"There were mistakes in process. "There were mistakes in paperwork. … And at the end of the day, there were mistakes in judgment."
So says the assistant executive for Wayne County Alan Helmkamp in the Detroit News.
Helmkamp was talking about the decision to award Turkia Mullin a $200,000 severance payment when she transferred to a new job in the county.
As Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek reported, Mullin received the severance payment last August when she transferred from her job as Wayne County’s economic developer (salary $200,000) to become the CEO of Wayne County's Detroit Metropolitan Airport (salary $250,000).
Mullin and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced last Friday that Mullin would return the money, but questions from Wayne County commissioners remained.
Ficano promised the commissioners that there would be no such payments in the future.
From the Detroit News:
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano promised county commissioners that he won't allow another severance like the $200,000 paid to the former economic development czar Turkia Mullin. Ficano said he accepts responsibility for the controversial payout and said he is "launching an internal review." "You have my full commitment that the review will be expeditious, and that I will put protections in place so that this situation isn't repeated," Ficano said.
