By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- City Council candidates had varying takes on the police overtime scandal.

Ward 1 candidate Donald Hughes said the city's Audit Services Oversight Committee -- chaired for now by Ward 1 incumbent Cora Cole-McFadden, and which includes Mayor Bill Bell and Ward 2 incumbent Howard Clement -- should be more active in ensuring that controls are "in place to ensure that this is not happening in other department across the city."

Bell noted that auditors did in fact check overtime claims in fiscal 2007-08 and found few problems. The June 30, 2008, cutoff of that study appears to have precluded it spotting Officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor's overtime claims.

Ward 2 challenger Sylvester Williams was sorry to see the city lose Deputy Chief Beverly "B.J." Council. He said she'd "never been one to distance herself from the community." By contrast, Lopez "has not been as forthcoming as I believe he should be ... as far as dealing with the issues and complaints" residents in east Durham have had.

Williams also said he thought "because we are not paying our police officers enough we had an employee trying to compensate for underpayment."

Durham police have complained their pay lags that of other department in the area. Robinson-Taylor's base salary as of May 13 was $51,220 a year. She received $62,583 in overtime over the past year or so.

Ward 2 challenger Matt Drew said he thought city officials should push for a criminal prosecution. Ward 3 challenger Allen Polak said he thought the administration had handled the matter properly and added that he hopes it's an isolated case.

Another Ward 2 challenger, Darius Little, said the situation "shows we need to enforce accountability a bit more," to make sure there isn't "a casual atmosphere at the high level" about such problems.

Ward 1 challenger John Tarantino and Ward 2 challenger Sandra Howell couldn't be reached for comment.

Cole-McFadden and Councilwoman Diane Catotti also couldn't be reached. Clement declined comment. "I defer to the manager," he said. "We speak with one voice."