Sound and Fury
Interpretations of Professionalism, Notions of Loyalty, and the Public Trust Collide in Latest Chapter of Finance Drama
The decision of Hilliard City Manager Michelle Crandall to terminate the city’s finance director of nearly three decades is to stand without a City Council-initiated inquiry into the circumstances leading to the dismissal.
David Delande was Hilliard’s finance director for 29 years until Crandall fired him Feb. 13 in the wake of a phishing incident in which nearly $219,000 was electronically and erroneously transferred in December to an account thought to belong to a known vendor.
Delande publicly addressed Crandall and Hilliard City Council members April 24 about the crime.
Delande, with his family and about 75 people in a show of support behind him, told council he was made the “scapegoat” and “fall guy” for the incident which ultimately resolved with the city’s insurance carrier reimbursing the city for the loss, less the deductible, according to Delande.
But Crandall later said that Delande’s failure to accept responsibility or provide a reasonable explanation for waiting five weeks to inform her left her no options but to fire him.
There is an active investigation into the incident by the Hilliard Division of Police but as of April 26 no charges had been filed, according to David Ball, director of community relations for Hilliard.
Delande also called attention to claimed inconsistencies in Crandall’s handling of three other terminated city employees, including two directors and an employee with disciplinary action, since she was named city manager in January 2020. Delande said each received a severance package that included insurance.
“Me? I have served with loyalty and without incident for nearly three decades with no disciplinary action, reprimands or violations. I received no severance and no health insurance (and) had two years left until retirement,” said Delande, who challenged a letter from Crandall to him indicating inconsistencies in his account from what an internal investigation showed.
Delande told council members that on Dec. 19, an accounting assistant in the finance department prepared an ACH for nearly $219,000 but proper documentation was not collected.
The deputy finance director- whom he did not name- did not follow protocol and approved payment without having proper documentation, according to Delande.
The city’s deputy finance director is Greg Tantari.
Delande said he was first made aware of the problem on Dec. 28 when an accounting assistant told him that he had “messed up” as the account numbers did not match with those of the real vendor.
The payment was intended for Strawser Paving, a regular and known vendor of the city.
Delande told council members once known to him he took “immediate steps” to recover the funds and was told by TD Bank on Dec. 29 that the funds had not been transferred and that he then believed the funds had been recovered.
But a follow-up call on Jan. 5 revealed that the funds had in fact been transferred to a fraudulent account opened on the date of the crime (December 19th), Delande said.
Delande told council members he called Hilliard police on Jan. 6 and subpoenas were issued to three financial institutions in the course of the investigation.
Delande said he willfully chose, based on Crandall’s style “to not micromanage her directors” to wait to inform her of the incident at a scheduled monthly meeting on Jan. 31.
“Unfortunately, I did not have a nicely buttoned-up situation for her.”
Yet, Delande said he was not disciplined or reprimanded at the time by Crandall nor asked why he did not report it sooner.
Later the same day, Delande said he and the city’s information-technology director received an e-mail from Crandall concerning phishing scam protocols.
“Up to this point, no city-wide training had been implemented,” Delande said.
On Feb. 6, Delande and the accounting assistant were placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. The accounting assistant resigned Feb. 15, according to Ball.
On Feb. 13, Delande said he was told he was being “let go” and given the option to resign.
Delande said he conferred with an attorney and within two hours submitted a written proposal for a severance package that the city denied.
“I was given until 3:30 that afternoon to resign. I did not. At 4:30 p.m., I received an e-mail informing me that I was terminated,” Delande said.
At the conclusion of his address, others spoke in support of Delande and called on City Council to utilize its charter-granted power to launch an inquiry into the firing by Crandall, who as city manager is vested with the power to hire and fire department directors, per the city charter.
But City Council, in a split vote, decided 4-3 not to authorize an inquiry.
City Council President Omar Tarazi supported the inquiry while Councilman Pete Marsh spoke against the measure.
“I think we should conduct an inquiry. I think Dave Delande is owed some level of investigation on the part of council. I do think we have been presented with conflicting information over time, that deserves further scrutiny,” Tarazi said.
“I see a pattern of conflicting information and a panic effort to save reputations rather than treating people fairly. I think what happened to Dave Delande is an overreaction and unfair. We owe it to the voters and taxpayers (to undertake an investigation),” Tarazi said.
Marsh, citing a legal opinion from Phil Hartman, the city’s legal counsel, said City Council chambers are not the place to have such a discussion but council members voted to waive attorney-client privilege concerning Delande’s termination and further discussion ensued.
“You have a protocol but it was not in writing at the time of the loss (and) conflicting information whether a deputy director did or did not sign off… and no training in place for ACH,” Councilman Les Carrier said.
Marsh shared his view of the motive of those who supported launching an inquiry.
“Council is not the body to conduct an inquiry. We are not judges. We don’t have Greg Tantari here, who’s getting blamed… This isn’t the place to do it. This isn’t even about Dave (Delande), this is about certain council members using him to go after our city manager. This isn’t our job, this isn’t our role. It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with (Crandall’s) decision. She made the decision,” Marsh said.
Carrier, Tarazi and Councilwoman Peggy Hale voted in favor of an inquiry; Marsh and council members Tina Cottone, Andy Teater and Cynthia Vermillion voted against it.
Delande would not comment after the meeting on City Council’s decision and Crandall did not comment during the April 24 meeting but later reiterated her decision to terminate Delande.
“Mr. Delande’s statements (April 24) included several statements that were not factual. Additionally, he conveniently left out facts uncovered during our internal investigation that contributed to the decision for termination,” Crandall said April 26
“Mr. Delande fails to take any responsibility for the felony that was committed against the city or to provide any reasonable explanation as to why he chose to wait weeks to report the felony to the police and chose to wait five weeks to report the felony to the city manager and the city’s insurance provider. His multiple failures to report resulted in valuable time being lost when the funds could have been traced and recovered,” the City Manager concluded.
Heads rolling!! Accountability is a bitch