51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The Civil Service Commission will investigate recent payroll and pension mistakes in the city鈥檚 personnel department 鈥� and that department will be involved in the probe.

Vincent Flewellen, chair of the three-member commission, said Tuesday the investigation would be conducted by personnel department employees as well as staffers from other city departments, though he did not specify which ones.

And while he said the investigation would begin next week, he was cool to a deadline that Comptroller Donna Baringer requested.

Flewellen said Baringer, the city鈥檚 chief financial officer, does not have the authority to 鈥渃ompel the commission to do an investigation ... or to impose a deadline.鈥�

Last week, Baringer asked the commission to examine how her predecessor, Darlene Green, was restored to a Civil Service job she had not held for 30 years and put back on the city payroll. Green left office in April.

Green was issued two payroll checks in July for about $13,000 in gross pay. After Post-Dispach reports and harsh criticism from Baringer and Mayor Cara Spencer, the payroll move was corrected.

Baringer had asked the commission to provide a written report of its findings by Sept. 7.

On Friday, the day after Baringer asked for the investigation, acting personnel director John Unnerstall issued a statement claiming the situation was caused by 鈥渕istakes,鈥� 鈥渆rrors鈥� and 鈥渃ommunications gaps.鈥�

Unnerstall attended the meeting Tuesday but did not make a statement.

Meanwhile, the mayor and a former personnel chief both lambasted the personnel department鈥檚 handling of the situation.

鈥淥ur jaws are dropping over this,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e actively searching for new leadership鈥� in the department.

Rick Frank, personnel director from 2004 to 2021, called it 鈥渟orely disappointing鈥� and 鈥渁 comedy of errors.鈥�

Green was city budget director from 1993 to 1995, a Civil Service position. She was appointed comptroller in 1995, and then elected to the office and reelected six times. On April 8, Green was defeated by Baringer.

Emails obtained by the Post-Dispatch indicate that Biannca Lambert, a personnel department resources manager, served as the point person for processing Green鈥檚 retirement.

On May 6, Lambert wrote to a comptroller鈥檚 employee that the first step needed was to reinstate Green to a Civil Service position.

Unnerstall was copied on that message, but emails do no indicate him responding that a former elected official can鈥檛 be reinstated to a Civil Service position 鈥� a rule Unnerstall should have been aware of, according to Baringer and Frank.

Green eventually was returned to the payroll as budget director, a job that was then, and is now, occupied by Paul Payne.

Later, in June, Unnerstall鈥檚 deputy warned him in an email that Green could not be added back to the payroll in a Civil Service job and was not owed benefit payments from her former position.

Spencer is concerned that a lone personnel department employee was apparently allowed to add a new employee to the roster without approval from a director, the city鈥檚 Estimate Board or the budget department.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we need some new protocols and procedures in that department,鈥� Spencer said.

Lambert has been out of the office and unavailable for comment, according to a personnel department spokesman.

The two paychecks, now voided, are being held by the city budget department.

Green has said she did not know paychecks had been issued in her name, though emails show she was seeking payment for old accrued leave and also was copied on an email that noted her return to Civil Service.

Frank, the former personnel director, is not without a vested interest in the matter.

When his successor as director, Sonya Jenkins-Gray, faced disciplinary hearings and was ultimately fired, Frank claimed a right to return as acting director, a move he maintained by department procedures.

But days before Jenkins-Gray left office, former Mayor Tishaura O. Jones instead appointed Unnerstall as acting director.

To get that appointment, Unnerstall had to cancel a 鈥渞eemployment鈥� list that gave Frank the right to return as director. A lawsuit on the matter is pending in 51黑料 Circuit Court.

Frank conceded that the legal dispute sets him at odds with Unnerstall. But, he said, it does not change the fact that the issues in Green鈥檚 case could have been avoided.

鈥淭his is a case of people not accepting the responsibility of verifying information,鈥� Frank said.