuss the matter with Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams.
Nowakowski's Council colleague, David Rivera, of the Niagara District, openly asked how this could happen.
"How can we go seven years, and not hold a hearing, and at the same time, pay the person $600,000? If anyone on this Common Council did that, we would be terminated. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. We need to find out where the process broke down and how it fell through
the cracks."
Rivera added that an audit is a "no brainer."
Council President Darius Pridgen said the Council does not necessarily have the authority to compel the Comptroller to conduct an audit.
North District Council Member Joe Golombek, was a guest on WBEN Wednesday. "If someone had told me a month ago that we had a city employee like this, I would have found it hard to believe. I hope it's an isolated incident. It shows that we have to be a little better at auditing on a regular basis. Seven years is ridiculous," he said.
