蜜芽传媒

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Godfrey Ekwenugo鈥檚 contracting firm does a lot of work for the city, stabilizing vacant and abandoned buildings.

He鈥檚 happy to have the city鈥檚 business, but things were better when he was paid promptly.

鈥淭hey鈥檇 cut you a check in less than a week,鈥� said Ekwenugo, owner of Premier Finish Contractors. 鈥淏ut now, shoot, it鈥檚 two months-plus.鈥�

Vendors, contractors and city employees say 蜜芽传媒 isn鈥檛 paying its bills on time 鈥� and it鈥檚 not for lack of money.

They point to problems with payroll and vendor invoices. Turnover and retirements in the 蜜芽传媒 Comptroller鈥檚 office 鈥� as well as the forced departures of top staffers in recent years 鈥� have aggravated the issues. One government agency even sued the city and the comptroller over unprocessed payments.

The practical impacts are rippling through the city. Employee paychecks have been wrong or even missed entirely. Police officers say they鈥檝e had to wait months to be reimbursed for equipment expenses, and one police group is citing the problems in its call for a state takeover of the department.

Some who work in City Hall are blaming the city鈥檚 chief financial officer, Comptroller Darlene Green, as they raise questions about her leadership of a crucial office.

Many say Green is hardly hands-on addressing the problems, pointing to her work schedule. Green, who is paid $112,000 a year, comes into work once or twice a week, City Hall employees and current and former comptroller staffers say, leaving the office鈥檚 day-to-day operations to her deputies.

Green鈥檚 office said she was unavailable for an interview for over two weeks and canceled one scheduled for Wednesday. In a written statement to the Post-Dispatch, she acknowledged she often worked 鈥渞emotely鈥� but emphasized, 鈥淚 am always in the office when required.鈥�

Yet former employees of her office and other city workers say they often had to track her down. Her staff would have city contracts that needed her signature delivered to her house, or she would drive to City Hall to pick up a stack of unsigned contracts.

More than a dozen current and former city employees spoke to the Post-Dispatch about Green and the comptroller鈥檚 office, most on condition of anonymity.

Green, 68, was appointed comptroller by Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. in 1995, replacing Virvus Jones who resigned after pleading guilty to income tax fraud. Beginning with a special election in 1996, she has won eight consecutive elections, often running unopposed.

The job is a powerful one. It is an artifact of the city鈥檚 1914 reform charter, which bestowed leadership of accounting functions to an independent elected official rather than giving the mayor control of financial operations. All the city鈥檚 invoices run through Green鈥檚 office, requiring review and approval from her staff. All city contracts require her signature 鈥� or that of her top deputy, Beverly Fitzsimmons. Green also has one of three votes on the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which must approve all city contracts. A staffer in her office largely controls that body鈥檚 agenda.

Given Green鈥檚 responsibilities, the city鈥檚 Board of Aldermen turned to her for an explanation earlier this year when they started hearing complaints about late payments.

鈥淚鈥檒l just end up hearing, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 in the comptroller鈥檚 office right now,鈥欌�� Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, of Boulevard Heights, said at a budget meeting held in May.

Green told aldermen, 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like a clich茅鈥� to blame her office.

The fault, she said, was with a new accounting system she didn鈥檛 want. What was supposed to be an upgrade 鈥� replacing a 40-year-old accounting system with cloud-based Oracle software 鈥� instead caused headaches that are still lingering more than 18 months after the switch.

Green called the new system 鈥渉orrific,鈥� and blamed the previous mayoral administration and the consultant it hired, Accenture, to implement it. (Green and her deputy, however, both voted for the contract.)

Green also blamed employees in other departments for not properly submitting invoices and contracts.

鈥淎 lot of the things that would be delayed is really held up at the departmental level,鈥� she told aldermen.

Green on Wednesday again laid blame on city departments, not her office, for the problems.

鈥淲hen a department enters an invoice with proper documentation, the invoice is paid usually within three working days of being received by the Comptroller鈥檚 office,鈥� Green told the Post-Dispatch in her written statement. 鈥淓very system has hiccups and a learning curve at the beginning. This new system has challenged us all.鈥�

But in multiple interviews with the Post-Dispatch, current and former comptroller staffers said it was Green鈥檚 office that caused many of those issues by failing to ensure the proper training was complete before the new accounting system went live in March 2022.

After it went live, current and former staffers say, they struggled to keep up with a backlog of payments. And overwhelmed supervisors couldn鈥檛 quickly respond to questions and issues with the new system. Other City Hall employees say vendor invoices languished awaiting comptroller approval or they were rejected with little explanation.

The late vendor payments have been especially hard for small minority contractors trying to grow their businesses. That has undermined the city鈥檚 goal of growing the pool of such contractors, as

鈥淚t is a huge burden on them if they鈥檙e trying to get off the ground,鈥� a city employee, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, said about late payments to small contractors.

The 蜜芽传媒 courts went as far as to sue Green over their unprocessed invoices. Green signed a consent judgment in May pledging to resolve payment issues with the courts within five business days.

鈥淭here was a lot of chaos going on,鈥� said one current comptroller employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. 鈥淚t was very poor planning, poor management. ... The proper training was never provided.鈥�

The disorder is even being cited by the group that represents Black 蜜芽传媒 police officers as one of the reasons it supports revoking local control of the city鈥檚 police department, a change city leaders won a decade ago and that the mayor spent the first part of this year fighting off in Jefferson City.

Donnell Walters, president of the Ethical Society of Police, recently complained about officers waiting 鈥渕onths for a dysfunctional bureaucracy to reimburse them鈥� for uniforms and equipment.

The delays have 鈥渟evered鈥� relationships with vendors, some of whom now want payment up front, Walters said in an interview. In one instance in the second half of last year, officers who were out of town to retrieve a suspect had a city credit card declined for nonpayment, Walters said.

Some officers have left the understaffed department because of the finance problems, he said. And while the issues with City Hall鈥檚 financial management have been a concern since local control was instituted in 2013, he said it has gotten worse over the last 18 months.

鈥淭he funds are there,鈥� Walters said, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 like you don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 paying it out.鈥�

鈥楢 lack of training鈥�

Implementing a new accounting and procurement system is difficult for any organization. The comptroller鈥檚 office already tried once, 10 years ago, before abandoning the effort around 2016. Green鈥檚 office said that system 鈥渄id not work well with the complicated payroll requirements of the city.鈥�

The city鈥檚 move to Oracle should be an improvement and, eventually, make government more efficient, current and former comptroller employees say. The problems are largely due to insufficient training and getting longtime employees in both the comptroller鈥檚 office and elsewhere in City Hall used to the system, they say.

鈥淭he software works as it鈥檚 supposed to,鈥� the current comptroller staffer said. 鈥淭he problem is a lack of training and a lack of support.鈥�

Denise Peeples, who retired from the comptroller鈥檚 office at the beginning of this year, said she didn鈥檛 get training for months after the system went live.

鈥淥ur supervisor at the time didn鈥檛 even get training,鈥� Peeples said, referring to LaTaunia Kenner, who was a deputy comptroller at the time. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 even get training. And that we never understood. Because I mean, she鈥檚 right up under Ms. Green.鈥�

The Accenture and Oracle contract specifies that the city would choose employees to be trained and use those employees to train the rest of the staff.

鈥淭he comptroller鈥檚 office has the accounting functions, so I think everyone was looking to that office for guidance,鈥� said a former employee of the comptroller鈥檚 office who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Green鈥檚 office said planning began just as the pandemic did, limiting the initial training to Zoom meetings even as the COVID-19 emergency placed additional burdens on the city.

鈥淐ity employees needed to work both on implementation of the new system, and to keep the city afloat because of reduced staffing in a paper-driven environment,鈥� Green said.

Green said her office now offers training to city employees on request and her staff will help any city employees 鈥渟truggling to get a transaction through the system.鈥�

But others describe blockages in Green鈥檚 office. The new system gives multiple comptroller employees the ability to approve invoices, the current comptroller employee said, meaning staff would sometimes assume another person would approve the invoice and leave it in limbo.

If a city department entered a payment the wrong way, or missed a step under the new system, 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 even make you aware鈥� why the invoice wasn鈥檛 processed, said a City Hall staffer.

鈥淎ll they do is say no to stuff,鈥� the employee said.

In April, the second phase of the project, a new payroll system, went live. There were problems there, too. Green acknowledged them at the May budget hearing, even telling aldermen to 鈥渓ook at your paychecks鈥� and report any problems.

There were so many problems that the payroll office on the second floor of City Hall stopped allowing city employees to enter. The door is now locked for 鈥渟ecurity purposes,鈥� and gives employees a number to call instead.

Green conceded that 鈥渟ome unhappy employees did make the staff feel uncomfortable.鈥�

But the issues with the payroll system have subsided with time, said 蜜芽传媒 Police Officers Association Business Manager Joe Steiger.

鈥淚nitially there were some big problems, like they missed people鈥檚 entire checks,鈥� Steiger said. 鈥淏ut those big things were when we first switched over and since then it鈥檚 been mostly resolved. ... When people鈥檚 checks aren鈥檛 right they鈥檙e certainly upset, so we hear it.鈥�

鈥楾he office had taken a turn鈥�

Amid the turmoil, longtime staffers at the comptroller鈥檚 office have been leaving.

City budget documents show only 72 of 95 positions in the comptroller鈥檚 office and associated divisions were filled as of July 10, and at least a handful of other staff have left since then, leaving about a quarter of the office鈥檚 positions empty.

鈥淧eople just weren鈥檛 happy anymore 鈥� the office had taken a turn, and it wasn鈥檛 really getting any better in terms of morale,鈥� said the former comptroller employee. 鈥淭here were a lot of bad management decisions.鈥�

Green said her office faces the same challenges as every other enterprise finding qualified employees and hopes the lifting of the city鈥檚 residency requirement will draw more applicants. She pointed out the city鈥檚 civil service commission recently approved her request to create two new assistant comptroller positions that are part of the office鈥檚 鈥渟uccession plan.鈥�

Green over the summer demoted Kenner, one of her two top deputies, who later retired. Her other top deputy, 43-year City Hall veteran Fitzsimmons, is slated to retire at the end of the year, according to current and former employees.

Kenner鈥檚 departure over the summer left some city departments unsure of their contact in the comptroller鈥檚 office. Kenner had led the side of the office that dealt with city real estate and public finance, including handling the city鈥檚 bonds on the convention center expansion. Green declined to explain why she was demoted. Kenner later retired.

Kenner wasn鈥檛 the first top aide Green has pushed out. Though she oversees a staff of civil servants rather than political appointees, Green has ousted at least three top aides. In 2016, Green put her chief of staff, longtime employee Elaine Spearman, on forced leave, according to court documents. Spearman declined to comment.

Before Kenner, Green put former Deputy Comptroller Jim Garavaglia on forced leave. A 32-year veteran of the office, he said he was blindsided by the 2019 move and escorted out of City Hall by an armed marshal, according to a lawsuit he filed against Green and the city. Garavaglia alleged he was ousted to make way for Kenner. His lawsuit was dismissed and Garavaglia declined to comment.

Lower-level employees have departed more recently. Over the summer, the retirement of two employees in the comptroller鈥檚 office who oversaw the calculation of tax increment financing payments, a development incentive, retired. The developer of Union Station said his firm had been waiting about a year for the comptroller鈥檚 office to provide the information necessary to redeem $18 million in TIF incentives approved for the project by city lawmakers.

The comptroller鈥檚 office ultimately had to hire an outside firm, on the recommendation of City Counselor Sheena Hamilton, to help the comptroller鈥檚 office review its TIF calculations.

Missing in action

While many of the comptroller鈥檚 experienced employees have left the office, the manager herself is rarely showing up.

Her current and former staff describe her appearances in City Hall as infrequent 鈥� maybe once or twice a week.

鈥淭hey would have couriers deliver stuff to her,鈥� said one former employee who spoke on condition of anonymity and remembers delivering documents to her through her car window in front of City Hall. 鈥淲e would have to try and track her down.鈥�

City Hall employees say it鈥檚 been like that for years. Garavaglia, the former deputy comptroller, said in a deposition from his lawsuit that he only interacted with her once a week or every other week and that he could 鈥渃ount on one hand鈥� the number of times he met one-on-one with her.

In her Wednesday statement, Green said it was 鈥渕ore important to be accountable and responsive to constituents and does not always require being in the office.鈥�

鈥淚n the coming months I expect more time will be spent in the office as in the past,鈥� she wrote.

Green鈥檚 attendance has long been part of City Hall lore, but her deputies and a staff of dozens of longtime civil servants were able to get the bills paid and the contracts into Green鈥檚 hands.

But with the loss of employees and the impending retirement of Fitzsimmons, many are wondering who will make sure the city鈥檚 bills are paid on time.

鈥淚n a city of our size,鈥� said Linda Martinez, who served as the deputy mayor for development under Mayor Lyda Krewson and experienced the delays firsthand, 鈥渟omeone should be available to sign checks and contracts every day.鈥�

Austin Huguelet of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Originally posted Friday, Nov. 17.