“The findings make no mention of state appropriated funds and even if they did, the reach of …. the university charter would limit the scope of any audit to the mere notation that there were university employees paid with state funds,” said UD Deputy General Counsel Daniela Ivancikova. “The limited authority given to the auditor under this provision does not include the power to investigate the compliance with laws that do not apply to the university.”

York said UD not participating in the audit was not an option.

“Typically what would happen is UD would say, ‘This doesn’t apply to us, go away,’ and the auditor’s office would go away,” she said. “That wasn’t going to be an acceptable outcome this time around.”

Bennett said she did nothing wrong and the City of Dover has backed her up. The Human Resources director mistakenly gave investigators incorrect information and was unaware the city council brought her in at a reduced salary because of her dual employee status, Bennett said. She also said she kept copious time keeping records. But she said by the time she was contacted by the auditor’s office, the report was final, showing 33 times Bennett was at legislative hall during her work hours with the city. She left office at the end of 2022.

“I’m really upset because now they’re saying that the city of Dover put together a cushy job for me,” she said. “I have the minute I got to work in the morning at the city of Dover. I have notes that say ‘went to Leg Hall for session’ and then I would come back at night for council meetings.”

Council President David Anderson said in a statement that the city felt they were in compliance because of the reduced salary and Bennett tracking her time.

House and Senate staff said in response to the audit’s findings that the legislature doesn’t keep complete data on dually employed members and that those employees are responsible for keeping track of their hours while the chambers keep track of attendance in session and for committees, which is publicly available.

Moore and Minor-Brown were unavailable for an interview about the audit findings. A House spokesperson offered a statement attributed to House leadership, which includes Minor-Brown, that pointed out state lawmakers are part-time legislators and often hold other jobs.