The city councilman who led the investigation into Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's attempt to evict the Richmond school system administration from City Hall said yesterday that the move wasted nearly $1 million in taxpayer money.

Councilman Chris A. Hilbert acknowledged that the investigation failed to answer several key questions, including who planned the eviction and authorized paying for it in violation of a city ordinance. Committee members said they couldn't figure that out from the information provided to them by Wilder's staff.

"Whenever there's an unanswered question, you're disappointed," Hilbert said. "The more important question is, have the people been given answers to which they're entitled?

"As a committee, we feel it's important for people to know almost $1 million of their money has been wasted."

In its report, the committee found it "particularly noteworthy" that no copies of e-mails were received for the period from Sept. 6 through Sept. 21 -- the two weeks leading to the eviction. The report says records provided by the administration include copies of spreadsheets of vendor expenses and labor costs, as well as contracts, purchase orders, invoices, e-mails and other correspondence.

The report makes no recommendation on whether the City Council should seek additional information from the Wilder administration or pursue disciplinary or legal action. Council members received the report yesterday but deferred discussion until Monday.

In an interview, Hilbert said he personally isn't ruling out referring the report to a special prosecutor through the commonwealth's attorney's office, but he also said he isn't interested in driving up the costs while delivering only partial answers.

"I think the people of Richmond are sick and tired of looking at the paper and seeing their money wasted. I know I am," he said.

Council President William J. Pantele said he plans to formally send the report to Wilder and senior administration officials, asking for the matters identified in the report to be rectified "within a set period of time."

"Where it goes from there really depends on the response," he added, "and I don't want to speculate on that right now."

The attempted eviction Sept. 21 is about more than whether the city schools administration should continue to occupy the 12th through 17th floors of City Hall. It has become a touchstone on the limits of power extended to the mayor under Richmond's new elected-mayor form of government.

The report identifies at least $974,778 in expenses directly or indirectly related to the eviction, which was halted by Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer. Wilder is appealing to the Virginia Supreme Court.

The costs include $404,206 in vendor payments and $320,833 for the lease of office space at 3600 W. Broad St., as well as smaller amounts for personnel and legal costs.

The report finds that: