A Richmond Department of Public Utilities employee drove their city vehicle home to Henrico County’s Sandston area for several hours on work days and had multiple side businesses without authorization, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General.

Investigators saw nothing to indicate the employee was doing work for the other businesses on city time, but found the employee violated policy by not getting approval for the extra sources of income.

An investigation that involved surveillance at the Sandston home revealed the DPU utilities field specialist was there on at least five work days in late August and early September, the report says. On Aug. 12, a Monday, the employee was at home for more than six hours, arriving a little before 9 a.m. and leaving a little after 3 p.m.

In an interview with the inspector general’s office, the unidentified employee said that, starting in June, “they would go home one to three days per week for three to four hours during work hours to care for a family member.”

“The Utilities Field Technician said they would only go home when they did not have assigned work and would leave their residence if called to respond to a call for service by their supervisor,” the report says.

Many Richmond residents have grappled with utility billing issues and sluggish responses to service issues, but DPU said the duties of utilities field specialists are unrelated to billing issues. The job description largely involves installing, maintaining and repairing pipelines, as well as fixing leaks affecting meters and water mains.

The report, dated Oct. 25 and signed by Inspector General James Osuna, is one of the first Osuna has published after the city recently resumed publishing his internal watchdog reports online. 

The city had stopped publishing inspector general reports for almost five years, but agreed to proactively release them on a public website after a WRIC reporter inquired about the matter and noted that city code requires the reports to be “electronically published for public review.”

The report doesn’t name the DPU employee, and doesn’t describe any actions the department may have taken in response to its findings. DPU declined to comment, calling the matter an “ongoing personnel investigation.”

Investigators confirmed the employee was paid for the more than 18 hours they spent at home across five work days. The employee used a biometric reader to clock in and clock out, and “did not accurately report actual time worked” on the five days documented in the report.

While watching the employee’s home, investigators noticed equipment indicating the employee had a lawn care business. The employee confirmed that to be the case, and said they also had a welding company and a trash removal company.

“The utilities field specialist said they had not obtained written approval for any of these businesses because they do not affect the city,” the report says.

Under city policy, employees must get approval for any “outside employment, activity or enterprise.”