Today, Danville city officials announced that they are wrapping up their work in response to misconduct by a small group of employees in one city division. The process began in 2013, when Danville police uncovered evidence of the misconduct and conducted a 19-month investigation with assistance from the Virginia State Police and the Danville Commonwealth’s Attorney.
As the investigation continued, six employees were convicted, and now concludes with officials instituting several new safeguards to ensure that such problems will not occur again.
“The misconduct uncovered fell well short of how we expect our employees to conduct themselves,” Interim Danville City Manager Ken Larking said. “Taxpayers deserve better than this and, as city leaders, we felt strongly and acted quickly.”
City senior staff, law enforcement, and outside contractors devoted a great deal of time to the investigation, including more than 200 hours of interviews, 200 hours reviewing time sheets, 150 hours spent reviewing contracts, and 100 hours reviewing credit card statements. The investigation led to the convictions of the six employees, all of whom either resigned or were terminated.
Early in the process, the City brought in the respected accounting firm Brown Edwards to conduct an audit. Its work and that of City leaders led to new, more stringent fiscal and oversight procedures to help prevent illegal and improper activity in the future.
One such safeguard is a new automatic vehicle location (AVL) system, which enables City supervisors to monitor in real time where City vehicles are located and how they are being operated. The system can be set up to send an alert to supervisors if a vehicle goes outside a specific geographic area or if the vehicle is not being operating safely. The City is also working to implement an electronic time and attendance system that would integrate with the AVL system and the City’s financial software package.
Another protection is the introduction of a whistleblower policy, which allows employees to immediately and anonymously report wrongdoing by other City workers or contractors. City officials will receive the tips and take immediate steps to review all information and make appropriate referrals.
Today’s announcement indicates that much of what needs to be done to properly respond to these problems, which were uncovered in 2013, is over. City leaders stressed that they will continue to be vigilant and on the lookout for issues that could emerge. They are particularly focused on making sure that City employees put the interests of Danville residents first.
“The vast majority of Danville employees believe that working for the City is a public trust,” Larking said. “We simply will not tolerate employees who take advantage of taxpayers by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior that violates that trust.”