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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCIV 1992-05-06 Minutes MINUTES FOR TSE MEETING OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COlrII~IISSION MAY 6, 1992 at 6:30 p.m. IN TBE NORTH RICHLAND HILLS COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7301 N.E. LOOP 820 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Jeff Newsom called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Jeff Newsom, Chairman Sally Hackfeld, Commissioner Marie Hinkle, Commissioner Bob Roark, Commissioner Others Present: Linda Cast, Secretary Vicky Craven, Assistant Secretary 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Marie Hinkle made the motion FOR MARCH 11, 1992 to approve the minutes, seconded by Commissioner Bob Roark. Motion carried by unanimous vote. 4. APPEAL HEARING 92-02 The witnesses were sworn in. Appellant Virginia Vermooten was represented by her attorney, David Joffe. Rex McEntire represented the City. Mr. McEntire chose to invoke the rule, and the witnesses left the room. Opening statements were made by Mr. Joffe and Mr. McEntire. Mr. Joffe called Ms. Virginia Vermooten as his first witness. During questioning, she provided her interpretation of the staff ineeting on April 15, 1992, which was addressed by Dennis Horvath, Deputy City Manager. She stated she felt she was not disruptive, and that she was being intimidated by Arlita Hallam. In reference to her meeting with Ms. Hallam on the 17th, Ms. Vermooten states she only refused to answer questions pertaining to her activities away from work, and that she does not feel she was insubordinate. She explained her job with the library, stating her record had no reprimands, and very good evaluations. between Ms. Vermooten and Mr. Horvath, and that she did not hear any other comments, giggles, or talking by Ms. Vermooten, nor did she consider Ms. Vermooten's conduct offensive. When questioned by Mr. McEntire, Ms. Logan stated that after the meeting she stated that she wished Ms. Vermooten had not spoken out. Ms. Logan stated she was aware that Mr. Horvath had written to Ms. Hallam about Ms. Vermooten's rudeness, but was not aware that Ms. Vermooten had written to Mr. Rodger Line, City Manager, about Mr. Horvath. Mr. Joffe called Dolores Womble as his next witness. She has been employed in the Circulation Department for almost 6 years. During the meeting on April 15, Ms. Womble was seated at the end of the table, next to Ms. Vermooten. She stated her interpretation of the comments between Mr. Horvath and Ms. Vermooten. Ms. Womble does not recall what other comments were made by Ms. Vermooten. She does not think Ms. Vermooten's conduct was offensive . Ms . Womble feels that Ms . Vermooten's suspension is meant to serve as an example. Ms. Womble stated she was not reprimanded for any comments made at the meeting. Upon questioning by Mr. McEntire, Ms. Womble stated she understood Barbara Thede and Nancy Shepherd both had reprimands for talking to Mr. Horvath concerning problems at the library. Mr. Joffe rested his case. Mr. McEntire called Mr. Horvath as his first witness. He verified his position as Deputy City Manager for approximately 13 years, and that he is Ms. Hallam's supervisor. Mr. Horvath told about the incident involving the Polk Directory, and the action taken by Ms. Hallam to rectify the situation. He stated he felt all was done that could be done, and the issue should be put to rest. 3 Mr. Horvath stated that the purpose in him meeting with the staff was to relieve the turmoil and dissention over the Polk Directory issue, and move on in a positive manner. Mr. Horvath confirmed that as a result of the meeting, he sent a letter to Ms. Hallam advising that Ms. Vermooten had been giggling, talking, and disrupting the meeting, and suggested she be reprimanded. The letter was prepared on the afternoon of the meeting, but not sent until the next day. During this period, Ms . Vermooten had sent a letter to Mr. Line concerning Mr. Horvath's meeting with the staff. Mr. McEntire presented the letter from Ms. Vermooten as City Exhibit 1. Mr. McEntire submitted the letter from Mr. Horvath to Ms. Hallam as City Exhibit 2. Mr. Horvath stated that he considered Ms. Vermooten's actions during the meeting of April 15th offensive and obnoxious. When Mr. Horvath made his comments during the meeting that the Polk Directory issue was settled, Ms. Vermooten stated it took an attorney to get it taken care of. Mr. Horvath' s response was that there were "a lot of unemployed attorneys out there who would write letters for you". During further talk with the rest of the staff, there was still laughter going on in the back of the room. It continued until Mr. Horvath asked if there was something funny going on in the back of the room. He found out her name when two staff members called him later to apologize. In response to questioning from Mr. Joffe, Mr. Horvath stated that his position in the room was at the head of the table. He confirmed that the one verbal exchange with Ms. Vermooten was the only interchange. He did not ask anyone to stop talking during the meeting. During further questioning, he stated that June Brook, Brenda Lewis, and Mignon Morse had talked to him afterwards 4 regarding the meeting. As questioning continued, Mr. Horvath stated that Ms. Vermooten's behavior was offensive, obnoxious, and poor manners. During questioning from the Commissioners, Mr. Horvath confirmed that he did not know who Ms. Vermooten was until the apologetic phone call and that he did consider her behavior insubordination because of the rudeness. He also confirmed that he had not reprimanded anyone for coming to him to discuss problems in the library. Mr. McEntire called Ms. Morse, the Assistant Director of Public Services, as his next witness. She has been an employee since October, 1990. She stated that she considered the meeting of April 15 an effort to resolve the situation in the library. She stated her seating position during the meeting, and that she did hear laughter, but did not know from whom. Ms. Morse was present during the meeting between Ms. Hallam and Ms. Vermooten. The discussion involved Ms. Hallam asking Ms. Vermooten to stop the dissention and the turmoil that had been going on both in and out of work. Ms. Vermooten refused to answer the question initially, and subsequently said she could not put it behind her. Ms. Vermooten was then given a choice of 3 days without pay, or a week vacation. She immediately chose the 3 days. Mr. McEntire submitted a certified receipt date 4/18/92 as City Exhibit 3. This was the receipt from the letter of suspension dated April 17, 1992 that was mailed to Ms. Vermooten by certified mail. Mr. Joffe confirmed Ms. Morse's seating position during the meeting of April 15, and that she had heard noise from the back of the room. He then questioned her concerning the meeting on the 17th between Ms. Hallam, Ms. Morse, and Ms. 5 Vermooten. Mr. Joffe showed Ms. Morse the letter of 3-day suspension presented to Ms. Vermooten during that meeting, and it was presented as Defense Exhibit 1. A question posed by Commissioner Hackfeld confirmed that the meeting on the 17th lasted approximately 45 minutes. Mr. McEntire called Ms. Hallam, Library Director, as his witness. She has been Director since 1985. Ms. Hallam explained what had happened regarding the Polk Directory, and that some names were printed in it, despite efforts to remove the names. She also stated she wrote a letter of apology to her staff. In reference to the letter given to Ms. Vermooten during the meeting on April 17, Ms. Hallam stated there were 4 decisions that could be reached, and Ms. Hallam had prepared 3 letters for the possible outcome of the meeting. The first option was resignation; second, a week's vacation; third, a 3-day suspension; and fourth, that the incident could be dropped and resume work as normal. Ms. Vermooten chose the option of 3-day suspension. Ms. Hallam also stated that she considered it to be insubordination when Ms. Vermooten refused to put the issue behind them. She felt Ms. Vermooten's conduct towards Mr. Horvath to be offensive. Upon questioning by Mr. Joffe, she agreed she did not have first hand knowledge of the meeting of the 15th because she was not in the meeting. Ms. Hallam confirmed that on the April 17th meeting she asked Ms. Vermooten to stop writing letters and attending meetings, even though it was not on library time. The reason cited was that these items concerned the library, and it took time from Ms. Hallam's schedule to respond to the City Council and City Manager. Ms. Hallam confirmed that she did not ask Ms. Vermooten if she attended any meetings, but Ms. Vermooten admitted to her that she wrote the letters because 6 she had a home computer. Ms. Hallam has not asked any other staff inembers if they attended meetings or wrote letters. The question asked during the meeting on the 17th by Ms. Hallam was if she was willing to stop writing letters, meeting with staff, and keeping the dissention going. The guestion was asked several times and not answered. When she did answer it was to say "not until the problems are resolved". This was the basis for insubordination. Mr. Joffe called June Brook, circulation supervisor, as his next witness. She stated that during the meeting of the 15th, she was seated 3 positions down from Mr. Horvath, on his left. She stated that she heard the comments exchanged between Mr. Horvath and Ms. Vermooten. When asked if she heard any other comments by Ms. Vermooten, Ms. Brook stated she heard sounds from the far end of the table, but could not tell what was being said. When asked if she found anything in the meeting offensive, she said no. Impolite, but not offensive. She confirmed that she did call Mr. Horvath after the meeting and told him that she felt the meeting had a negative connotation, and she was sorry. She did not mention Ms. Vermooten's name to Mr. Horvath. Upon questioning by Mr. McEntire, Ms. Brook stated she did not use Ms. Vermooten's name in her conversation with Mr. Horvath after the meeting. Mr. Joffe and Mr. McEntire presented closing statements before the commission adjourned for deliberation. Upon return from deliberation, Commissioner Hackfeld made the motion that the Commission uphold the act of the department head. Commissioner Hinkle seconded the motion. Commissioners Hackfeld, Hinkle, and Roark voted yes, Chairman Newsom voted no. Motion carried, 3-1. 7 6. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Hinkle made the motion to adjourn, Commissioner Roark seconded the ~ motion. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. 0 i n Je f Newsom , ~ ~ , Civil Se ic retar on McKinney 8