Records released Thursday show that Byron Bishop, the former equal opportunities division manager of Madison’s Department of Civil Rights, was allowed to retire after his most recent violations of city policy, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
According to an Aug. 6 memo to Bishop from Deputy Mayor Linda Vakunta with the subject line “termination of employment,” Bishop was formally disciplined six times going back to March 2022. He had been a city employee since 2016.
The memo notes that chief among Bishop’s failures was an unwillingness to regularly read his email. In his most recent disciplinary case, he was found to have violated three city of Madison policies — failing to get a vendor’s bill paid, failing to properly provide notice of a meeting under the state’s open meetings law, improperly authorizing higher pay for an intern and failing to include his boss in a human resources meeting.
Bishop’s last day was Aug. 6, city spokesperson Dylan Brogan said, and under the terms of his departure, Bishop will receive the remainder of his $134,158.96 annual salary through the end of 2025.
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