Reed Acknowledges “Error” But Insists Payouts To Senior Staff Were Legal

At a Council finance committee, Reed denied the payouts were illegal, saying they were given through what he called a grey area of city policy.

“We acknowledge that this was an error, we’ve said that we’re not going to continue the practice going forward and if Council wants to put forth a practice we’re willing to work with you,” said Reed.

The city last year gave large payouts to at least three high-level Reed officials. Six other city employees also received payouts or advance pay. Police Chief George Turner, who makes $241,000 per year, received an extra $80,000. He was given credit for nearly 700 hours of unused vacation time, despite city code explicitly capping vacation time to 360 hours. The city also prohibits employees from cashing in on unused sick or vacation time unless they resign, retire, or are fired.

Committee members asked Reed and his staff to reconcile the payouts with city code.

Reed said the payouts were granted under “personal hardship” exemptions. He argued two broadly-worded code sections gave his chief financial officer and human resources commissioner the authority to sign off on the exemptions without Council approval. 

Reed also repeatedly said the payouts were similar to those given to employees prior to his administration. He said employees in the past were allowed to resign or retire early, cash-in on their unused sick or vacation time, and immediately get re-hired to their old positions. He said the recent payouts should be viewed in that context.

“That process was imperfect and candidly so was ours,” said Reed.

Councilwoman Felicia Moore dismissed Reed’s comparison to past payouts as an effort to deflect from the issue at-hand. She said the payouts to Reed’s senior staff clearly violate city code. She said the payouts should be refunded and urged Council members to discipline CFO Jim Beard and HR Commissioner Yvonne Cowser Yancey, the Reed appointees who ultimately approved them.

“If the administration feels that they can create their own policy and do things not in the code and not even ask the Council, what else do they feel they can do?” said Moore.

Reed, an attorney, shot back that Moore had no legal training to base her assertions and warned she was close to a defamation claim against his staff.

Moore pressed on. 

“My opinion is the actions were illegal, and I said it and I’ve said it many times and I’ll keep saying it, so sue me,” said Moore.

Reed tried to get the councilwoman to explicitly accuse Beard and Yancey of doing something illegal.  

Reed: “If you really mean what you say, say it. Say Jim Beard engaged in illegal behavior and say Yvonne Yancey engaged in illegal behavior and take with it the personal liability that’s going to attach to that statement.”

Moore didn’t bite.

Moore: “Mr. Mayor, I don’t tell you how to speak and how to pose your questions and you don’t do that to me. I said what I meant and I meant what I said.”

Reed: “You couched  it so you could avoid liability. If you mean it, you ought to say Jim Beard engaged in illegal behavior.” 

After the exchange, finance committee chair Alex Wan criticized the Reed administration for the amount of time it took to provide documents about the payouts, and said the committee would need more time to look over the material.