Current City Manager Wayne Davis said he would have made sure to get the approval in writing per the contract, but at this point he sees no value in taking action on the contract violation because no one was harmed by the oversight.
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The investigation was launched after an unnamed police officer on Jan. 26 wrote a memo to Davis and the human resources director alleging Robertson committed theft in office. The officer sought whistleblower protection under state law.
“(Robertson) failed to use leave as required while teaching at OPOTA and thus received improper compensation from two taxpayer funded entities,” the memo says.
The Dayton Daily News I-Team reviewed OPOTA records and Robertson's hand-signed timesheets from 2014 through 2017 and found that while Robertson usually took leave on days he was teaching, there were instances where he didn't take enough leave to cover teaching a two-day class. He was paid $5,200 for those classes.
Robertson was paid $123,888 last year by the city, according to city payroll records.
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The city law director hired Thomas Schiff, a Kettering attorney who serves as Germantown’s city prosecutor and was formerly a county prosecutor, to review the allegations.
“(Schiff) was chosen because we had allegations of criminal misconduct, and as a former prosecutor he understands obviously how to conduct an investigation into criminal matters,” Davis said. “If he had found evidence of criminal misconduct we would have a separate law enforcement authority conduct an investigation as a follow-up.”
Schiff reportedly completed his review last week and the I-Team obtained a copy of it this week.
The report says Schiff reviewed the records and spoke to city employees, including the complainant, who said other officers are required to take leave to teach. The fact the chief took leave on most occasions confirms he thought it was required, the complainant told the investigator.
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“While, under different circumstances, the allegations might have validity,” Schiff wrote, he concluded no criminal violation occurred in this instance.
“It is my opinion that because Chief Robertson did not fail to perform his duties as Chief of Police for the City of Centerville in an efficient and effective manner and, further, because Chief Robertson’s contract with the city did not require him to work any set number of hours for the City, he therefore did not commit a criminal offense,” Schiff wrote.
Schiff did find that “there may have been a technical violation of Chief Robertson’s contract with the city” because the contract requires written permission from the city manager before Robertson accepts outside employment and no such record exists.
But that violation isn’t criminal, Schiff concluded. And he wrote that former city manager Greg Horn encouraged Robertson to teach at OPOTA, gave him verbal permission and was aware of the days Robertson was in London, Ohio, where OPOTA classes are held.
The story so far: An unnamed police officer on Jan. 26 wrote a memo to Centerville City Manager Wayne Davis and the human resources director alleging that then Police Chief Bruce Robertson committed theft in office by accepting pay for teaching classes at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy while working full-time for the city. Two weeks later, Robertson retired, citing health issues.
What's new: An investigation by an attorney hired by the city to review the allegation found Robertson violated city policy in not getting written permission to work the side job, but determined he committed no criminal violation.
What's next: The city says it plans no further action on the contract violation.
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