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ST. LOUIS — Three weeks after Comptroller Darlene Green left office in April, one of her former employees had a question.

Seria Brown sent an email to other city workers, wanting to know how to close out Green’s employment and then initiate her pension payments.

“I need guidance on how all this plays together and what needs to be done,� Brown wrote in an email dated May 5.

That message from Brown to the city’s personnel department would start a series of back-and-forth emails about Green’s pay and her separate pension payments.

Those emails among the two offices, obtained by the Post-Dispatch through a public records request, reveal how decisions were made to ensure Green was compensated.

They also provide a glimpse into why Green was issued two payroll checks for July, each for about $6,500 in gross pay. She also received her first monthly pension payment, $3,751, at the end of July. The objective was to find a way to compensate Green for benefits she may have been owed from decades ago, according to the emails and public statements.

“All indications are that this was a mistake that led to bigger mistakes,� John Unnerstall, the city’s acting personnel director, said Tuesday.

But the current comptroller, Donna Baringer, who defeated Green in the April election, says she’s not willing to write off the matter as simply a series of mistakes.

“This is awful,� Baringer said. “Had they sought legal advice, had they been more open and transparent about what they were doing, they would’ve known� they were mishandling the matter.

The first paycheck was issued on July 16 and the second one on Aug. 1 — one day after Green received her first pension payment. The payroll checks were not immediately cashed and remained in the budget department. They have since been voided.

Green has said she was unaware paychecks were being issued in her name. She said the problem may have stemmed from difficulties she was having in getting her pension payments started.

Unnerstall declined several times to be interviewed and has not issued a statement.

His comment about the Green payments being “mistakes� was made at a meeting Tuesday of the Civil Service Commission.

At the meeting, Unnerstall called the situation “very unique,� saying errors apparently were made while trying to pay Green for benefits from her time as budget director more than 30 years ago.

Green’s City Hall career began in the budget department before she was appointed comptroller in late 1995, replacing Virvus Jones after he pleaded guilty to felony fraud charges.

In 1997, Green ran for the office and won. She went on to be re-elected six times before losing in April to Baringer, a former alderman and state legislator.

Green left office April 15, the day Baringer was sworn in.

The series of emails show that the personnel department claimed Green needed to be restored to her prior budget director’s position before the city could begin processing her retirement paperwork. That move put Green on the payroll, at least temporarily, with a projected annual salary of $168,000 — about $11,000 more than the current budget director, Paul Payne, makes.

Payne said he was not aware Green was added to his department’s payroll and that he only found out after she was issued a paycheck last month.

Baringer said she was concerned the personnel department was trying to get Green reimbursed for past vacation and sick leave.

“You don’t do that through payroll checks, and the two checks (issued recently in Green’s name) were payroll checks,� she said.

‘Figuring it out’

The email Brown sent on May 5 seeking personnel department help was addressed to Unnerstall, the director; Biannca Lambert, the information systems manager and custodian of records; and Becky Pierce, of the city’s Employees Retirement System.

On May 6, Lambert advised that Green needed to be entered back in city records as an active employee.

“We need to submit a change assignment action of return from in-service leave back to (Green’s 1995) position as the Budget Director. Then we can proceed with submitting her retirement,� Lambert told Brown.

Lambert did not explain in the message why Green needed to be back on the payroll, in a position she hadn’t held in 30 years, to move forward with her retirement.

Included on Lambert’s responding email are two comptroller employees: Chana Morton, Green’s former executive assistant; and Judy Armstrong, a fiscal operations manager who recently retired.

Brown, still unclear as to who makes such a change in the records, again asked for help. Lambert advised Brown that she could go online to make the changes, and then offered to meet with her through Zoom to help.

Later that month, May 19, Pierce checked back with Brown to obtain documentation to begin processing Green’s pension. Brown told Pierce that the personnel department “is figuring it out.�

Then, in an email sent May 27, Armstrong of the comptroller’s office confirmed that Green was indeed returned to Civil Service status.

Armstrong went on to say that Green contended she should be allowed to use medical leave and not be docked any pay for the period between leaving the comptroller’s office and her official retirement date of July 1.

On May 29, personnel director Unnerstall responded to Armstrong, telling her, “I have asked Biannca (Lambert) to follow up with you on this matter today.�

Lambert has been out of the office and unavailable for comment, a department spokesman told the Post-Dispatch.

Baringer, the current comptroller, said it was improper to allow a person who just left an elected office to return on the payroll in an appointed Civil Service position.

It’s not uncommon for an acting department head, an appointed position, to move down to a lower-ranked appointed job, Baringer said. But that option is not available to elected officials.

Besides, Baringer said, any argument that could be made for returning Green to the budget director’s position “disappeared when she was elected (comptroller) in 1997.�

Also, Baringer said there is no mechanism in city operations for the personnel department to simply add another budget director — especially since the position already is occupied by Payne.

Austin Huguelet of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story.