The Wayne County Commission grilled county officials for more than an hour Tuesday about who authorized a $200,000 severance payment to former chief development officer Turkia Awada Mullin, who quit to run Metro Airport.
But they couldn't get an answer.
"I just want to know, who authorized the check?" asked county Commissioner Bernard Parker, D-Detroit.
Assistant County Executive Alan Helmkamp, Chief Financial Officer Carla Sledge and representatives from the personnel department of the county all tried to explain it. They pointed out that there is a process and the amounts have to be verified, but they couldn't provide a name of who ordered that the check be written.
Helmkamp said, ultimately, it was irrelevant because County Executive Robert Ficano took full responsibility for it, believing that he had an obligation to pay Mullin the same severance given to her predecessor, Mulu Birru.
"I am responsible for the action of my administration and therefore I accept responsibility for the actions of my administration and therefore I accept responsibility for the payment that Ms. Mullin received," Ficano said in prepared remarks to the commission.
He did not stay to take commissioners' questions, saying he had to go to court. He declined to answer questions from reporters as he left.
Ficano left Helmkamp to explain what has turned into a growing controversy over the payment, which was issued without the knowledge of the commission and comes as the county battles a $160-million deficit. Union workers, some of whom packed the meeting room, are working under a 20% pay cut mandated by Ficano.
Helmkamp said that there were "mistakes in process, mistakes in paperwork, and at the end of the day, mistakes in judgment." The administration has begun an internal review and will work with commissioners to improve the system, he said.
At the end of the hearing, commissioners voted to name a special committee to work with commission auditors and lawyers to review the situation.
Commissioner Laura Cox, R-Livonia, pushed for the special committee.
Commissioners demanded to know who else had received payouts without their knowledge. Helmkamp said that Sheri Galofaro-Mendez, an executive assistant at the county's economic development department under Mullin, received a $15,643 severance when she left the county last month.
Galofaro-Mendez could not be reached for comment but her online résumé lists her current position as an administrative manager at Metro Airport.
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