Newspaper Article

Hardeeville police report sheds no light on oustings

Beaufort Gazette Article

Published Wednesday March 28 2007
By LORI YOUNT mailto:YOUNTlyount@beaufortgazette.com843-986-5531

A recent consultant report outlining the revamping of the Hardeeville police sheds no more light on the removal of at least four officers last year whose oustings were explained as a department "restructuring."
Former Staff Sgt. Rick Keefner, who was the first to leave when he was fired in May, said last week the report didn't explain why he lost his job. He said and believes that city officials' claims of a restructuring process a few weeks after he was fired were to get around the state's "at-will" employment laws that exempt emergency personnel from being fired unless there is a restructuring.
"My particular firing was illegal," said Keefner, adding he's consulting with a few attorneys about his case before filing suit against the city.
Whether the firing of Keefner or removal of other officers was illegal might not be that clear, depending on policies or contracts the department or city may have had, said Richard Banks, executive director of the S.C. Police Benevolent Association, an that has worked with Keefner on legal issues.
"Can the city manager do it? It might have to end up litigated in the courts. This could be a test case," said Banks, adding he was unable to obtain a copy of employment procedures from either police or city staff in Hardeeville.
"(The city manager) should've been restructuring before firing," he said.
Keefner said the former Chief James Hubbard, who was fired in January, told him there was nothing "illegal or unethical" reported in Keefner's personnel file, though Keefner hasn't seen it himself or requested it because he trusts what Hubbard told him, adding that he believes the city wanted him out because he had filed a lawsuit for a back injury he received on the job.
In the following weeks of Keefner's firing, two of the department's highest-ranking officers, Capt. Jerome White and Lt. Eric Washington, and two other police officers were forced to resign, along with the city's treasurer, Santesia Henderson.Hubbard was fired in January, followed by another officer's voluntary resignation, and another officer resigned the beginning of this month.
Hardeeville City Manager Shane Haynes said that although the label "restructuring" was attached to the personnel moves within the department, the external study wasn't the only source of justifying city actions -- just one component in a comprehensive review.
"The main reason was job performance and their ability to serve as a team member," he said. "They either resigned or were fired ... because they didn't buy into our goals. The report pointed out there were a lot of personal agendas."
Florida-based firm Police Management Consultants was hired to begin studying the department in August after the first five officers were ousted -- President Walter Zaliskosaid.
In the published report, the firm examines what it calls the "sound" structure of the department as it existed in February and not the high-ranking positions of captain and lieutenant that were eliminated in May and June.
Zalisko said he found nothing illegal in the department, but he never got to the bottom of why the officers were forced out just a few months before his report -- only that it affected the morale of the remaining officers.
Haynes said the city began the review of the department in late spring of last year and by June, after the first few police officers were forced out, it was "evident" that "we needed an objective, outside party" to examine what had been a "top-heavy" structure.Keefner said what he's heard of the report's findings, it "just pretty much downed the leadership."
"It wasn't very fair," he said. "They didn't talk to me. Nobody asked us (former officers) how the man was as a leader. Of course (current officers) are going to say everything the city wants to hear."
He added that it wasn't Hubbard's fault that new polices and rules hadn't been updated in written form since 1996, adding that the city stood in his way.
Hubbard didn't respond to requests for an interview.
Haynes called the notion that the city was preventing a department head from updating the department's own policies and procedures "absolutely incorrect." The city is updating a general city employee manual, but he said department heads have complete control and are encouraged to initiate police updates.
"It's very important to update policies," Haynes said. "They can make updates, which have to be reviewed by the city manager."
Two former high-ranking officers, who are black, Jerome White and Eric Washington, continue to pursue claims of racial discrimination against the city with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, their Bluffton lawyer Susan Brach said. She said the commission is investigating the claims and that it could take up to 1 1/2 years to reach a finding.
"At this point, what the city manager has done has caused unnecessary litigation against the city," said Banks of the police association. "Unfortunately, the taxpayers have to end up paying this bill," adding a department with such turmoil probably won't attract experienced officers who already have training.
Henderson, the city's treasurer who was forced to resign about the same time as her husband, Washington, has also filed a racial discrimination claim.
City officials, after not offering explanation for Henderson's ousting for weeks, said in July that irregularities were found in the city's finances and have ordered an audit into the matter.
Haynes said in the city's required annual external audit, no criminal activity or other "material weaknesses" were found, but 15 findings of procedural deficiencies in the finance department were cited. The full report will be released and reviewed at the City Council meeting April 19.