OIG: Mayor's Office Told Employees To Delete Emails Related To Investigation
DETROIT, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The Office of Inspector General finalized a reported Monday on Detroit's Mayor chief of staff, Alexis Wiley, who is accused of ordering employees to delete their emails related to an investigation of the city's support toward Wayne State University's Make Your Date program.
OIG initiated an investigation to determine whether Mayor Mike Duggan and/or any City officials potentially abused his/her/their authority by providing preferential treatment to Make Your Date Detroit. The investigation was opened after questions arose regarding the City's connection with MYD.
OIG says Make Your Date was unilaterally selected by the Mayor based on his experience and the advice of members of his transition team.
"However, the OIG finds that any time an agency, nonprofit, or other organization receives City of Detroit resources, it should be selected through a fair, open, and transparent process. This is necessary to ensure the public that City time and resources, including taxpayer dollars, are being expended wisely, efficiently, and effectively," OIG stated.
The OIG reviewed more than 400,000 pages of documents, interviewed numerous individuals and conducted extensive research on best practices pertaining to mayoral initiatives and the relationship between public bodies and non-profit organizations.
The report says the "deletion of emails only serves to undermine the public's trust in an open and transparent government" and "finds such conduct as abuse of authority."
To read the full report, click here.
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