The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville released some personnel files Wednesday for two former employees who have been at the center of a investigation over a $3.37 million deficit in the University Advancement Division.
Steve Voorhies, a spokesman for the university, said the files had been overlooked when UA officials responded to earlier requests from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to provide the personnel records for former Vice Chancellor Brad Choate and former budget director Joy Sharp.
UA provided some documents from their personnel files in January and more in February after the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the records.
The university maintained that the records were exempt from release, but obtained Choate’s and Sharp’s consent to release them.
Voorhies said the new files were found in storage at University House, where offices for the Advancement Division are.
“They stumbled onto them,” he said.
On July 12, the Democrat-Gazette requested all personnel files for the two. The additional files were sent to the newspaper Wednesday, along with a Feb. 15 settlement agreement between UA and Choate.
In an email, Voorhies said the new files were found Monday and Tuesday when an employee from UA’s general-counsel office conferred with an employee in the Advancement Division.
“It should be noted that that the newly located records are older records and do not pertain to the Advancement budget matter which was the focus of reporting efforts at the time of the initial [Freedom of Information Act] request in January,” Voorhies said in an email.
The discovery of the deficit in 2012 led to the demotion of Sharp and to UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart’s decision not to retain Choate as vice chancellor of advancement. Both worked at UA until June 30.
University officials have said that the deficit was driven primarily by hiring employees without the revenue to support their salaries.
In an investigative report released in February, UA Treasurer Jean Schook stated she found a “lack of management oversight, noncompliance with university policies and procedures and deliberate efforts to disguise poor financial management.”
Choate responded to the report by blaming Sharp, who he said became “overwhelmed” by the expanding duties of her position and“ultimately worked to deceive us” with false reports about the division’s revenue.
Sharp said in written response that she had made mistakes and failed to accurately project division revenue.
When the newspaper requested the pair’s personnel records in December and January, UA employees searched the Advancement Division offices but didn’t find any personnel files for Choate and Sharp there, Voorhies said. Most of their personnel records were in the chancellor’s office, and those were sent to the newspaper after Choate and Sharp consented, he said.
Choate and Sharp also consented for the newly found files to be sent to the newspaper this week.
Files that were in storage at University House have been moved to UA’s administration building, Voorhies said.
The files released Wednesday contained some new information about Choate’s benefits as a UA employee. Besides a final salary of $348,175, he received $49,000 a year in deferred income, and UA leased a 2008 Acura TL for him to drive.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 07/19/2013