Copyright CBS News
Oakland County says it has suspended four information technology employees for their roles in improperly awarding a contract to a company owned by one of them. According to a news release sent on Friday, the suspensions are a result of an independent investigation by the law firm Miller Canfield into the "inappropriate awarding of a contract to ZaydLogix." "Oakland County strives to serve the public with the utmost ethics and transparency," Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter said in the release. "In the ZaydLogix matter, that didn't happen. The actions of some employees fell short of that standard, and they will now face the full consequences of their actions." Coulter added that the investigation found no evidence of intent to "defraud the county or improper financial gain." A Court and Law Enforcement Management Information System manager and the employee who owns ZaydLogix will be resigning from their positions "in the coming weeks," the county said. Both have been suspended without pay for four weeks. The county's IT director has been suspended without pay for three days, and the employee who reviewed and approved ZaydLogix's bid for the contract is suspended for two days without pay, officials said. The county says it's taking several steps to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, including having its purchasing department lead the evaluation process for all bids in response to requests for proposals, requiring all employees to review and sign the county's standards of conduct annually and ordering all IT employees to go through "procurement policies and procedures" training.
