Hearing request denied (9/1/05)

The Portland Board of Works is supporting Mayor Bruce Hosier’s written reprimand of six workers at the city’s wastewater treatment plant — including the superintendent — for “insubordination” related to not attending the calling and/or funeral services in July for clerk-treasurer Barbara Blackford.

The board of works, which includes current clerk Linda Kennedy, Bob McCreery and Hosier, voted this morning to deny a request by five of the city employees to conduct a grievance hearing.

“As far as the board is concerned the matter is concluded,” Hosier said this morning.

Bob Brelsford, superintendent of the city’s wastewater treatment department, said after today’s vote the issue may not be dead. He said that he and the other four employees involved are currently checking into options for further action.

And an official from the Indiana State Board of Accounts said today that the agency will look into the matter during the city’s next regularly scheduled audit because of questions over what amounted to paying city workers to attend private services.

Written reprimands of the six employees were ordered by Hosier, who in a July 21 memo to all city department heads stated that attendance at both the calling and funeral services for Blackford was “mandatory.”

Five of the six city employees had requested a grievance hearing; the one who did not was a part-time worker who has since returned to school.

Following a 30-minute executive session which included only the three board members, city attorney Bill Hinkle and recording secretary Tina Paxson, the board said no grievance hearing would be held.

“A grievance hearing is not warranted, and I support the mayor in his action,” Kennedy said in making a motion to deny the hearing request.

Brelsford, who also spoke earlier this week to The Commercial Review, said this morning he and the other four full-time employees of the wastewater department are exploring their options for further action.

Told the board had voted to deny the grievance hearing, Brelsford said he was not surprised. He and the four other workers had believed they would be allowed to speak at this morning’s executive session. Brelsford said he was stopped at the back door of the city building and told the group would not be allowed into the executive session.

Other employees of the wastewater department who were reprimanded were Dave McGraw, Dean Chapman, Crystal Chapman and Lisa Heddington.

Hosier said before this morning’s board of works meeting that “I think I acted appropriately and that my request was not unfair or unreasonable and that it should have been followed.”

Hosier said that out of nearly 70 city employees, approximately 65 obeyed the directive to attend both the calling and funeral service.

“It was just a strange coincidence that was the only department that complained” about the mandatory attendance, McCreery said this morning as he left city hall.

An official with the Indiana State Board of Accounts, the entity that audits the books of governmental units in Indiana, said this morning the situation will be checked thoroughly during the city’s next scheduled audit.

“We’re not aware of any law which would allow the mayor, or any other elected official, to mandate attendance at a viewing or a funeral,” said Paul Joyce, deputy state examiner for the board of accounts.

“During the audit we will review the situation in more detail, and may write an audit result and comment pertaining to the facts as they are presented at that time.”

Possible actions in that audit include a review of the city’s personnel manual and attendance records for the employees involved.

Brelsford, who was appointed superintendent of the wastewater department by Hosier when the mayor took office Jan. 1, 2004, is among those who were written up because he refused to reprimand five of his employees who did not attend the calling for Blackford on July 22 or the funeral on July 23.

“I stuck my neck out on a line, and I told the mayor that it wasn’t right from the word go, and I’m going to stand on my convictions,” Brelsford said Tuesday.

The 10-year veteran city worker, who attended the calling and services for Blackford, said he was told by the mayor two weeks after the funeral to issue a written reprimand to the employees in his offices who did not attend.

Brelsford, who can be removed as a department head at any time by the mayor, said he knows he could be putting his job on the line by making this stand.

“It wasn’t tough at all because I just didn’t think it was right ... I’m not the only one that feels that way, but I was the only one that spoke up,” Brelsford said. “I don’t try to make anything against the family (of Blackford). That was not the intent at all. I would have went anyhow. But like I say, I believe that was a person’s choice.”

Brelsford said that making attendance mandatory “took any personal touch out of it you could possibly have.”

Three of the seven workers at the wastewater treatment plant did not attend either the calling or the funeral service. Two others attended the calling but not the service on Saturday.

The memo sent by Hosier the day before the calling stated that all city employees were to meet at city hall at 5 p.m. and would walk the one block to Baird-Freeman Funeral Home. On Saturday, city employees were to meet at 9:30 a.m. at Asbury United Methodist Church, the site of the services for Blackford.

City workers were apparently told to take the afternoon off on July 22 to compensate for the time they would spend at the calling and funeral, but Brelsford said he didn’t know about the change in hours that day until he talked to street and parks superintendent Jeff Harker at about 10:45 a.m. on July 22.

“It must have been by word of mouth, and the word didn’t get here,” Brelsford said. He said that if his employees had been told the afternoon off was in exchange for the time spent at the calling and services, they “probably would have stayed at work.”[[In-content Ad]]