Audit: 'Little documentation' of services by Hamilton to ODU

NORFOLK

The Old Dominion University teacher training center that hired state Del. Phil Hamilton had no true employees of its own, and its Peninsula office sat unused for much of the past two years, an internal audit has found.

The audit, presented to the university's governing Board of Visitors on Thursday, also said there is "very little documentation" of any services Hamilton provided for the $40,000 a year he was paid.

Auditors found that the university failed to follow its own policies and procedures in the creation and management of the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership. They pointed to a lack of internal controls and a skirting of normal hiring and procurement processes at the center.

ODU President John Broderick told the board he has removed the leadership of the center and ordered that it be reorganized under the temporary direction of David Hager, a former acting provost and emeritus faculty member.

Also, at Broderick's urging, the board adopted a new policy ensuring that any future employment of elected officials or executives of companies that do business with the university follows appropriate hiring and procurement processes. Such hires will require approval of the president and must be brought to the attention of the Board of Visitors.

Hamilton, a Newport News Republican, secured the teacher center's startup funding - $500,000 a year - in 2007 and was put on the payroll a few months later. ODU and Hamilton severed their relationship last month after

e-mails released by the university showed he was angling for the job before and during the budget process.

The veteran lawmaker is now the target of investigations by a House of Delegates ethics panel and a federal grand jury. He has rejected calls to resign from his seat and has expressed confidence that he will be vindicated.

Although he was referred to variously as director or coordinator of the teacher center, Hamilton did not truly function in that capacity, the ODU audit found. Rather, day-to-day management rested with the man who hired him, David Blackburn.

Blackburn is not a university employee. He is paid by the ODU Research Foundation, a separate nonprofit organization. Yet he had control over the teacher center's state-funded budget - a situation that should not be allowed to continue, the auditors said.

"Separation of University and Foundation operations and finances is not being adequately maintained," they wrote.

The audit found that Blackburn operated the teacher center with little oversight from William Graves, dean of ODU's Darden College of Education, where the center was housed. Blackburn did, however, keep Graves apprised by

e-mail of his employment discussions with Hamilton.

The audit also found that former ODU President Roseann Runte may have had at least some knowledge of Hamilton's angling for a job, despite her public denials.

The auditors examined Runte's calendar and found that she met with Hamilton three times before he was put on the payroll. The earliest of those meetings, which also included Graves, occurred on Aug. 16, 2006, six months before the teacher center's startup funding was approved.

Hamilton referred to that meeting in a December 2006 e-mail to Runte in which he reminded her that he had "expressed an interest in being associated with the initiative from a professional perspective."

Runte's calendar also shows that Broderick, who was then a vice president, sat in on a Runte-Hamilton meeting in December 2006. Nevertheless, the auditors found no definitive evidence that Broderick had any knowledge of or involvement in Hamilton's hiring.

The audit also found no evidence that Hamilton told anyone at ODU that his support for state funding was contingent on being hired by the university.

When The Virginian-Pilot first reported Hamilton's relationship with ODU in July, both Hamilton and Blackburn characterized Hamilton's status as that of an independent contractor. But the audit reveals that he was actually classified as a temporary employee.

Hiring him in that way circumvented ODU's procurement regulations, which could have required advertising and competition, the auditors found.

The teacher center similarly violated university policy in the hiring of other employees and contractors and failed to adequately document their services, the auditors said.

Trying to establish specific accomplishments of the center was difficult, the auditors said, because its operations became intertwined with the Program for Research and Evaluation in Public Schools, a program run by Blackburn and funded primarily through the ODU Research Foundation.

The center's work was carried out wholly by foundation employees, temporary hires and independent contractors.

Under the reorganization ordered by Broderick, the teacher center and the research program will be folded into a single entity. Once the reorganization is complete, a new permanent director will be hired.

Blackburn and Graves have been relieved of their leadership responsibilities with the two entities. Graves is slated to retire at the end of this academic year.

Jennifer Mullen, an ODU spokeswoman, said she could not comment on Blackburn's continued role at the university because it is a personnel matter. But university sources said he will keep working at the center during the transition and will leave ODU by the end of the year.

Hager, the temporary director, joined ODU in 1969 as a professor of political science and geography and held a variety of administrative posts before retiring in June 2008.

Broderick has also instituted a new, universitywide policy for hiring temporary employees that will require documented goals, performance testing and expected outcomes.

Board members said they are pleased with the way Broderick has handled the Hamilton controversy.

"I'm satisfied that the president and administration have taken the appropriate steps," said Hampton Commissioner of the Revenue Ross Mugler, the rector of the board. "I don't think this will happen again."

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com