IOWA CITY — In addition to the $943,635 a former University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy machine shop manager diverted from the campus’ pocketbook to his own, according to a recent state audit, the university paid him and two other involved employees nearly $473,250 while they were on leave pending the lengthy investigation — bringing the total UI hit to about $1.4 million.
Much of that leave pay went to Brian Busch, who started as a UI machine shop manager for the Physics and Astronomy Department in August 2016 and was placed on leave nearly three years ago, on Sept. 17, 2021, when questions about his work using university equipment emerged.
Even as State Auditor Rob Sand’s team uncovered evidence Busch for years used UI equipment and facilities to do work for his own competing business, diverting nearly $1 million from the UI, he continued collecting his $83,153 annual salary for nearly three years while on leave — until his firing Aug. 28.
Spencer Kuhl, director of operations for the university’s Protostudios, which worked with the machine shop, also was fired Aug. 28 for his ongoing work with Busch — having been placed on paid leave July 6, 2023, earning an annual salary of $87,641 during that time.
And William Crile, a UI engineering coordinator, was put on paid leave for his role in the alleged wrongdoing from Sept. 29, 2021, until he left the university July 17, 2023 — earning $67,570 a year over that span.
When asked why the employees were on paid leave so long, UI officials told The Gazette most of the records they needed to reach any conclusion on alleged wrongdoing were “in the hands of third parties” or not available to the university.
“The State Auditor’s Office has subpoena power in order to access to these types of records, which is valuable in these investigations,” UI officials said.
When asked about its investigative timeline, State Auditor Rob Sand said the 304-page report “took a little bit longer than usual to put together.”
“I will also add to that we have been working on the timeline of federal prosecutors, and that's often slower because they have a longer statute of limitations that they have to work with,” Sand told reporters, clarifying Iowa’s statute of limitations for the wrongdoing he found is three years, setting a deadline of the end of this year to file any local charges.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said her office is reviewing the report, but no charges had been filed as of Monday.
The federal statute of limitations for the wrongdoing Sand uncovered is five years.
“We reached a point where we felt we simply needed to release this report to make sure that there was legal action taken at some level, whether state or federal,” Sand said.
‘Safe and secure workplace’
Since 2021, the university has paid nearly $1.2 million in administrative leave to 85 staff members — nearly 40 percent of which went to Busch, Kuhl and Crile. The median days in leave for those 85 employees is 26.
Not all employees on placed on paid leave are being disciplined or investigated for wrongdoing, UI officials told The Gazette.
“Paid administrative leave is primarily used by the university to ensure the safety and security of the workplace,” officials said. “To ensure a safe and secure workplace, the university is proactive in circ*mstances where concerns have been identified and relies on administrative leave to provide time to consult health care professionals and campus safety. Once the safety concerns have been addressed, many employees return to their positions.”
The UI currently has three employees on paid administrative leave. UI officials didn’t provide details about why or in what departments those employees work.
“Most university employees are subject to university policies that require the university to establish ‘just cause’ if it imposes disciplinary action — like an unpaid suspension or termination,” officials told The Gazette. “If the university terminates or otherwise disciplines an employee without evidence that meets the ‘just cause’ standard, the discipline may be overturned, and the university would be liable for backpay.”
Putting an employee on paid administrative leave gives the university time to assess the situation and keep its workplace safe “while maintaining neutrality.”
“It is not time bound but rather dependent on the completion of a review or investigation that allows the university to establish cause or be satisfied that the employee can return to the workplace in a safe and secure manner,” officials said.
In response to the state’s investigation of the machine shop work, the university said it is looking into “all potential avenues to recoup wages paid to these individuals during the period of their leave” — although it didn’t provide more detail.
Internal audit
The wrongdoing the state says it uncovered involving Busch first popped onto the UI radar in 2019 when the university flagged suspicious billing practices and ordered Busch repay $3,550 he had collected for his personal business — D3Signtech, or D3T.
Years later, on Aug. 30, 2021, an email exchange between Kuhl and Busch involving questions about billing charges ended up in the department’s accounting inbox — alerting the purchasing team and department administrator of Busch’s potential conflict as owner of a competing company.
Kuhl at that time told department officials that Busch more than three years earlier told him that all his conflict-of-interest information had been completed. But department officials found “no record of this information ever being filed,” and after concluding a department review on Sept. 17, 2021, the UI put Busch on paid leave, having found he “was using university resources for his personal business.”
Department officials at that time requested an internal audit by the Board of Regents Office, which days later contacted the UI Police Department and state auditor, instigating its investigation.
A UI internal audit of the machine shop made public in June 2022 — and shared with the board and UI President Barbara Wilson, among others — did not highlight any findings specific to Busch, although it did note that shop administrators “lack the ability to review information about incoming jobs and jobs in progress, increasing the risk for incorrect billing and potential loss of revenue.”
UI officials last week said following the internal audit, the machine shop updated its job intake and tracking procedures, recording jobs as they are assigned, in-progress, completed or deleted.
“The university continues to review the state audit and will adopt any recommendations not previously addressed in the internal audit,” officials said. “The university also will review its conflict of interest and employment leave of absence practices to determine if new rules or procedures are necessary to mitigate prolonged administrative leaves.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
