The Buffalo Common Council and the public will have to wait at least another week for the long-awaited findings of an investigation by the city comptroller of city employees on paid administrative leave.
And one city lawmaker says he is asking the New York State Comptroller’s Office to do the audit that the Common Council initially asked Buffalo Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams to do.
Jill Repman, a suspended Buffalo Fire Department clerk, who was paid $600,000 over seven years while on suspension, resigned from her city job effective Nov. 30.
Fillmore Council Member Mitchell P. Nowakowski said Monday that he would ask state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office to conduct the audit if Miller-Williams did not provide the detailed report by the start of the Council meeting on Tuesday.
“I am asking for the state comptroller to give a risk assessment audit,” Nowakowski said Tuesday.
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Miller-Williams said she doesn’t have a problem with any outside resources assisting in this review, “regardless of where he wants to send it. I do not think that is necessary.”
If the Buffalo Comptroller’s Office does not file an audit by 2 p.m. Tuesday of all city employees currently on paid administrative leave, Common Council members say they will ask the State Comptroller’s Office to intervene and conduct the audit.
“We had a document last week that we were ready to push it. However, I checked in with corporation counsel to ensure that the document that I was pushing out was a legal document because I don’t want us to incur a lawsuit or something. So, I merely asked if the law department would review it to see if there was any language I should redact or leave in,” Miller-Williams said.
This was the most recent development in a monthslong back and forth between Council members and Miller-Williams’ office over an audit the Council requested on Sept. 19 in response to reports that a Buffalo Fire Department clerk was paid $600,000 over seven years while on suspension. Council members asked for the audit to be submitted by Nov. 14, but did not receive the information.
The requested audit was to determine how an employee on administrative leave for 7½ years managed to be paid nearly $600,000 without triggering a hearing or an investigation.
Jill Repman continued to be paid by the city since 2016, when she was accused of tampering with the Fire Department’s payroll in order to pad her own paychecks and was placed on administrative leave, according to a Sept. 14 story posted by Investigative Post.
Repman resigned on Nov. 30.
Buffalo City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams said she intends to conduct an investigation, but not a full-blown audit, to determine how an employee on administrative leave for 7½ years managed to be paid nearly $600,000 without triggering a hearing or an investigation.
The audit was to include an examination of the duration of employees’ leave, the reasons for being on leave, and the actions taken by relevant city entities to address these issues.
But Miller-Williams pursued an investigation instead of an audit, saying at the time she was precluded from immediately conducting an audit because there is already a list of audits being conducted by the Department of Audit and Control.
She described audits as an expansive, time-consuming and very labor-intensive process. However, an investigation can be tailored to pursue answers to very specific questions in order to correct a problem, she explained.
In a Sept. 28 letter to the Council, Miller-Williams outlined some initial findings of the investigation. Findings included that on July 6 of this year, 12 employees were identified as suspended with pay. As of Sept. 28, seven of them were still suspended with pay. All seven were members of the Buffalo Police Department. Also as of Sept. 28, the pay received by the seven accounted for about .023% of the city’s total payroll for fiscal year 2023-24.
Then on Nov. 22, Nowakowski followed up with a letter to Miller-Williams asking for a comprehensive follow-up on the findings to ensure a thorough investigation and transparent communication.
Buffalo city lawmakers appear to agree that the city comptroller's office should conduct an audit to determine how an employee on administrative leave for 7½ years managed to be paid nearly $600,000 during that time without triggering a hearing or an investigation.
At a Dec. 5 Council meeting, a representative from Miller-Williams’ office said the detailed report was being finalized and would be submitted to the Council by Tuesday, with a presentation scheduled for the Council’s Dec. 19 Civil Service Committee meeting.
Following revelations about Repman, Mayor Byron Brown announced in October steps to prevent suspended workers from getting paid for years and a new method for keeping track of its employees on paid leave.
Now every department that has an employee on leave on a biweekly basis will get a printout of the employee on leave. The department will have to attest to that employee being on leave. The city’s Department of Human Resources will then certify all of those employees that are on leave from the individual departments, Brown said.
Additionally, a comprehensive report encompassing all employees on paid administrative leave and other leave categories will be sent to required city departments, including the Corporation Counsel, Management and Information Systems, Audit and Control and the Department of Human Resources.