TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor's note: The above video about the auditor's suspension originally aired Nov. 1.
Boxes filled with city of Toledo tax documents containing personal information of residents were left in an unsecured area inside One Government Center for more than a month earlier this year.
According to documents obtained by WTOL 11, suspended City Auditor Jake Jaksetic discovered the issue on June 9 and emailed City Councilman George Sarantou and Councilwoman Katie Moline the next day.
Jaksetic said in his message that he observed a taxation staff member relocating a "great number" of boxes to a storage room in the government building. On June 10, he tested the door with his key and gained entry to the room.
"I have no way of knowing how many individuals would have a key that would unlock that door, but the documents are clearly not secured," Jaksetic said in the email. "Considering the nature of the documents, a proper control would be one whereby only the commissioner of taxation has a key to a location such as this. Both of you are well aware of the personal information contained on these documents, and I need not educate either of you on the dangers of identity theft."
Acting City Finance Director Melanie Campbell sent an email to several people on June 13, including Jaksetic, Moline and Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. Campbell explained the documents were being moved to "accommodate office space needs" for the department of diversity and inclusion. She also said the locks would be changed by the end of that day.
Also on June 13, Moline sent an email to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz outlining her concerns.
"Attached is a letter to alert you of an extreme internal control and security failure whereby the City of Toledo is storing sensitive tax documentation in a location where many employees may have access," she wrote. "This needs to be addressed immediately. If my letter is ignored and not a single action is taken by the close of business tomorrow, I feel it is my responsibility to go to the public with this information. The taxpayers of Toledo deserve no less when dealing with their most personal and identifying information."
Despite Campbell's assurances, Moline discovered the issue had not been resolved more than a month later.
On July 14, Moline sent another email to Kapszukiewicz, and copied Campbell, Jaksetic and others. She said as of that afternoon, the lock on the door was still accessible by a key city council possessed, as well as other city employees.
"To say I am disappointed is an incredible understatement," Moline wrote. "I cannot understand why I was misled into believing action was taking place. With a matter of this enormity and its ramification on our municipality, I trusted the solution would take place, especially if one of your executives said it took place."
Emails show the tax storage room was "re-keyed" on July 15. Kapszukiewicz appeared to downplay the incident in an email response to Campbell dated July 19.
"Thanks for getting to the bottom of this," he wrote. "It's good to know what happened last week wasn't really a breach, but rather an example of someone having & using a master key he should not have had. I'm glad you went the additional - though unnecessary - step of having the tax storage room re-keyed last Friday."
That same day, the mayor also offered to speak to Police Chief George Kral about filing a police report, seemingly to report Jaksetic for entering the room.
Moline spoke to WTOL 11 on Monday and said she believes the lock was re-keyed and those on council who once had access to the room can no longer gain entry. She has tried multiple times to find out what information, if any, was compromised, but has not received answers.
"I outlined many tasks that the administration needed to take immediately to ensure that no taxpayer identification, security, Social Security numbers, or financial information is compromised," Moline said. "And in that, I have not received a positive or negative response as to what actions have been taken. I do plan to bring these up in a committee hearing where we will specifically look into why we are re-keying all of the locks to One Government Center at the moment."
The mayor's office recently asked council for legislation to tighten security, seeking about $50,000 to re-key city offices inside One Government Center. The legislation was moved to the finance and oversight committee on Nov. 9 for additional consideration.
On Monday, the city spokeswoman Gretchen DeBacker issued a statement blaming Jaksetic for the situation.
"The tax documents in question were stored securely in a locked room," she said. "They were never unsecured. There was never a breach or a risk to tax payer information. Ever.
"The alleged breach in question occurred when the city auditor went into the locked office in which the documents were stored, an office he does not work in and should have no access to. His entry into the locked office is the very break he complained about."
City council voted on Nov. 1 to suspend Jaksetic for 30 days. A specific reason was not given, but Kapszukiewicz has been critical of Jaksetic's work performance, repeatedly saying Jaksetic has never completed an audit since being hired in 2014. Shortly before his suspension, Jaksetic released a public statement saying the administration was retaliating against him for blowing the whistle on issues with city-funded projects.
WTOL 11 submitted a public records request specifically asking the city for any audits Jaksetic has conducted. The city sent us eight separate files in return.
After publishing the information, Kapszukiewicz claimed those files were not audits and instead called them "financial reviews." The mayor and a city spokeswoman have also made references to Jaksetic making city employees feel unsafe, but have not provided any evidence to support those claims.
A review of Jaksetic's personnel file did not reveal any allegations of making people feel unsafe. The file did include emails from city officials and contractors complaining about Jaksetic showing up at job sites and questioning city-funded projects, including the installation of new city water meters.
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