He had the blessing of his superiors at City Hall, and was once named employee of the month.
Community leaders involved still give the program high praise.
And while Williams says he has installed more than 2,000 smoke detectors, his records show only about 500 installations. The program's city office still has roughly 325 smoke detectors all left behind when Williams retired last October from his job as an inspector in the Lexington Division of Code Enforcement. He left the day after an investigator hired by the city asked for financial records related to Wake Up Kentucky. The city's investigation was prompted by a series of Herald-Leader articles about the agency, which enforces city housing codes. The articles raised questions about the agency's effectiveness and pointed out that five agency staff members owned rental property themselves, some of which did not meet housing codes.