70 pages of complaints and internal probes of county’s 9-1-1 center to be discussed (download link below)
Some dirty laundry is likely to be aired out at Thursday night’s Fayette County Commission meeting, at the insistence of one commissioner and with the displeasure of at least two others.
Included in the lengthy agenda packet for the Feb. 8 meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the county administration complex are more than 70 pages of internal investigations into more than a year’s worth of personnel upheaval at the Fayette County 9-1-1 Center, centering around its director, Bernard Brown. [Click below to download the information packet supporting the agenda item — FILE ONE and FILE TWO each as a pdf file.]
02-08-2018 BOC Agenda_911-call-center-document-part 1
02-08-2018 BOC Agenda_911-call-center-documents_Part-2
Brown has filed a county grievance against Commissioner Steve Brown (no relation) seeking a Board of Commissioners’ censure aginst the elected official. The 9-1-1 director wants the commissioner disciplined “due to his repeated willful disregard of county policies, county ordinances and his misrepresentation of state law.”
9-1-1 Director Brown took issue with the commissioner releasing to the media the director’s own disciplinary problem of nearly a year ago, when he himself was written up for cursing out a subordinate in the 9-1-1 Center.
Bernard, known as Buster, Brown was contacted by telephone for comment, but did not respond to a callback message left at the 9-1-1 Center with an employee.
The department responsible for dispatching all police, fire and medical emergency units in all of Fayette County and its cities has itself been in the news lately.
Commissioner Brown asked that the entire matter be put on this Thursday’s agenda, following a contentious called meeting Jan. 31.
In that meeting last week, called by Vice Chairman Randy Ognio, Commissioner Brown accused the county of workplace harassment cover-up and called for County Administrator Steve Rapson’s resignation.
For his part, Ognio said Brown broke the law in accessing the disciplinary file of 9-1-1 director Brown and then leaving a Post-it note in the file that he had made copies of the file.
During an extraordinary called meeting last Wednesday at 1 p.m., Ognio and Commissioner Brown shouted at each other several times during an acrimonious one-hour session with one agenda item: To require all commissioners to follow all 108 county policies governing employees.
Ognio objected to Brown accessing the personnel file of the director of the county-operated 9-1-1 Communications Center.
Brown responded that he broke no county policy and followed state open records laws in copying a disciplinary action taken last February against the 9-1-1 director.
Commissioner Charles Oddo agreed with Ognio that no single commissioner should have “unfettered access” to county employees’ personnel files.
Commissioner Charles Rousseau agreed with Brown that the county faced a “crisis,” but called for a cautious approach to any fixes, warning of “unintended consequences.”
Chairman Eric Maxwell was absent, recovering from minor surgery, Brown said during the meeting.
Ognio several times objected to Brown’s attempts to bring up the reasons why he was seeking disciplinary files, saying at the outset, “This is my meeting,” and that the topics to be discussed were to be confined to the one agenda item about all commissioners following county policies.
In response Brown read a statement into the record that criticized County Administrator Rapson for allegedly operating independently of all oversight and questioned ”whether he recognizes any authority at all.”
“I honestly do not think that he understands that the subordinate relationship is reporting to all five commissioners,” Brown said.
“At our Dec. 14, 2017 Board of Commissioners meeting, a handful of former county employees from the 9-1-1 call center … reported abuses and a toxic work environment much like the female road crew members did a year prior (both hidden from commissioners by the county administrator)” Brown said.
“There has been a lot of concern about the 9-1-1 Call Center due to an excessive turnover rate. The Board of Commissioners has put a lot of emphasis on redressing issues facing the flagging department and approved additional funding, making our 911 employees the highest paid in the state. The board also approved a new $18 million radio system,” Brown said.
“Obviously, the 9-1-1 service is a critical function and has a direct effect on the health and safety of our citizens. Imagine the shock when the commissioners discovered that the harmful activity within the department, a Human Resources investigation, terminations and the exodus of staff over a one-year period was all covered up and withheld form our knowledge,” Brown said.
The disciplinary form from Feb. 20, 2017, is about 9-1-1 Director Bernard Brown: “On Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, Mr. Brown became involved in a verbal confrontation with 9-1-1 Supervisor Dana Edwards during which he became very agitated and used profanity several times towards Mrs. Evans.”
The files continues, “Mr. Brown failed to maintain his composure and did not act in a professional manner. This type of conduct between county employees at any level is unacceptable. In addition to receiving a written reprimand, Mr. Brown and all of his supervisors will be required to complete team building training. Any further issues with Mr. Brown’s conduct will result in further disciplinary action up to and including termination.”
Brown said he was refusing to be intimidated by Ognio and Oddo “regarding what is going on behind the scenes in government. This meeting today is nothing but an attempt to further obstruct the effort to get information out to the public regarding situations that every taxpayer needs to know.”
As to why such alleged “deflection and intimidation” was happening, Brown said, “All I can do is speculate as to why critical information related to our local government is withheld from people like Commissioner Rousseau and myself. My speculation is there a deep-seated fear the two of us will not stand still and let the abuse happen and we are not afraid to demand transparency and a unprejudiced, objective resolution.”
Brown warned, “Uninhibited power in government at all levels is the breeding agent for corruption and abuse. Nothing kills our republican democracies like uninhibited power and the lack of accountability.”
The documents he has released to news media, Brown said, “are publicly eligible [under state law] and both are acknowledgements of some of the horrendous behavior that our employees have had to endure, behavior and other actions that were purposefully withheld from some of the commissioners.”
“I am deeply concerned that we have government officials actively engaged in cover-ups of government abuse,” Brown concluded. “We can prove that vital information has been purposefully withheld from certain county commissioners, the highest-ranking officials in the county government, the ones who have equal authority and responsibility, all of whom must receive equal communication from the county administrator.”
Ognio defended his efforts to encourage the commissioners “to lead by example” by following the same processes and procedures required of the employees.
Brown responded that he had followed current county policy and state law “to the letter” and planned to begin his own process opening up “a river of documents. Get ’em all out there” in coming weeks.
Rousseau advised the board to slow down and get expert input. “We have a crisis, people. We’re trying to deal with it openly and honestly.”
The official outcome of the meeting was a 4-to-0 approval of Ognio’s motion that was modified by Rousseau’s cautions.
Brown said during the meeting, “There has been a lot of concern about the 9-1-1 Call Center due to an excessive turnover rate. The Board of Commissioners has put a lot of emphasis on redressing issues facing the flagging department and approved additional funding, making our 9-1-1 employees the highest paid in the state. The board also approved a new $18 million radio system.”
“Obviously, the 9-1-1 service is a critical function and has a direct effect on the health and safety of our citizens. Imagine the shock when the commissioners discovered that the harmful activity within the department, a Human Resources investigation, terminations and the exodus of staff over a one-year period was all covered up and withheld form our knowledge,” Brown said.
“I am deeply concerned that we have government officials actively engaged in cover-ups of government abuse. We can prove that vital information has been purposefully withheld from certain county commissioners, the highest-ranking officials in the county government, the ones who have equal authority and responsibility, all of whom must receive equal communication from the County Administrator. No more selective justice in Fayette County. No more obstruction and no more dereliction of duties. All commissioners must have access to government communication and records. We must be able to express ourselves without fear of retribution,” Brown said.
