Eric Lacy

Lansing State Journal

LANSING -- Interim City Attorney F. Joseph Abood was authorized a $30,000 annual raise by Mayor Virg Bernero's administration before his appointment was approved by the Lansing City Council.

Abood's annual salary, according to a report by Internal Auditor Jim DeLine, jumped from $89,836.50 as deputy to $119,999.88.

DeLine, who works for the City Council, said the raise first appeared in Abood's check for the pay period ending March 25. City Council did not approve his interim appointment until a March 28 meeting. The appointment runs until May 28.

Abood was deputy city attorney under former City Attorney Janene McIntyre, who left her job on March 4 with a controversial $160,000 payout.

DeLine's report, emailed Tuesday to the Lansing State Journal, said that Abood's pay bump was retroactive to Jan. 8. Documents previously obtained by the LSJ show McIntyre used the federal Family Medical Leave Act beginning on Jan. 8. McIntyre returned to work Feb. 29 for a City Council meeting. Her March 4 departure surprised several City Council members who had scheduled meetings with her.

Bernero: Payout was 'so everybody would be happy'

Bernero and McIntyre have both been silent on the reason for her departure.

Randy Hannan, Bernero's executive assistant, wrote in an email Tuesday night that Bernero increased Abood's salary because of his expanded duties as interim city attorney. "Mr. Abood also carried the responsibilities of the position, sans the title, throughout the time that his predecessor was on leave," Hannan wrote. "Mayor Bernero believes the additional responsibility and work load during that time merits the pay increase being retroactive."

At-large Council Member Carol Wood said Bernero clearly tried to hide Abood's pay raise from City Council members. She described it as "cloak and dagger" tactics.

“Virg campaigned when he first ran for mayor on transparency, and now every time we turn around there’s some other crap going on," Wood said.

The City Council has continued pressing for information on the McIntyre matter, including discussion of hiring an investigator and whether to pursue a City Charter amendment that would require City Council approval for separation and settlement agreements for mayoral appointees. Council's next meeting is 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

Hannan wrote in a second email Tuesday that council members weren't informed of Abood's pay raise because they are not responsible for setting the compensation for city employees other than their own staff. "It is purely an administrative matter," Hannan wrote.

McIntyre signed her 2016 contract extension on Dec. 22, 2015, but her 2015 contract extension that was supposed to be signed in 2014 hasn't been found at City Hall. Abood wrote in a letter to the LSJ dated Tuesday that a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the information was "denied in part" because "the city does not have or maintain such public records." Instead, the City Attorney's Office did release 15 pages of McIntyre's compensation history.

City legal fees increase in $160K payout

Records sent to the LSJ show McIntyre's bi-weekly pay from Oct. 3, 2014 to March 4, 2016 -- her official last day on the job.

McIntyre's hire date, according to the records, was March 19, 2013. McIntyre and Bernero signed on Feb. 25 a "separation agreement and general release" that authorized her payout.

McIntyre's separation agreement gave her lump sum payments of $127,567.10 and $33,095.69. The latter was called a "paid time off buyout" of 400.01 vacation hours, 60.6 sick time hours and 16 personal hours.

DeLine said he doesn't understand, based on payroll records, how McIntyre accumulated all her vacation hours, sick time and personal hours. The payroll records released Tuesday show 34 bi-weekly paychecks from Oct. 3, 2014 to Jan. 8, 2016 that each say "regular earnings" and compensate for 80 hours of work, showing no vacation, leave or sick time. After Jan. 8, she had been authorized to use vacation, sick or personal leave while on FMLA, but the source of funds is redacted in the records released to the LSJ.

"I would question why there are all these regular earnings with no vacation or sick time taken," DeLine said.

A memo from Bernero to McIntyre, dated Oct. 9, 2014, said McIntyre, "effective immediately," was entitled to an additional 80 hours of vacation leave annually because she had taken on the duties of interim human resources director that year. McIntyre received an annual pay raise of $40,000 for the extra work. That was cut this year when Bernero appointed Mary Riley as human resources director. Riley was appointed on Jan. 8.

In addition to McIntyre's payout and Abood's raise, the city could pay over $20,000 in legal fees incurred negotiating the separation agreement with McIntyre.

Dykema law firm attorney Gary Gordon told City Council members in a May 9 meeting that a second invoice from the firm sent to the city that day was for "about $11,000." DeLine, the city's internal auditor, wrote in an email to the LSJ on Tuesday that it's unclear what the status of that bill is because it had not been "vouched into the city's accounting software for payment."

The new invoice came more than two months after the city paid a Dykema invoice of $9,553 for its work during the negotiations in January. That invoice, dated Feb. 12, covered 34.8 hours of work from two attorneys: Kiffi Ford and Andrew Switalski. Ford has since left the Dykema firm for a position as Sparrow's executive director of legal services.

The LSJ filed a FOIA request swith the City Attorney's Office on May 10 seeking the second Dykema invoice and all hours Gordon billed the city for his work. It hasn't received a response. The city is late responding to an April 1 FOIA request for any legal bills from Dykema received after a Feb. 12 invoice.

Three additional FOIA requests sent to the City Attorney's Office also exceed the time limits allowed under Michigan law. Abood said last week that he would review the status of those requests and respond to emailed questions from the LSJ. He responded on Wednesday saying the office received more than 800 requests in April and is processing them as rapidly as limited staff allows.

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.