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Police have confirmed they are investigating potential financial improprieties by a former Roseville Electric employee.

The Roseville Police Department last week said detectives never shut the investigation, which was opened in 2006 to determine whether the former supervisor broke the law when he allegedly gave city contracts to poorly qualified family and friends.

A Press Tribune report last Wednesday included information from Roseville Finance Director Russ Branson stating that police investigated in 2006 and opted not to press charges.

On Monday, Branson said he wasn’t up on the latest in the investigation and was simply mistaken.

“I just incorrectly assumed that it was closed,” he said. “It wasn’t something I should have spoken to.”

Police Spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther said in response to a Public Records Act request that the case is still an “active investigation” and that detectives are investigating at least 10 years of city records.

The suspected improprieties were discovered in 2006 after an anonymous source tipped off city officials. The employee was fired, according to a report by Maze & Associates, the city’s auditing firm.

An investigation put the “fiscal impact” at “less than $400,000,” according to Maze documents. Officials declined to release the former employee’s name.

A follow-up probe found significant breakdowns in the city’s purchasing and vendor-oversight procedures, but officials say those problems have been fixed.

Former City Councilman Richard Roccucci, who served on the council when the issue came to city officials’ attention, said this week he was caught off guard by the revelations. He said he can’t recall council members ever having been briefed about the incident.

“If it’s a couple of bucks it doesn’t matter, but something of this magnituede should be brought to the City Council’s attention,” he said.

Roccucci said after going through old records that it appears some limited information on the incident did appear in council packets at the time.

“But we didn’t actually have the original report in there,” he said. “It should be red-flagged starting wth the city manager on down,” he said.

Craig Robinson, the city manager at the time, was forced out earlier this month by the city council, with members citing communication problems.

Roseville Electric's own chief, Tom Habashi, recently announced his retirement.

Roccucci, whose wife Pauline is the mayor pro-tem, said he planned to advise current council members that important items can sometimes get lost in the shuffle of voluminous council packets.

“Even audit reports should be perused for important information,” he said.