By Joyell Nevins
Record Herald Editor
Courtesy of the Weekly Record Herald, Printed September 16, 2011
WEST MILTON – The village of West Milton will soon be looking for a new manager. Suspended Municipal Manager Tony Howard was permanently removed at the council meeting and public hearing Tuesday night. The removal is effective as of September 30.
The vote was 6 to 1, with Deb Miller giving the only vote in favor of keeping Howard. This was after she inquired if other disciplinary action could be taken, and was informed by Law Director Charles Sell that “his contract says we can never reduce his salary; I read that as we can’t suspend him.”
The biggest bombshell of the hearing, though, was not the ongoing contention between Howard and many on council concerning his job performance.
What hardly anyone saw coming, and brought a roomful of applause, was Finance Director Jill Grice’s nervously given prepared statement on the treatment of Howard toward her. “I have been belittled, demeaned, and disrespected both personally and professionally,” she said, “I cannot tell you how many times he has disrespected me and made me feel inferior. It’s not right.”
Grice spoke about how difficult it was for her to talk about the situation because of Howard’s authority over her.
“I’ve felt trapped – it’s never a good practice to rat out your boss,” she said, “But I cannot let fear override me. I have to do what is morally and
ethically right.”
According to Grice, Howard created a “hostile” working environment, used offensive language in the workplace, and said “negative, demeaning things” about other people that worked in the office. She said he did not keep her informed of necessary information to do her job, even neglecting such responsibilities as giving her a council meeting agenda.
“There has been a continuous lack of communication that has directly impacted my department,” she said, “He is not responsive to emails, and does not follow up when I verbally ask him for information. There was an appropriations change made at the August meeting that I was not informed of – often the only way I find out is if I pull an agenda from the box for the public in the lobby.”
She added that the growing gap in the water fund and the need to raise rates has been something she’s been bringing up to Howard for two years, but has been brushed off. March was the first time he introduced it to council, and to this day there has been no action taken.
Howard flagrantly denied Grice’s statement. “I flat disagree with much of what you said,” he said in his turn to response.
Howard stated he felt there was a “loose, cordial, informal” environment at the workplace, and that no one has ever been in fear for their job. “It boggles the imagination that you’re intimidated,” he said to her.
He added that the only reason anyone has lost a job in the municipal building was due to a budget measure or disciplinary reasons. He also said he had previously discussed the water rates with Grice, but didn’t receive any official directive before 2010.
There were several other back-and-forth allegations between Howard and Mayor Pat Grim and Councilwoman Susan Willis.
Willis stated Howard rented an apartment in West Milton to fulfill a former residency requirement, but only stayed there one time and still lives in Springfield.
Howard said he loved West Milton and it was due to an illness in his family that he couldn’t move.
Grim was “disturbed” that Howard didn’t disclose at the time of interview he was undergoing a personnel and sexual harassment investigation at Mechanicsburg, his former workplace.
Howard said he was never under investigation for sexual harassment, and it wasn’t going on at the time he was interviewed. Sell interjected that according to the law director of Mechanicsburg, there was a “specific, ongoing” investigation. Howard said the law director was a “relatively new attorney” and didn’t know. He then added he didn’t disclose the investigation because he thought it was “absolutely bogus.”
There were also specific instances given of Howard refusing to follow council directives, and getting into fights with residents.
“I refute about 99 percent of it,” Howard said after Grim finished her list.
He also had a prepared statement combating each of the three reasons given in council’s first resolution for removal, claiming a “lack of specificity” to each.
“I can summarize everything I’ve said here with one simple statement – virtually none of the allegations in Resolution CM-11-20 have been
substantiated,” he stated.
Howard added that even if the allegations had been substantiated, they “would not merit the dismissal of an employee.”
Residents joined in on the discussion as well. Chris Long said he found Howard to be “very competent and honest.”
Others, like Bill Netzley, claimed Howard “has split our community wide open.” Four other residents out of the room full of people spoke out against Howard as well.
The table-turner, though, came back to Grice’s revelations.
“We’re evaluating someone’s position, but we’re not with them on a daily basis, and not allowed to talk to them,” said council member Jason Tinnerman, who up until Tuesday had continued the struggle to keep Howard as manager. “After hearing from an employee – it’s my only information to go on,” he said.
Ben Herron, who had already been acting as a temporary manager, was officially appointed as Interim Manager at a pro-rated salary of $62,000.
Council hoped to bring on former village manager Marty Gabbard as a consultant until a new manager is hired. “It’s not an easy circumstance for anyone,” said Herron of the whole situation, “I would like to thank [the council] publicly for having faith in me.”
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