President Blaine Brownell appointed an Advisory Group to, among other issues, look into time-sheet discrepancies of two University Police officers.
The group did not, however, address that former UPD Cpl. Michael Milbourn made more than $20,000 more in overtime than any other corporal that works for University Police Department.
For the fiscal year of 2001, according to university documents, Milbourn made $42,037 in regular salary and $33,384 in overtime. The next highest amount for a corporal for 2001 was $40,560 in salary and $10,016 in overtime.
"Anytime you have the kind of numbers like Mike's and the department can't give an accurate account - it raises a serious question," said Gene Burton, acting director of the Department of Public Safety.
The fiscal year 2001 wasn't the only year Milbourn made an abundance of overtime. In 1996 he made $35,401 in salary and $31,060 in overtime.
Former Ball State criminal justice professor and former UPD supervisor Eric Moore told the Daily News in a recent interview that when he worked for the department the issue of Milbourn's overtime was brought to the attention of Assistant Police Chief Robert Fey.
Moore said when he confronted Fey about Milbourn's overtime, he was told Milbourn had special assignments and Moore, as the supervisor, was to afford him flexibility.
Fey said it would not be appropriate for him to comment about Milbourn's overtime at this time.
The Office of Human Resources notified Burton of the discrepancy on Feb. 8. Burton, however, had already modified the payroll system.
Burton said his change in policy had nothing to do with discrepancies found in Milbourn's or two other officers' time sheets.
When he became acting director, he said, it was a priority to make officers more accountable for their overtime.
According to Burton, in the past, payroll time sheets were not kept in the same place as the documentation used for recording officers' overtime. By keeping the time sheets and overtime slips separate, Burton said, it caused problems verifying the numbers on each sheet.
Burton said enforcing a new system will more likely prevent similar discrepancies.
"I made changes to payroll to add accountability," Burton said. "I will look into (Milbourn's overtime) as time permits, but my time might be better spent making sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
"I'm not sure if I will ever be able to account for his hours, but I will try."
Burton said when time permits he will begin the process of matching up the 2001 time sheets submitted by Milbourn to his overtime slips.
Milbourn's home telephone number is not listed.
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