Birmingham, AL – Acting Birmingham Mayor Carole Smitherman has made another big personnel change by firing Deborah Vance-Bowie as chief of staff.
Smithernman, who took office last week upon the conviction of Mayor Larry Langford on federal corruption charges, says Vance-Bowie holds substantial responsibility for a nearly $21 million shortfall in the city's budget.
Vance-Bowie says she's the one who uncovered the problems.
On Monday, Smitherman announced the resignation of finance director Steve Sayler.
Smitherman says Sayler told her that Langford and Vance-Bowie knew about the budget issues as early as June.
Vance-Bowie agreed she knew something was wrong with the budget months ago, but she said she did not know the extent of the problems until Oct. 15.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)