Journalists working in a healthy news ecosystem would have jumped on events that played out in one Northern Kentucky city in late February. That’s when news broke that the City of Covington had removed its public works director. Instead of firing the agency head, municipal officials created a new position in city government, one that doesn’t involve supervising a large staff.
Two Northern Kentucky newsrooms covered the staff shuffle. And, both published corrections after the city mistakenly released a draft memorandum reprimanding the former public works director. In the three months since the episode, neither newsroom investigated the circumstances surrounding the mistaken memo release and there have been no follow-up stories about the public works department.
I had a front row seat to the episode as a reporter for one of the newsrooms. My freelance gig with the online news site ended days after the public works story broke. Within weeks, the publication had erased all 32 stories I had written since January, including the public works story. I’m reprinting the story here, along with additional details about the mistakenly released memo.
Original story published in the Northern Kentucky Tribune
(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated because the city carelessly shared a document through an open records request that was not, in fact, a “public document.” The city apologized for the carelessness which introduced errors in the story that have been corrected.)
By David Rotenstein
NKyTribune reporter
Controversy roiled Covington government last fall after the city found that employees in the Public Works Department had been “buddy punching” time clocks. The practice resulted in employees being paid for time they didn’t work. Several employees received written reprimands, two employees resigned, and the department’s director got transferred to another job in city government.
An anonymous source emailed the NKyTribune in January. “There’s a scandal in the Covington Public Works Department involving employees stealing time. They were coming in late or not at all and punching in and out for one another,” the source wrote.
The NKyTribune reached out to city officials and submitted an Open Records Act request for documents related to the allegations. Our reporting confirmed the information in the email.
In September, city leaders learned that buddy punching — “clocking in on behalf of other employees” according to a report the NKyTribune obtained — had been occurring for several years.
Two employees who were buddy punching complained to the city’s human relations office that they were being more harshly punished than other employees after being caught. The city began an investigation that included meeting with public works employees and getting copies of text messages and surveillance video documenting the improper timeclock activities.
Covington Human Resources Manager Michael Webster wrote in an Oct. 14, 2025, report that employees who anticipated being late for work would contact other employees and ask them to clock them in on time.
Investigators interviewed city workers.
“It was alleged that supervisors were aware of staff adjusting timecards or permitting employees to clock in co-workers,” Webster wrote.
Troy McCain, a public works supervisor and employee since the 1990s, told investigators that improper timekeeping in the department dated to when he began working for the city. He said that in the 1990s, supervisors “allowed the staff to make up time by working through lunch or taking shorter breaks when they were stuck in traffic or had appointments,” the report noted.
Testimony, text messages and corroborating statements supported allegations of more recent time-keeping irregularities. Three employees alleged that McCain “condoned or permitted the practice.”
Six employees were named in the investigation as having engaged in improper time-keeping or not enforcing workplace rules. Investigators concluded that there was insufficient evidence to determine if “buddy punching was a widespread practice and that a full investigation would be required.”
Two employees, Bruce Scruggs and Marcus Hill, left their jobs because text messages showed them engaging in buddy punching, including exchanging money in cash apps in trade for the favors.
McCain, Ryan Gribble, James M. Payne Sr., James M. Payne Jr., received written reprimands. City Manager Sharmili Reddy also relieved Bales of his management duties in the Department of Public Works and transferred him to city hall where he assumed a newly created position, Director of Strategic Infrastructure Initiatives.
Reddy created the new position in an administrative order dated Dec. 1, 2025.
“After careful evaluation of recent departmental challenges,” Reddy wrote, “I have decided to reassign you from the position of Director of Public Works to a role housed at City Hall.”
Reddy’s letter notifying Bales of the new assignment noted, “This reassignment also offers an opportunity to reset, refocus, and contribute in a way that plays to your strengths while ensuring the Department of Public Works receives the type of administrative and personnel oversight needed at this time.”
Before being appointed Director of Public Works in 2022, Bales had served since 2006 in several city positions. City records show that Bales became Covington’s Code Enforcement Director in 2006. Other positions Bales held include Assistant Neighborhood Services Director and Interim and Acting City Manager. He left the city’s payroll at least once in 2012 when his position was eliminated.
When the city decided to re-assign Bales from his position at Public Works, no formal reprimand was issued.
“No documentation or investigation records exist to demonstrate that these issues were addressed or that corrective action was taken,” Reddy wrote. “Similarly, the rehiring of an employee with a prior assault charge was done without proper documentation or review, exposing the city to unnecessary risk.”
Bales remains on the city’s payroll. City officials declined to answer questions about the investigation or Bales.
“While the City does not comment on specific personnel matters, the findings led City Management to take appropriate corrective and preventative measures, including structural changes to strengthen oversight and accountability,” Director of External Affairs and Senior Counsel Sebastian Torres emailed the NKyTribune in response to a request for comment.
“Since those changes, Public Works Director Keith Bales was shifted into a newly created role focused on strategic infrastructure initiatives, allowing the City to leverage his experience.”
Postscript
This story appeared online late in the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2026. Its publication followed the receipt earlier that day of a memorandum not included in the city’s original response to an Open Records Act request.
“As we discussed on the phone earlier, please see the attached supplemental document production in response to the open records request that you submitted to the City of Covington on February 11, 2026,” Covington City Solicitor Frank Schultz wrote in the email transmitting the memo.
The story originally included quotations from the memo, which was described as a reprimand to the public works director. Soon after the story appeared, Covington city officials requested a correction. Covington Communications Manager Dan Wohler wrote:
In response to open records requests seeking documents related to allegations of fraudulent time entries within the Public Works Department, the City discovered a draft disciplinary letter related to a Director. Believing the document to be a final version, the document was produced as a supplemental production pursuant to the underlying requests. Unfortunately, City personnel later determined that the document was, in fact, a draft that was never provided to the Director. The City greatly regrets the confusion that this production may have caused.
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