Two new members of the Crossville
personnel board took their seats at a meeting called to handle the
appeal of a grievance filed by Crossville Police Lt. Brian Eckleson.
The two new members, former city
councilman Pete Souza and former city employee Larry Dyer were both
elected by city employees. In addition to the two members elected by
the employees, the personnel board includes two members are appointed
by city council and one by the city manager. Other members of the
personnel board at the April meeting included Beth Davis, chair and
Tom Isham. Member Lou Morrison was absent.
The board voted to recommend that the
new city manager Greg Wood review the investigation. Wood released a
memo on his review that upheld the decisions of interim city manager
Lee Lawson putting the ball back in Eckleson's hands for a possible
return to the personnel board to appeal Wood's action.
City manager Greg Wood's memo
Lieutenant Brian Eckleson
Members of the personnel board and attendees
at the meeting
Mr. Souza had a statement to make at
the start of the meeting saying that he had been told that the
personnel board was only advisory in nature. Souza added, “That
verbiage diminishes our standing. Were here to bring the conscience
to the city, of what is right and what is not right. After that it
is up to the city manager or the court system to take whatever action
seems necessary.” Souza concluded, “We can recommend, but it's
up to them to execute the corrective action necessary.”
The meeting got underway with Lt.
Eckleson describing the incident that led to the grievance and action
taken by interim city manager Lee Lawson in response to Eckleson's
grievance. The appeal to the Personnel Board is over the action of
Mr. Lawson.
According to Eclkeson's statement, the
harassment was related to his race, national origin and association
with the Jewish religion and the investigation of that complaint by
Mr. Lawson. Eckleson said he felt he couldn't address the issue of
the investigation without describing the original incident.
The original incident took place in a
professional promotion interview with then newly rehired police chief
David Beaty. “It was one of the most unprofessional interviews
I've had while sitting on a promotion interview,” stated Eckleson.
According to Eckleson, chief Beaty said his birthday was on April 20
and asked if Lt. Ecklson knew the significance of that date?
Eckleson continued, “He smiled and said he shared his birthday with
Adolph Hitler. He continued to tell me that he should shave off part
of his mustache to look more like (Hitler.)”
Ecklseson related that he did not
remember much f the interview after that. He added that according to
human resources director Leah Crockett he was the only one such a
statement was made to and he said he was the only member of the
department with a Jewish background.
After the harassment complaint was
filed, Lt. Eckleson was interviewed by both HR director Crockett and
interim manager Lawson. According to Eckleson, at that time Lawson
stated to him he was “shocked and appalled those comments were
made.” Eckleson said he asked about Beaty's supervision during his
probationary period but said he got no answer as to whether Beaty was
under the city's mandatory 6 to 12 month probationary period.
Lawson's response to the complaint
stated that he was no longer shocked and appalled, but felt the
comment might be intimidating or even benign. The letter continued
that no derogatory remarks were made about Lt. Eckleson or any ethnic
or religious group.
In addition, Eckleson said that the HR
director no longer remembered what Beaty said exactly. Lawson
offered to take back the letter and let the new city manager Greg
Wood take over the investigation. After the new city manager started
work he declined to reopen the already concluded investigation.
Additional actions taken by Beaty
toward Eckleson include lack of inclusion in staff meetings, no
interaction with the chief without going through chain of command
though others do not have the same requirement. Eckleson also said
Beaty had institued a non-paid hour lunch break though offices are
required to remain on-call. Eckleson said that action appeared to be
in violation of the state's labor law. Eckleson concluded that some
of those actions could be considered retaliation.
Mr Lawson's response in the hearing
said that he began an immediate investigation into the matter and
spoke to all three who were present and the descriptions given where
different or not completely recalled. Said Lawson, “Based on the
information and evidence available to me at the time, it was my
opinion that no version of the statement targeted Lt. Eckleson.”
Lawson added that he reviewed chief Beaty's personnel file and found
no evidence of similar conduct.
Chief Beaty said that the matter came
up during one of the questions they used in the interviews and
stemmed from an earlier conversation about a training Lt. Eckleson
showed Beaty on his computer. In reference to a school shooting
Beaty referenced Columbine, national pot day on April 20. The date
was also Hitler's and Beaty's birthdays and Beaty said he commented
that he was not going to shave his mustache like that. “That was
the gist of the conversation,” Beaty explained.
Questions from Mr. Souza sought
clarification from Beaty who said he didn't believe Eckleson was
lying but that Beaty disagreed with his account of the interview.
Souza said he had not spoken to anyone
involved in the complaint before the meeting but did say he had calls
from three officers that he did not solicit and only listened to the
comments that expressed concern over possible anger and retribution.
“That's not an accusation,” added Souza.
Souza asked Ms. Crockett about the
number of people on the panel and she said when the city was
interviewing new police hires there were 6 on the panel. Souza
expressed concern about the small number involved in the promotion
interviews. Crockett admitted that there were no scores on the
ranking list of candidates and that there should have been as part of
the personnel procedure.
After some discussion on possible
action, Mr Souza commented before offering a motion. “Lt.
Eckleson's complaint has merit,” said Souza, “because part of
this conversation never should have occurred. I've not found any
evidence of malice but it can be construed as malice because of
sensitivity.” Souza also said that he did not blame Lee Lawson for
any gaps in his investigation as he had his hands full with running
the city.
Souza moved saying, “There is
sufficient merit in Lt. Eckleson's complaint to warrant the current
city manager to re-investigate the situation.” Souza also sought
to have the city manager look into the pay question on unpaid but on
call lunch and procedures for filling vacant positions. No member
supported Souza's motion and the motion of member Tom Isham to have
the new city manager review the matter received a second from Larry
Dyer. Souza said that Isham's motion was good enough and the matter
was approved by voice vote of the 4 members of the board who were
present.
