The Crossville personnel board spent 2
hours reviewing the grievance complaint filed by Crossville parks and
recreation director Tammie French against interim city manager Steve
Hill but was unable to agree on much relief to the complainant due to
the technicality of the timing of the complaint.
Some of the information released as
part of the evidence angered one member of the panel and the
communications between some of the city employees that used the
city's internal messaging system called IPswitch were described by
that member as “unprofessional.”
Tammie French began by describing her
grievance and said it was not acceptable to her that Mr. Hill had
made no attempt to address and resolve the issues I listed and those
that have continued since I filed the grievance.
French continued, “Hill's actions are
directed at me and not a move toward what's really best for the
recreation department. There is a distinct pattern of Steve making
decisions in regard to parks and recreation and without including me
in discussions and decision making process. Its obvious to me that
he has no respect for the fact that I am now the recreation
director.”
Crossville Personnel Board, city staff and observers listen to
discussion on Tammie French employee Grievance
After the grievance was filed, French
requested copies of communications between her administrative
assistant, city marketing director Bill Loggins and Steve Hill.
Those communications revealed things that French said she was not
aware of before her request was made. French explained, “Recently
things have come to light that show Hill has enlisted other
employees, both inside and outside the recreation department to help
create an environment of turmoil that he knows I cannot function in.
His improper and secretive line of communications has created a
specific and strong divide among the staff. In my opinion, Steve's
actions are detrimental to the future of the recreation department
and I hope that somehow we can find resolution.”
Crossville director of Parks and Recreation Tammie French
French then passed out a number of
pages of printouts of the internal messages that she received through
making a public records request. The messages were reviewed for some
time by the four members of the personnel board who were present.
They included chairperson Beth Davis, John Eldridge, Lou Morrison and
Tom Isham. Brooks Boston was unable to attend.
French explained that the documents she
provided established a line of communication detrimental to her
mostly between Amy Hester and Billy Loggins and Steve Hill. She said
she felt Steve Hill was attempting to get inside information rather
then coming to her with questions and problems. French said there
were many derogatory comments made about her and other staff members.
French told the board she also had requested emails between the
parties and there was more similar information there but she did not
want to over burden the board.
French explained that in mid summer she
spoke to Mr. Hill about the volume of work that Amy Hester was doing
for Billy Loggins. She said she told Hill the work was creating a
problem. French said she went
back and talked to Mrs. Hester about the situation, that future
requests from Mr. Loggins should be run through French first, as Mrs.
Hester did a huge amount of computer work for him. Said
French, “She did not do that but the work continued.”
French said she went to Mr. Hill on
January 4, 2017 to terminate Mrs. Hester but he rejected that.
French said she was instructed to write Hester up but she has not
been able to do that as Hester has been out sick since then.
“In my opinion,” said French,
“Steve does not recognize me as the director of the department. In
so many things he has made decisions where I have not even been
consulted in advance.
Members of the board and city attorney
Will Ridley discussed their responsibility and the grievance
procedure including a report from the Municipal Technical Advisory
Service (MTAS) that says while some of French's complaints were
qualifying grievances at some point, the complaints were not timely
filed with in the 20 days the grievance procedure calls for. Other
issues were “outside the scope of the grievance policy and should
be reconciled at the operational/budgetary/managerial levels.”
Mr. Hill was given a chance to respond.
Hill began by saying he had not read all the interoffice messages
yet but agreed that if Mrs.
French said there was a problem then he felt it was a problem.
Hill told the board the procedure was to write up an employee three
times before termination. Hill said the other complaints had been
sent to MTAS and he agreed with them that they are not really
grievances.
Interim city manager Steve Hill
Hill said he had gotten complaints on
the parks department that had 5 full-time people and there was
downtime during the winter. Hill continued saying that no policies
were violated and he stands behind all the decisions he's made.
Board member Lou Morrison expressed
surprise that an interim city manager would be dismantling
departments. Morrison indicated the stack of messages he'd read and
said to Hill, “I'm offended by these. I think its unprofessional
of you and Billy Loggins and Amy Hester.”
Hill replied, “It probably is.”
Morrison said he was offended that Mrs.
French's attendance at a family funeral was
used as fodder for a joke, and
was wrong. Morrison asked Hill, based on the procedure he quoted, an
employee could undermine a department head and and all that could be
done is to write them up? Hill responded that there were offenses
that an employee could be fired immediately for and one example Hill
gave was an employee being arrested.
Human Resources manager Leah Crockett
read a statement concerning employment with the city stating that the
city was an “at will” employer and that an employee could be
fired at anytime with or without notice.
Mr. Morrison again took Hill to task
over making a decision on French's request to fire Mrs. Hester
without having reviewed all the documentation he was given. Morrison
asked Hill if he would tolerate a subordinate treating him the way
Hester had treated French. Hill said after he has read all the
information he could give a better answer. Hill stated that Hester
has also filed a grievance against French. Morrison responded to
Hill, “you better read this!”
Morrison again returned to the messages
saying he couldn't believe that Hill and one of his department heads
would actively undermine another department head and enlist a
subordinate to do so. “There seems to be something here,” added
Morrison, “if everybody's always looking over their shoulder, its
just not an effective way of leadership.”
Returning to Mrs Hester's employment,
Morrison said to Hill, “In the businesses I've been involved with,
she should have been fired on the spot. You should have been reading
this (messages) and you should have done something about it. And Mr.
Loggins, he is about as unprofessional as they come and that is
something that needs to be addressed.”
The board discussed the need for smooth
operation of the city and the recreation department because it
attracts tourism dollars. Beth Davis said she was concerned about
the situation as a taxpayer.
The personnel board members struggled
with what they could do and what they should do about the complaint
in light of the MTAS and city attorney's advice. They considered
recessing the meeting to reconvene after members consider the matter
further but finally one motion came from member Tom Isham to follow
the recommendation of MTAS on the grievances before the board but the
motion failed in a tie vote with Isham and John Eldridge supporting
and Davis and Morrison opposed.
After additional discussion another
motion was considered that the grievances are not timely filed but
the board recommended that there be better communication between the
city manager and city department heads. The motion was approved
unanimously.
