Former conservation chief still paid months after departure

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Payroll records show Missouri's former conservation chief still is getting paychecks, although he left the job more than seven months ago.

Records show Robert Ziehmer already has received more than $87,000 from the state for doing no work.

He gets an additional $5,800 every two weeks as payouts the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said were not disclosed when he departed in July after nearly three decades at the agency.

Ziehmer was paid $140,000 a year to oversee a staff of 1,450 full-time and 500 hourly employees.

The newspaper said documents show the payouts to Ziehmer are the result of a separation-and-release agreement between Ziehmer and the Missouri Conservation Commission, which oversees the Missouri Department of Conservation.