Wednesday, January 26, 2000
City wants buyouts back
Lebanon OKs investigation
BY CINDI ANDREWS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday night to seek the return of money from three high-ranking city employees who received early retirement buyouts without council's knowledge.
The ordinance authorized the city attorney to begin action to recover the money. The attorney is also authorized to investigate how the $486,000 buyout happened.
“I think if we'd known ahead of time, none of us would have approved this,” said Councilman James Reinhard. “We need to take the steps to recover this money.”
The city has asked the Ohio Ethics Commission to investigate the buyouts, reported Friday in The Cincinnati Enquirer. They were paid through a program for electric department workers, even though two of the three were not electric department employees.
According to documents obtained by the Enquirer, checks were cut from the $15 million electric department budget for:
• City auditor Debbie Biggs, for $110,565.
• City attorney Bill Duning, for $206,302.
• Deputy director of the electric department Robert Newton, for $169,549.
All three retired Dec. 31.
Mr. Newton and Mrs. Biggs approved their own buy outs. City Council authorized transfering money to pay for the buyouts, but members said they did not realize where the money was going.
Mrs. Biggs said she and Mr. Newton approved the buyouts because the city auditor and city attorney did significant amounts of work for the electric department.
Also Tuesday, City Council:
• Held a public hearing on a proposal to build more than 450 homes off Deerfield Road in southern Lebanon. Several residents called the development a quality project but expressed concern about a proposed 7-acre retail area and the 50-foot lots that make up about a quarter of the planned development.
The city planning commission last week recommended 3-1 against a rezoning requested by Great Traditions Land & Development Co. The developer said it would work with the planning commission to try to come up with an acceptable plan for the 207-acre site.
• Heard plans to add channels to Lebanon's cable system as it upgrades to digital technology, bringing the total to 160.
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