By Tom Morphet
In a special meeting Tuesday that included heated discussion and a call
to the municipal attorney, the Haines Borough Assembly voted unanimously to hire retired
Skagway city manager Bob Ward as interim manager and to convert the termination of former
borough manager Robert Venables to a resignation.
Ward was hired for 30 days for $9,000 plus air fare from Seattle.
Members Doug Olerud, Jerry Lapp and Pete Lapham questioned whether last
week’s assembly vote to fire Venables was legal, as it wasn’t posted on the
meeting agenda. Borough attorney Bob Blasco said the vote was legal.
Mayor Fred Shields told the Haines Chamber of Commerce last week he had
intended to notify Venables he’d be raising the question of Venables’ dismissal
at the May 13 assembly meeting, but because a committee meeting extended to the start of
the meeting, he didn’t get the opportunity.
Shields said he then didn’t put the question of Venables’
employment on the meeting’s agenda at the start of the meeting – which would
have effectively notified assembly members the issue was coming up – because he
hadn’t spoken to Venables.
"If I had to do this over again, it’d be on the agenda. It
was going to be on the agenda. I was going to tell Robert what was going to happen between
meetings and put it on the agenda… Believe me, I had a lot of things on my
mind," Shields told the chamber.
Although the borough typically doesn’t take action on matters that
aren’t on the posted meeting agenda, Shields said that rule applies only to
ordinances, resolutions and financial actions.
The assembly’s action on the termination was "nothing
illegal, unusual or out of the ordinary," Shields told the chamber. Venables,
speaking after the meeting, said acting on non-agenda items was outside the
assembly’s "generally practiced rules."
Venables said no assembly members had spoken to him about his
employment status for months, but Shields told the chamber the question of dismissing
Venables had been "hot for several meetings," and that Venables at one point had
spoken of packing his desk drawers. "The appearance is that this just happened. It
didn’t."
Shields was asked if he’d notified assembly members that he’d
be raising the issue of Venables’ employment. "Everybody didn’t know it was
going to come up at this meeting, but the issue was there. If it hadn’t been at this
meeting, it would have been at the next meeting," he said.
Asked whether he’d spoken on the day of the meeting, or on the
previous day, to the four assembly members who eventually voted for the firing, Shields
replied: "Gee, I don’t know. I don’t think so."
Polling individual assembly members on how they might respond to an
issue previous to a meeting is called a "serial meeting" and is a potential
violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Shields said he wouldn’t publicly apologize for the way the firing
was handled, something he said Venables requested afterward. "No apology is needed. I
acted in the best interest of the borough. Robert brought this on himself." He said
he had a "small regret" for not putting the dismissal on the agenda.
Venables last week declined comment on Shields’ characterization
of events. He said he had no plans and would stay out of the community discussion of his
firing.
"The manager’s job was never my final career move. When
it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on. (But) the way they handled it was
wrong. All they had to do was put it on the agenda… The way this was done left a lot
of people and projects hanging. Ultimately it was unfair and costly to the
community," Venables said.
At last Tuesday’s assembly meeting, member Doug Olerud charged
that Shields wanted to fire Venables to hire a friend as manager. In the interview,
Shields didn’t deny he had someone in mind to replace Venables. "I didn’t
take these steps without a plan and the plan included people who have expressed interest
in serving as manager. I made sure there were interested people."
Shields countered concerns that Venables’ termination leaves the
borough in the lurch just as construction begins on a number of borough projects.
"There is no good time. In the best interest of the borough, this is as good a time
as any. There will be no loss of continuity."
Shields said he didn’t feel the borough was obligated to notify
the public of action on Venables’ employment, saying the manager worked for the
borough assembly. He also said he didn’t feel he needed to work to regain the trust
of employees or the public. "An elected body voted 4-2 to replace an at-will
employee."
Shields acknowledged the firing concerned employees who, by code, work
for the manager. The day after the firing "there was a lot of shock. There was a
degree of uncertainty. I think everybody realizes by now we’ve moved on."
Shields also was asked about a $6,000 raise Venables received last year
when his contract was renewed until 2009. "Boards change. Support changes.
That’s a raise he requested and he had board support at the time for that. As boards
change, support can fall away."
Asked if the board would have fired Venables without his influence,
Shields replied: "Eventually."
