City Comptroller Mark Schroeder has fired his chief auditor. WBFO and AM 970's Mark Scott talks with Jim Heaney of the website http://investigativepost.org, who broke the story with WGRZ television.
Darryl McPherson has served as the city's chief auditor since 2007. That all ended Thursday. Heaney says McPherson was summoned to Comptroller Schroeder's office around noon and was told he was terminated. McPherson was then ordered to leave City Hall immediately. Heaney says he talked with Schroeder, who said the dismissal was not related to McPherson's job performance. Still Heaney says Schroeder was tight-lipped.
"Something happened that Schroeder felt was a fire-able offense," Heaney said. "Schroeder acted quickly to remove McPherson from his job."
Late Thursday evening Heaney learned that McPherson was fired under what Heaney referred to as "sordid circumstances".
McPherson told Heaney he was fired based on "professional disagreements with his boss." Heaney reported that Schroeder said fired McPherson after receiving a complaint about "incidents involving inappropriate conduct by McPherson." The allegations, according to Investigative Post, claim McPherson used a cell phone to take inappropriate photos of a female staff member without her knowledge.
McPherson had a history of drunk driving arrests. Two years ago, he pleaded guilty to aggravated driving while intoxicated in Lancaster. Heaney says that during his tenure as city auditor, McPherson had been involved in some high-profile city investigations.
"When there were allegations that the city was buying health insurance policies for dead city employees, McPherson was handed that audit," Heaney said.
McPherson earned more than $86,000 a year.
Prior to his appointment as city auditor, McPherson was on the staff of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority and served as an assistant corporation counsel under former Mayor Anthony Masiello.