State utilities worker stripped of title after audit

RALEIGH - The information technology director for the state Utilities Commission was stripped of his title this week after a state audit found he moonlighted on state time using state resources.

The auditor's report says Richard Costello, who worked for the commission's public staff, had permission to spend 4 hours a week teaching at a local college. However, the audit said he taught two to five classes per semester over the past two years at three schools: Peace College, Wake Technical Community College and Capella University, an online university.

The courses were primarily in the evenings and weekends, but some were scheduled during the day, said the report from state Auditor Les Merritt.

The audit found 8,337 e-mail messages over six years on Costello's computer related to the second jobs. Another 941 messages on the machine related to "student petitions," according to the report.

The audit found Costello's e-mail messages and class schedules "suggest a considerable amount of time was devoted to secondary employment during normal work hours."

Costello will be required to provide "weekly, daily and hourly documentation" about his schedule and tasks, said Robert Gruber, director of the Public Staff.

Costello declined to comment.