NORFOLK
The city auditor plans to launch an investigation into whether high-level officials in key posts are abusing vacation and sick leave policies.
John Sanderlin Jr., Norfolk’s auditor, became suspicious after he discovered discrepancies in the way one senior official – Norman L. Maas, the city’s library director – accounted for vacation time. Maas took weeks of leave and was paid for working.
Maas, who received a written reprimand, said his secretary turned in the vacation time but that paperwork did not get recorded correctly.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
The inquiry also led the auditor to review City Manager Regina V.K. Williams’ vacation time. In nine years in the post, Williams has gone on overseas trips and Christmas cruises with her family but has documented taking only a handful of vacation days.
She has accrued about 100 days of vacation time, or more than $70,000 she could cash in if she leaves her post, according to several sources close to the probe who asked not to be identified.
Sanderlin refused to answer most questions about the investigation, the audit or his findings. However, Mayor Paul Fraim said the auditor informed him recently of his belief that Williams has not properly accounted for all the time she has taken off.
Williams and City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko are allowed to accrue unlimited leave, a policy adopted by the City Council in 2004.
Suffolk is the only other South Hampton Roads city that allows its city manager to accrue unlimited time.
The usually soft-spoken Williams, who rarely loses her temper, was angry at the suggestion that the city is not getting its money’s worth from her. She said no one, including Sanderlin, has informed her of concerns about her time.
“Anybody who has watched me knows that I give more than 100 percent to this city,” Williams said.
“I have been maligned for two years now,” she said, referring to complaints from council members about delays in filling key positions, critical audits from state agencies and other controversies.
“This is an insult to my integrity and all that I have done for this city.”
Fraim said the way Williams has accounted for her time off “is acceptable to me. She’s basically on call 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
“It’s not unusual for me to receive communications from her at 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning,” he said.
“I doubt that she accounts for that sort of time.”
However, he said, he will ask the council to consider placing new restrictions on Williams’ and Pishko’s vacation time.
Sanderlin said he plans to review the vacation time of all senior administrators and eventually all city employees.
Hired by the council as auditor in 2001, Sanderlin operates independently of the city manager, who oversees most aspects of Norfolk government.
He routinely pores over the books of various departments, looking for waste or practices that run contrary to city guidelines. He is a stickler for rules, and most of his audits are critical.
He and Williams have been at odds at times. An audit released in early 2007 on the parks and recreation department found that after three years without a permanent director, the division was plagued with sloppiness and ill-equipped to provide quality service to residents. Williams took issue with some of its findings.
Fraim said “there is an inherent conflict between the city auditor and the manager, which is in some ways healthy.” He praised Sanderlin for “helping to make our city government more efficient.”
Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot and Councilman Don Williams declined to comment about Sanderlin’s recent inquiry.
Councilman W. Randy Wright said, “This is an issue for the council to discuss.”
Maas said a library employee gave copies of his personal calendar to Sanderlin.
“If I was trying to steal from the city, I wouldn’t have put it on my calendar,” he said.
Maas said he can’t take paid vacation until he has accrued all the time he took in violation of city rules.
Regina V.K. Williams said Sanderlin informed her about his concerns with Maas but never mentioned that he shared similar concerns about her. If asked, Williams said, she can account for her time.
She said she never planned to take any accrued time in cash when she retires.
“I plan to use the time off,” she said, when “things settle down.”
In addition to holiday and other trips, Williams said she was on a part-time leave of absence for three months to spend time in a Baltimore hospital with her husband, who died in January.
She said she has more than made up for the time off by working many 60-and 70-hour weeks.
While in Baltimore, she set up a makeshift office in an extended-stay hotel and said she often worked long days.
On average, she said she works more than 40 hours a week, 52 weeks per year, and exchanges phone calls and e-mails with city officials while at home and on vacation.
Williams is a salaried employee and makes $206,063 a year.
Williams said she asked Pishko to draw up the ordinance that allowed the two of them to accrue unlimited time after a number of projects, including efforts to bring Major League Baseball to Norfolk, forced her to forfeit leave time.
“We were both bemoaning the loss of leave time,” she said. “I told him that where I was before, there was no cap for council appointees.”
The council approved the change by a 7-0 vote June 2, 2004. Since July 1, 2004, both have been able to accrue the time.
Fraim, who initially said he did not recall the vote, said he plans to ask the council to reconsider the ordinance this spring.
He said he now favors restricting vacation accrual for Williams and Pishko. The restrictions should be more generous than the guidelines for other employees, he said.
Staff writers Meghan Hoyer, Dave Forster, Deirdre Fernandes and Mike Saewitz contributed to this story.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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Why does the City Manager of Norfolk get such a high salary?
Why does the city manager of Norfolk earn over $200,000 when Tom Menino, the Mayor of Boston, gets only $160,000? Tom Menino is on call 24/7 and people see him work seven days a week, at all hours of the day. I would think that the job responsibilities for a Boston mayor are much more than for the city manager of a city the size of Norfolk. I think Norfolk has a lot of money to squander around.
Who Gave The Library Director a Reprimand?
After reading the article, I was wondering who gave the Library Director a reprimand for not using his accrued leave during personal vacation time? Directors work for the City Manager's Office, thus ....?
More behind the scenes then we are aware.
Having been a citizen of Norfolk for 50+ years and a government employee there is usually more to the story then the public gets to see. Mr. Sanderlin should be complimented for not commenting on Ms. Williams leave due to the fact that obviously she had not been contacted which makes me believe the statement made was prematurely reported. I am disturbed by the fact that "now" an ordinance will be done to cover the leave situation. Shouldn't an ordinance come first and then allowed to be implemented. Is there something wrong with this picture? I feel for Ms. Williams and the loss of her husband and it must have been hard for her to carry out daily duties. She sounds devoted but doesn't she have "Assistants" that are getting paid large salaries that should be helping her make decisions and absorbing some of the burden. Is she the only one running the city? The article makes it sound that way.
Time for her to park the bus
The woman has all but destroyed this grand old port city where I was born and have lived my entire life. She can't be the only qualified african american woman in this great country. It's time for her to park the bus. Paul, It's up to you pal. She has made you look like a chump long enough. You simply must act to save our city! I just hope and pray it's not already too late...
RE: Who Cares
"The auditor will do the job he's paid to do and the council will act on the results. We have no idea what he'll find. I frankly don't understand the overwhelming hate for Ms Williams. The audit will reveal the facts, the auditor will present the facts to council, and council will take action based on the results. The auditor will then move on to his next audit."
I have no hate of Williams, but I have concerns about a number of her decisions. "Council will take a action"? Don't be so sure of that. After all we are TALKING about The City of Norfolk Council.
leave time
Why should you get paid anything extra for just doing your job?How can you be a manager if you cant even keep something as simple as leave in order.You have to be held to a higher standard.
who cares?
The auditor will do the job he's paid to do and the council will act on the results. We have no idea what he'll find. I frankly don't understand the overwhelming hate for Ms Williams. The audit will reveal the facts, the auditor will present the facts to council, and council will take action based on the results. The auditor will then move on to his next audit.
This entire thread is a waste of time...mine included.
jmo
Bravo to Auditor
It is nice to see someone in the system who is not afraid to stand up for what is right in this time of corruption. Just think what would happen if John Sanderlin audited the Federal Governement and Employees of Norfolk Naval Base. Frad..waste..and abuse.........................
So, is everyone
able to accrue comp. time?....like other posters, it's time for a house cleaning in Norfolk....don't expect the mayor to stand up against her, he's afraid of her constituency...that would be political suicide for him...
SilentMajority...You May Be Due An Apology..
But, you wont get it from me. The word "there" would be a better choice, since you didn't list any other possible candidates...there are 3 of those, you used the wrong one, & so did I in my previous comment! I wish I was able to view the story & the posts as I am writing my comments. Maybe I'll suggest that on the how to "improve comment feature" post in the pilot..While I'm on & off the computer all day, (sometimes just have to wait for glue/stain/paint to dry etc.),I sometimes have to leave my post partially written until I can get back to it. I have to make a living. I'm not getting paid 1 cent for criticizing the comment column, and have bills that must be paid. I do that as sort of a public service to help stop word abuse..even if by myself...but, "their canadates" still sounds like possession of "a can of dates"...sort of..lol
Who hired this incompetent?
She should have been fired after she hired that ex-con that was in jail for murder. I guess the real suckers are the taxpayers of Norfolk. But, you deserve the government you elect.
Typical situation...
This is abuse from the word go. Regina Williams knows exactly what she is doing. She is trying to claim comp time for hours "worked" outside of her regular hours. Now mind you, what exactly did she do on those "hard" worked hours outside of regular time is the real question and there probably won't be a straight answer. While I understand that she needed to be with her husband while he was in the hospital, I cannot see how she could possibly have 100 days on the books in the mean time. There is just no way to take vacations and fulfill bed side duties without burning up ALL of your leave. She is a fraud and she knows it!!! Anyone else would be immediately fired, she should be no exception.
"SilentMajority","SupportPolice", & "Contractorva"
Silent, your title makes it appear you wish her banished from the city instead of her job, but maybe you do... Also, you should have used "they're" instead of their, & "candidates" for canadates. It makes it sound like someone is in possession of a can of dates, (kind of). SupportPolice, Everyone knows Mrs. O' Leary's cow was the arsonist. Contractorva, your post makes it appear that Ms William's vacation time may have been paid for by herself..oh crap..that's me..lol
Booked time not the issue.
Who cares how much time is on the books? The issue is whether they used leave and for some reason didn't document it. A person could have a hundred years on the books, and if it was earned according to the contract rules, then no problem. But if they don't draw down their leave by cheating the system, then that becomes a case of fraud. Audit the time taken, not how much is on the books.
dokein:
There's a lot of difference between 100 hours of vacation on the books and 100 days. Nobody would complain about 100 hours.
Pick on The Pilot?
In never ceases to amaze me when someones picks on the newspaper for reporting something. If you don't like what they print, read something else, and blog somewhere else. Personally, I think they are abusing the system, time will tell.
amount of vacation
to dokein - 2 and half weeks? She has 100 DAYS, not 100 hours.
She needs to go
That Williams lady needs to go.
MS Williams has failed in her postion and should leave Norfolk.
Norfolk needs to clean house and she is the first to go, maybe she can take her racist buddy Riddick also, they seem to make a good pair. From inventing jobs for friends, stealing vacation time... The list goes on... who does she think she is ? We need a change. She needs to go.. Their are much better canidates for her position. Who no the meaning of honesty, integrity and sacrifice. Shame on MS Williams. Find a new job. Where you are not a burdon to the tax payers of Norfolk.
Maas, Williams, & Ethan's "Red Herring"
I did not notice anywhere in the story that the vacation time in question was taken paid by Ms Williams. There are such things as unpaid vacations , although I admit I'm not sure of the city of Norfolk's policy on that issue. I'm certain the audit will reveal that, or if the vacation was taken paid, & unaccounted for. Either way, I think Ethan's red herring theory is probably dead on concerning the librarians involvement in this story. Its obvious who the "bigger fish to fry" is here.