I mean really? REALLY?? The employee hasn't shown up to work for twelve years and has been paid for it?
5...4...3...2...1...Cue the outrage and denials.
Heads should roll over this. All of that money wasted on salary and benefits, just wasted.
A no-show for 12 years, worker in Norfolk still paid
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."
