The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
A Community Services Board employee collected a salary with benefits for 12 years and never showed up for work, several City Council members said Wednesday.
The head of the agency refused to identify the employee but acknowledged in response to inquiries from The Virginian-Pilot that an employee was "on the board's payroll who had not reported to work in years."
Maureen Womack, the agency's executive director, said she fired the employee, informed the board that governs her agency and asked City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko to investigate the matter earlier this summer. Pishko's investigation is nearly complete and will soon be turned over to the Norfolk police, she said.
Womack also refused to divulge the employee's salary.
The council also was told in a recent closed meeting that at least one other staffer, a Community Services Board supervisor, is being investigated for alleged complicity.
Council members described the investigation as unbelievable and unprecedented.
"It's so astounding to me, I don't know what to say," Councilman Barclay C. Winn said. "I'm embarrassed."
Mayor Paul Fraim, who has been on the council for 24 years, said he has never heard of an employee of the city or any related agency being paid without showing up for work. The Community Services Board "does tremendous work in Norfolk," he said.
But "this is just flat-out terrible," Fraim said. "We'll find out eventually why this occurred. But it's beyond me right now how this could have happened."
The Community Services Board is an independent agency that receives funding from the city, state and federal governments. Its governing board, which hired Womack, is appointed by the council.
With a budget of nearly $24 million, the agency provides about 6,000 of Norfolk's poorest residents annually with medication, counseling and other psychiatric services.
Its roughly 300 employees have an average salary of about $35,000, spokeswoman Mary Keough said.
Councilman Tommy Smigiel said recent revelations about the Community Services Board employee and other matters, including the profligate use of a city credit card by the Commissioner of Revenue and the purchase of a cell phone with city funds for a gang member by an assistant to the city manager, are doing "serious damage" to Norfolk's image.
"At some point the citizens of Norfolk are going to expect accountability," he said. "City officials cannot continue to make excuses for mismanagement. It's making Norfolk look bad, and Norfolk is a great city."
He said the council needs to publicly discuss the recent revelations at its retreat next month. "We need to send a message to the citizens that they can trust us," he said.
Fraim noted that the Community Services Board is not controlled by City Manager Regina V.K. Williams nor the council. "They are autonomous from us," he said.
Community Services executive board member Kenny Bryant, pastor of Tabernacle Church in Norfolk, said Womack has worked diligently to fix deficiencies in the organization.
She was hired in February 2009 from Davis County, Utah, where she was head of Davis Behavioral Health for 10 years. She replaced George Pratt, who retired.
"She came in with fresh eyes," he said. "That's one of the reasons we hired her."
Bryant said that as soon as Womack learned the employee was being paid without working, she "came to the board and told us we need to turn this over to the city attorney immediately."
"There was no politicking, no hesitation whatsoever," he said. "The primary issue was to do what was morally and legally right."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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Norfolk Community Services Board
My editorial was printed in the newspaper. It should have said, "Your editorial doesn't take into account that perhaps some people may have known about it and thought that it was perhaps a LEGAL arrangement between the administration and the employee." Just because someone knows something does not mean they are savvy enough to figure it out, and even if they were savvy enough to figure it out, would they go to a manager and risk losing their job by asking whether or not it was a legal arrangement? After all, this is a Right To Work state, and they can fire you for anything as long as they haven't discriminated against age, race, or religion. I believe that Virginia, as a Right To Work state, takes away the courage of people to stand up for themselves. You can be fired for not allowing yourself to be forced to do personal things for bosses or for not doing unethical things. So we shouldn't be too shocked, should we?
CBS Virginia Beach
I was just thinking and sure enough, Virginia Beach has a CBS office also.
Best I can tell they have an Executive Director and a Deputy Director.
I'm sure all of their employees show up for work. You Think?
Facbook page
No wonder, she probably could not "Face" those who know her. I just cannot get over the blatant thievery.
NO WORK FOR PAID EMPLOYEE
The person who was paid for not working was not in a high position.
She was along the lines of clerical. Many people who work at NCSB did not know it was going on and they do a job working with clients whom a lot of people would have nothing to do with. As a former employee there, I once had my mother's van stolen out of the parking lot; I've had my car vandalized, and I've had money stolen from the car, on the only 2 days I worked there that I had not locked my car. It's not easy working there for many reasons. Please don't generalize about all the employees there because of this particular situation. There's a lot of issues with working there. You have to want to help people and if you're not at the top, you don't always make a good salary, which is true of most organizations in this city. Just my take on it.
Harry
Please stay on this, let us know when she is indicted, subpeoned, arrested, appears in court, stay after her supervisors. This behavior of entitlement is what is ruining our local governments and I applaud you and the Pilot for your work to uncover and imprison these theives. Thanks for your continuing to keep us informed.
Now on CNN
Front page now on cnn
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/27/virginia.paid.for.no.work/index.html?hpt=T2
12 year employee paid for 12 years
Who signed the pay check ?
Norfolk Community Services Board Employee Paid Not to Work
Another mandated citizen-serving agency in Norfolk is reported to have paid an employee NOT to work. As appalling as this report may be, why does it NOT surprise us? Why does the City of Norfolk continue to allow the same management mistakes for so many of the departments of city government? There was a time we were so proud of Norfolk and the many initiatives offered to the citizens. I am so sorry this is where we are! WHO is responsible for the supervision of the employees of the many departments that operate in the City of Norfolk?
No show is the most productive
Let's run a few numbers
300 employees assuming 100 staff and 200 case workers
30 clients (aka victims) per case worker
300 employees at 35,000 each plus 25 % benefit package.
$13,125,000 Salaries 10,875,000 for the clients
Or about $1812 per victim.
The no show guy (don't know the sex, but a woman would never, ever do something like this) did not add to the traffic jams, did not waste office space, nor did he add to the office carbon footprint. Therefore he was very efficient
Back in '65 the city of Youngstown, Ohio asked for $500,000 to fund the local welfare program. $435,000 of the 500,000 went to the salaries of the 113 administrators. Seems not much has changed except the location and numbers.
I don't know what kind of qualifications you need to dispense $1800 worth of care to someone, but it seems this might be a place to paraphrase Jim Lovell, "NORFOLK YOU HAVE A PROBLEM." It would be wonderful if this city council would apply their new found expertise to the several states and congress.
what an annoying comment
Actually.. it was a woman. why would you make that sort of sweeping generalization? you must not have an ex-wife either.