GOVERNMENT NEWS

NITRO SUSPENDS SALARIED OVERTIME
Terry Put On Paid Administrative Leave
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

"Whether you like her or not," says Nitro Mayor Rusty Casto, "Tifney                                  has practically lived at                                 City Hall. She does put                                 in the long hours."

Those words of praise                               Tuesday night were                              enough to possibly                                   save the job of Nitro                          Treasurer/Office                                  Manager Tifney Terry-                                   for now-however,                                     they weren't enough to allow her or any other salaried Nitro non-law enforcement or fire employee to earn overtime-for now.

Nitro Councilwoman Gertie Estep was angry to learn that Terry was paid more than $20,000 in overtime in May for more than 250 hours of overtime worked since her appointment in 2006.

PutnamLIVE.com was the first news media outlet that reported the overtime pay.

Terry tells PutnamLIVE.com that she was working on special projects with full knowledge and consent of Casto.

However, Estep says Council should have been informed. "I didn't like reading about this in the press, says Estep. "I didn't know salaried people can earn overtime. I wasn't aware this was legal."

After Councilwoman Brenda Tyler produced a document showing city policy allowed the overtime payments, Estep and the Council unanimously suspended overtime pay for salaried workers. Effectively, the rule is targeted at Terry as she is one of only a few salaried workers other than law enforcement and fire which is exempted from the overtime suspension.

Councilman Joe Savilla was in favor of the overtime pay freeze. "We have a spending freeze on city wide,” says Savilla. “We can't afford to spend a few hundred dollars a month for our seniors."

Terry tells PutnamLIVE.com that the overtime issue is mostly a thing of the past, that when she took over as Treasurer and Office Manager she had to spend many months creating and implementing new city policies and procedures for a city that lacked even the most basic organizational structure. Terry has provided PutnamLIVE.com with handwritten time sheets and a typed summary of her overtime.

It was only after citizen Karen Fritz filed a Freedom of Information Act Request and a lawsuit forcing Nitro to reveal payments to Terry that the amount of the overtime came to light. Charleston Attorney Michael Clifford is Fritz' attorney. He has accused Nitro of being in "Contempt of Court" for refusing to release documents in a timely manner.

Please see:

CLIFFORD: Nitro In Contempt Of Court

and 

CLIFFORD: Terry Paid Herself $20,000 In Overtime

Clifford has asked the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department to investigate the overtime payments. At least one of the checks was signed by Mayor Rusty Casto who promised a full investigation.

After the regular council meeting, an executive session was held and Terry was put on Paid Administrative Leave pending the outcome of the investigation. PutnamLIVE.com learned that Terry was cleaning out her desk mid-morning Wednesday. Terry has not returned an email, text message, or a telephone call seeking her comment. When PutnamLIVE.com stopped by her office, it was locked. No one answered the door at Terry's home.

"She just wanted to step aside so that an independent auditor can look at everything," says Nitro Treasurer Rita Cox. "She wants a clear investigation. She feels the best way to have one is if she isn't working during that investigation."

Cox declined to let PutnamLIVE.com photograph Terry's empty office.

"I'm very pleased that Tifney's gone," says Fritz, "But don't understand the paid part of her administrative leave. I think the overtime checks that she took was more than enough, considering everyone on Council didn't know about it... I'm glad she's gone. I hope she stays gone."

Fritz may just get that wish. Tuesday afternoon Terry told PutnamLIVE.com that she is "Tired of the witch hunt. I have been made the target of everything that people talk about in Nitro. I've worked very hard to clean things up and I am very tired of the accusations."

Fritz was able to have Terry temporarily removed from office over a bonding issue, only to have Casto and Council re-appoint her days later. It remains to be seen if Terry will be able to overcome the overtime issue and retain her jobs.

Wednesday, Terry published a press release that states the following:

During the city council meeting held Tuesday, October 16, 2007 I asked council for paid leave and consent to have an independent accounting firm to come into the city in order to put the never ending barrage of allegations to rest.

I feel that this move is not only in the best interests of the City of Nitro but in my own personal interest, as the individuals behind this witch hunt have shown themselves to be on nothing more than a campaign of personal destruction.

I am confident that over the coming weeks that the practices of the City of Nitro will be vindicated and hope that this move will allow the city to move forward.

 

 

Nitro Councilwoman 

Gertie Estep