Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "It's no revelation to anybody what's in it," said Buffalo Common Councilman Mitch Nowakowski, responding to a paid leave report on Tuesday from the city comptroller's office.
City of Buffalo Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams submitted a paid leave report that was sent to then-Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen on Dec. 5, which transpired as a result of an Investigative Post discovery that found one fire department worker, Jill Repman (formerly Parisi), collected nearly $600,000 as a result of her suspension with pay while working another job for a large majority of the seven and a half years leave.
The 8-page report proved unsatisfactory to Buffalo Common Councilman Mitch Nowakowski, who lead the charge of the council in calling for an audit looking into matters of suspension with pay.
"My first thoughts on looking at the report is it just seems like someone from the office was taking and reviewing press clips and putting it in a story, insinuating the council to move past it. So I'm not particularly pleased with what's in the document," said Councilman Nowakowski.
Councilman Nowakowski says he is taking all the information in the report and additional information to the Office of the New York State Comptroller for further review.
"I have been in conversations with some of the regional offices, who will be working on what they reviewed from the comptroller right now, and taking a risk assessment and moving on from there. So just because I may not be certainly pleased with what's in her report, I do have extra eyes looking on it and that's what's important."
Nowakowski believes the report "downplays" the severity of the situation. The report specifically mentions that "The Suspended with Pay category has been used infrequently totalling less than 1 percent (0.2) of total payroll from 2019-2023 during my tenure as City of Buffalo Comptroller."
"To downplay, because this happened to one person is not transparent. It's not what the constituents want. They want to make sure that they can trust us in City Hall to make good decisions. If something goes on, are we working to resolve it? And that was really what I wanted to derive out of the Comptroller's report was to restore a sense of trust."
This report will come before the Finance Committee of the Buffalo Common Council next. They will convene in Council Chambers next Tuesday, January 16 at 10 a.m.
"I will be inviting the comptroller's office. She [Miller-Williams] states multiple times that she will not come down here because of tradition in history, I don't really buy it. But I will want, in request, that people from the comptroller's office come down here and articulate their document, because they did compile information they put in a report and councilmembers are going to ask questions. Where did they get this information? Did they see inaccuracies? Because the controller's office does have that arm where they can ask for this information and really be like the in-between between the council and the mayor's office, where they can come in as a neutral party, gain access to those documents, compile a report and then articulate the analysis."
