Questions Remain In Probe Of Credit Card Misuse In Fairfield Town Hall

FAIRFIELD, CT — A six-month investigation into possible misuse of town-issued American Express credit cards by Fairfield employees did not turn up fraud, but found that the town did not thoroughly monitor how the cards were used.

During a meeting of the Board of Selectpersons on Monday, the town's Human Resources Director Cathleen Simpson presented findings from a thousand-page report on the investigation, which found that the town did not train employees on the policies about credit card usage.

"This is not about people, it's about culture," Simpson said, concerning some of the mistakes made by town employees with credit cards. "It was the system."

Simpson said 96 town employees — out of about 500 employees — have credit card access, and while she did not know how much any misuse may have cost the town, she did not believe that the number was in the thousands of dollars.

The lack of that figure was among the questions asked by Selectpersons Nancy Lefkowitz and Tom Flynn, and Simpson said that amount will be tracked down. She added that the report only looked at town employees with town-issued credit cards, not staffers overseen by the Board of Education.

Simpson said that some of the misuse of credit cards involved large purchases of meals for staff, which is against policy.

The investigation audited credit card purchases from 2018 to 2022, and led to one employee paying back about $800 to the town.

"We didn't find any evidence of defrauding the public," Simpson said.

Lefkowitz, who wrote an opinion essay critical of the current administration's handling of town-issued credit cards, asked what methodology was used in the investigation, and what was discovered in the 2023 investigation compared to a similar one conducted in 2020.

That 2020 probe did not result in many changes in town policies concerning the use of credit cards by employees.

"The truth is, this investigation was because a private citizen came forward [in a Freedom of Information request] with concerns," Lefkowitz said of the 2023 probe.

First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick took exception to Lefkowitz's criticism.

"I think this has become a political football, where potshots are being taken at the administration," Kupchick said. "I'm extraordinarily disappointed in that."

Kupchick said that some of the problems with credit cards came before she took office in 2019, and she welcomed a resident coming forward with concerns.

Simpson said that she and town CFO Jared Schmitt recommend that in the future, the town should conduct more audits of credit card usage to quickly determine if there were any improprieties, and train staff more frequently on the use and policies of town credit cards.

Flynn took it a step further, recommending the town take a closer look at the number of employees who have credit card access.

"What I'm hearing is that you didn't find fraud, but you did find misuse," Flynn said. "Policies were not followed."

Professionally, Flynn does financial audits for clients, and said he recently worked with a company of 650 employees where only 22 had company credit cards.

"There are way too many credit cards," Flynn said. "Twenty percent of the town's employees should not have credit cards."

Board of Finance Chair Lori Charlton told the Selectpersons that it was "pretty hard to conclude that there wasn't fraud somewhere," and added that the town needs to assign more people directly to oversee credit card usage reviews and audits.

"The biggest issue I saw, it that no one was reviewing credit cards," Charlton said.

Kupchick agreed, and emphasized that the town is actively reviewing the number of cards issued and their usage, and discovered that some cards are inactive.

In the near future, the Board of Finance's Audit Committee will hold a joint meeting with Kupchick, Simpson, town and finance officials on the credit card situation.