EDITOR’S NOTE — This is the second of a two-part series on the Port Angeles city’s cash-out policy.
PORT ANGELES — City Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski has pledged to repay the $28,867 she overdrew by cashing out unused leave, but she can expect to get at least some of that back.
Like many public entities, the city of Port Angeles reimburses employees for unused vacation and sick time when they quit or retire.
If they are fired, vacation leave is paid, but sick leave is not, city Human Resources Manager Bob Coons said.
Department heads are allowed to accrue as much leave as time allows, though anything more than 120 days is compensated at 25 percent of their salary. Everything else is paid in full.
Ziomkowski, who has been employed by the city since 1988, had 136.5 days of leave on the books as of Dec. 31 and is set to get a hefty payment of $53,726 when she retires.
If she repays the overdraw of 69 days of vacation, City Manager Kent Myers said Ziomkowski gets that leave back.
If her leave stays above 120 days, Ziomkowski would receive an additional $7,457 based on her current annual salary of $112,547.
If it dips below that, she would get all of the funds back.
Myers said he could not comment on whether she has repaid the funds because of the ongoing State Patrol criminal investigation into the cash-outs.
Ziomkowski, who is also the president of Washington Finance Officers Association, has been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 3.
She made the overdraws by exceeding the city’s limit on annual vacation cash-outs of between 80 and 120 hours from 2009 through 2011.
The limit doesn’t apply to final cash-outs made at the end of employment.
Ziomkowski’s cash-outs totaled 896 hours, or 112 days, during that time period.
She allegedly approved many of the cash-out forms herself.
The forms for nonunion employees had been changed by 2009 to not require city manager approval.
City staff have been unable to explain how that happened, and Myers said he could not provide additional comment due to the ongoing investigation.
Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly requested the State Patrol investigate Ziomkowski’s cash-outs.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office relies on the agency to conduct internal investigations of local governments to avoid conflicts of interest, Mark Nichols, Clallam County chief deputy prosecuting attorney, said.
Kelly has been out of town and unavailable for comment since the death of her father earlier this month.
Myers said he expects the investigation, which began Jan. 6, to last two months.
State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins said the agency does not estimate how long investigations last.
“We never give time lines,” he said.
Ziomkowski’s accumulated leave is exceeded only by Fire Chief Dan McKeen, who had 197 days of leave as of Dec. 31. That leave is worth $60,272.
McKeen has been employed by the city since 1985.
But there have been attempts to rein in their leave.
In 2005, former City Manager Mike Quinn authorized Ziomkowski, McKeen and former Police Chief Tom Riepe to cash out the sick leave they had accumulated before being promoted to department heads.
The administrators — including Ziomkowski — did just that, city records show.
Riepe cashed out 48 days of sick leave from 2004 to 2006 for $15,773.
McKeen cashed out 42.62 days of sick leave from 2005 to 2006 for $14,953.
Ziomkowski cashed out 15.25 hours of sick leave in 2005 for $5,276.
Quinn in a staff memo authorized Riepe and McKeen to put the funds toward their retirement, by using a catch-up provision that allows employees to contribute larger amounts of funds five years before they qualify for retirement, while Ziomkowski, who did not qualify at the time, was told to simply receive it as a check.
Ziomkowski has since qualified for the retirement catch-up and used her large cash-outs since 2009 to fund it. The contributions come with a city match, Coons said.
Myers said it’s unclear if any matches from the city would be reimbursed.
Ziomkowski, who made no previous mention of cashing out the sick leave, said she thought her large cash-outs were OK, based on past practice, as long as it went toward her retirement catch-up.
“I wasn’t eligible at the time,” Ziomkowski said, referring to 2005. “I wasn’t that close to retirement yet. It was obvious I was planning to do this in the future.”
She said she did not check with Myers, city manager since January 2009, to see if the large cash-outs were OK, and thought her payroll staff would get his signature on her cash-out forms.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
