A Columbus Division of Fire deputy chief carried out "what can only be described as the falsification of payroll," resulting in the Fire Division overpaying more than $440,000 to him and other fire officials who had to cover vacated jobs when he wasn't working between 2016 and 2018, a draft report of a city investigation shows.
The report, obtained by The Dispatch on Thursday, recommends that Deputy Chief Jack Reall, a former president of the union that represents firefighters, be fired and that the department meet with prosecutors to explore "any potential for criminal prosecution" against him.
The report also recommends that Columbus Fire Chief Kevin O'Connor serve a 96-hour suspension for failing to adequately supervise and discipline division personnel and support department directives and policies. Assistant Chief James Cannell should be fired, the report says, for breaking rules governing dishonesty, insubordination and neglect of duty.
Reall reported to Cannell, who in turn reported to O'Connor.
The city should "explore the possibility of a civil lawsuit" against Reall and Cannell "to pursue and recoup money inappropriately taken from the city of Columbus," the report said.
"There is zero dishonesty on the part of Jack Reall, and that can be explained in court if that needs to happen," said Brad Koffel, Reall's attorney, who on Thursday afternoon called the report "patently absurd" as well as "false and defamatory."
"Jack has done nothing but be 100 percent cooperative and compliant, and there was no defrauding, stealing or lying at all, ever."
O'Connor noted that he's not accused of stealing or authorizing anyone else to steal, and he plans to defend himself in a city administrative hearing. He called the allegations against Reall "disturbing."
"It's basically, we've got to blame somebody (and) you were the chief," O'Connor said. "I strongly believe that I've done everything that I was supposed to do and more."
Cannell couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Kate Pishotti said the agency wouldn't comment on the report, which was delivered from the city human resources office to Ned Pettus Jr., the public safety director. Pettus will decide whether to accept the report's recommendations after a series of administrative hearings.
The Dispatch reported in March that an internal investigation focused on how Reall classified his time on duty in the division's computer staffing system, Telestaff. The division uses that software to determine where it has vacancies or excess staffing on a given day so that personnel can be redistributed around the city.Reall marked himself as being on "company business vacancy" for hundreds of hours from 2016 through 2018. The division does not have a written definition of CBV, but it generally has been used as a catchall term to indicate that the employee is on duty but unavailable for normal work responsibilities and needs to be replaced by another employee.
Thus, CBV sets off "domino costs" to the city because a deputy chief vacancy is back-filled by a battalion chief, who in turn is replaced by a captain, who is replaced by a lieutenant, who is replaced by a firefighter.
"When Jack Reall was using CBV inappropriately, the domino costs to the city of Columbus are significant," the report says. Though the total amount of overpayment was $442,983, it wasn't immediately clear how much of that was paid to Reall.
The report says that Reall "pretended" to perform city work while also getting paid by the city and other employers. It goes on to list numerous examples, such as in October 2016 when Reall, who is paid $157,087 a year, claimed to be training with Ohio Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team, but was instead working for a private contractor in Virginia, billing the city for $2,200 for four days of training.
The report says that Cannell "implemented a plan where deputy chiefs were compensated hour-for-hour for any additional time worked," even though they are not contractually permitted overtime or comp time. As for CBV, the report states that Cannell said deputy chiefs were on the honor system to keep track of that time.
The report said that O'Connor was given notice of the problems before information about them was revealed in an anonymous publication signed "The Worm" that would circulate among firehouses. That letter accused Reall of abusing the system. The report said O'Connor failed to take sufficient action.
"Of particular interest was the allegation that (Reall) was using CBV for vacation," the report said. The report says Reall used the CBV while on vacation, which made it appear on the computer system that he was working.
However, the time-keeping program is viewable to all uniformed employees, and "The Worm" recognized that Reall was putting in for CBV while posting photos of himself on social media not working, the report says.
The report also recommends the city immediately suspend operations with Ohio Task Force 1 and work with the city auditor's office to make changes to documenting leave and payroll.
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