By Paul Giblin | The Republic | azcentral.com
A Glendale bookkeeper’s termination raises questions about an employee’s responsibility to speak up about wrongdoing.
Chief Budget Officer Don Bolton was fired for his role in keeping the costs of an early-retirement plan from the City Council.
An outside audit that council commissioned this year showed that a group of top administrators improperly shifted more than $6 million among city trust funds to cover the costs.
Bolton, in a hearing to appeal his termination, said council should have been better informed. However, he questioned whom he could have told since all the administrators above him were aware of the situation. And staff members were prohibited from providing information to the council without then-City Manager Ed Beasley’s approval, according to the audit.