Buffalo's chief auditor was fired Thursday because witnesses reported he took pictures of a female co-worker in the office without her knowledge, City Comptroller Mark J.F. Schroeder said today.
Though Darryl N. McPherson was spotted by colleagues on three separate occasions last week and this week taking the photos, according to Schroeder, McPherson's departure from City Hall had already been in motion for a month.
Schroeder told The Buffalo News he told McPherson on July 3 he planned on replacing him.
McPherson, who has three previous alcohol related convictions, was being kept on until a replacement was found, Schroeder said, but that was cut short when the latest allegations were brought to his attention Thursday morning.
McPherson did not deny the allegations when he met with leadership in the Comptroller's Office shortly thereafter, Schroeder said.
Schroeder said there were several reasons he was already planning on letting McPherson go, but they included an incident in which McPherson was supposed to testify at another employee's disciplinary hearing on July 2.
McPherson attended the hearing, but would only go so far as to say he was "unable to perform his duties" there, Schroeder said.
McPherson, 45, did not immediately return a phone message from The News seeking comment.
McPherson's departure from the City Hall was first reported late Thursday by Investigative Post, a Buffalo-based nonprofit investigative reporting center. In a subsequent report, McPherson told Investigative Post he was not fired, but it was rather "a mutual parting of the ways."
McPherson also referred to the photo allegations as "a big misunderstanding," according to Investigative Post.
In addition to the circumstances surrounding the disciplinary hearing, Schroeder said he also planned to let McPherson go because of a situation which he considered to be insubordination in which McPherson went to speak with Human Resources Commissioner Patricia Folts "on something he was not authorized to do," the comptroller said.
He went to talk about "a job description or a job opportunity" with Folts, according to Schroeder, who added it was not related to any of his duties as auditor.
Schroeder said he also told McPherson he also wanted a "change in direction."
Schroeder said he planned to give McPherson time to find a new opportunity, and keeping him on would have been helpful to the department because McPherson could finish some audits he was working on. But when the new allegations arose, "everything changed abruptly," Schroeder said.
McPherson became chief auditor in 2007, under then-city Comptroller Andrew A. SanFilippo. He stayed in the job after SanFilippo left to take a job in the state Comptroller's Office in March 2011, and was kept on when Schroeder took office in January.
He started working for the city as an assistant corporation counsel in the Masiello administration. Before becoming chief auditor for the city, he was chief counsel to the city's control board.
McPherson's three previous alcohol-related convictions are for driving while impaired in October 2000 and July 2007, as well as aggravated driving while intoxicated in March 2009.
After his 2009 conviction, for an incident in which McPherson had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, a judge ordered McPherson to attend 90 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in 90 days. His driver's license was suspended for a year and he had to be monitored by a sponsor for a year.
At the time of the sentencing, McPherson's attorney, Joel L. Daniels, said his client "recognizes that he has a problem, and he's dealing with it."
McPherson faced no disciplinary action from the city, in part because he quickly enrolled in the New York State Bar Association's Lawyer Assistance Program.
Schroeder said James E. Barrett, a principal auditor in the department, has been named interim city auditor while a search is conducted for McPherson's replacement.
Schroeder said he plans to hire a certified public accountant - McPherson was an attorney, but not a CPA - and will use a recruiting firm as part of the search.
City payroll records for last year indicate McPherson had a salary of $86,685.
North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr., who said he did not know anything about the circumstances of McPherson's departure, praised his work.
"As the auditor, I always got along with him I thought he was a good guy," Golombek said. "He was fair and he was hard nosed."
