Fire Department issues continue – H R Director officially terminated

Submitted by Susan Hardee Steger
November 3, 2014 10:34 a.m.

Fire TruckOn Thursday, October 30, City Manager Joe Gerrity sent a letter officially notifying Human Resource Director Robin Marley of her termination of employment after 10 years with the City of Fernandina Beach.  Marley was placed on administrative leave on October 13, while an inquiry was conducted  on Marley’s release of a public records document, and her discussion with newly hired Deputy Fire Chief Bergel that was, according to Gerrity’s understanding, “disparaging to and undermining of Chief Higginbotham, Deputy Fire Chief Murallo, the entire Fire Department, and me.” Since that time, Marley and Gerrity have communicated in writing about their disagreements.

The following letters were received from a public records request.  The first is a letter addressed to Gerrity from  Marley who declined to accept Gerrity’s invitation to meet with him on October 30.  The second letter is from Steven Henderson of Firefighters Local 2836 addressed to all five city commissioners and copied to Gerrity and firefighters Chett Lyncker, and Robert Wilfong. The third letter is dated October 30,  when Gerrity notified Marley of her termination. All three letters appear below in full and unedited.

Robin Marley H R
Robin Marley

October 30, 2014

Re: Response to your recent letter

Dear Mr. Gerrity:

I received your letter last week and was quite surprised that you made the number of statements that simply do not appear to be correct.  Although I would have normally agreed to meet with you to discuss these matters, the fact that you included so many obvious inaccuracies in your letter makes me quite concerned that your reports of any face-to-face discussions would not accurately reflect the information shared.  I am, therefore, responding to your letter in writing.

I did not violate my obligations to the City, and I in no way compromised the interest of the City of Fernandina Beach.  Instead, I was simply trying to do my job as Director of Human Resources.  You are well aware of the long history of management problems in the Fire Department, and my repeated complaints to you about the gross mismanagement of that City department.   To claim that I had never before complained of the substantial management problems in the Fire Department ignores a long and repeated history of my bringing forward serious problems with management personnel.

Regarding the manner in which I was placed on administrative leave, you and I both know that such a process has never before been used in this City.  I was locked out and immediately denied access to my office.  I was treated like a criminal, when I was accused of no criminal conduct.  Your characterization of my cell phone “monitoring” misstates the facts: after I was relieved of duty, a City employee was charged with monitoring calls and emails to me in an attempt to determine who would attempt to contact me.  The entire process was designed to root out and discover those who disagree with the City management, rather than to discover any alleged misconduct.

I do no fear legitimate criticism and direction from my supervisors, but it is now clear that I will not be treated fairly in this matter.  Your suggestion that I would be terminated for a long history of supposed performance problems has no basis in fact.  Indeed, you issued me an excellent performance review within the last several weeks, which resulted in a merit pay raise.  No mention was ever made of any alleged performance problems in the last review.  In fact, I have received nothing but excellent performance reviews in my ten years with the City of Fernandina Beach.

You are clearly too close to this situation to conduct a reasonable review of my conduct.  You and the City Attorney have been deeply involved in the matters for which I am being investigated, but you and the City Attorney are the same two people who are determining whether I am guilty of misconduct.  I realize that you will likely terminate my employment regardless of what I say, but the honest thing for you to do is to admit the truth: that you are taking this action for political reasons rather than in response to any true concern for my performance.

Sincerely,

Robin Marley
H R Director

 

Fire TrucksTo: Charles Corbett, Ed Boner, Johnny Miller, Pat Gass, Sarah Pelican
Cc: Chett Lyncker; Robert Wilfong; Joe Gerrity

From: Steven Henderson

Subject: Local 2836

Good afternoon,

On behalf of the Professional Firefighters of Fernandina Beach Local 2836, we would like to clarify two situations where Mr. Gerrity has spoken on behalf of the firefighters in this Union.

The first occurrence was a letter to Mrs. Marley titled “Notice of Consideration of Termination Employment” Mr. Gerrity states:

“Your comments to Deputy Chief Bergel about his superiork Fire Chief Higginbotham, appear to have been inappropriate. If the circumstances were as I understand them to be, your comments were disparaging to and undermining of Chief Higginbotham, Deputy Fire Chief Murallo, the entire Fire Department, and me.”

The alleged comments that were made by Mrs. Marley to Chief Bergel were never conveyed to the Union leadership or any other member, therefore the Union feels it is inappropriate for Mr. Gerrity to speak on behalf of “the entire fire department.”

The second occurrence which is truly disparaging is the statement that Mr. Gerrity made on the Firefighters behalf at the City Commission meeting on October 21, 2014, where Mr. Gerrity states that the Fire Department members are “Recommitted” to providing the best service to this community. We wish to assure our community that every member of this Union has always been 100% committed to service this community and if called upon would not hesitate to risk life and limb in the execution of our duties. We have always been committed to providing the utmost personal and professional service at every level, and will continue to do so for the residents and visitors of this great city. We love where we live and work, and we shall strive for excellence in the delivery of our services.

As recently published through multiple media outlets, H R Director Robin Marley was placed on indefinite administrative leave. One of the HR Directors duties is to negotiate contracts for al Unions involving City, Police, Fire and General employees. This process can cause tension between the City’s negotiation team and that Union, due to the simple fact that both parties have their individual agendas and it sometimes can be difficult to reach middle ground. Mrs. Marley was always fair throughout the process and never wavered from her strong core of ethics for doing what is right. As the HR Director many firefighters were to her with their complaints, not only because they are H R issues and part of her job function, also because she is the only one they trusted to do what was right. In the current atmosphere of the Fire Department there are few people that were in a position to help and pursue the right course of actions like she did. It is unfortunate that her integrity has placed her career in jeopardy. Mrs. Marley has the support of the Professional Firefighters of Fernandina Beach – Local 2836.

Thank you for allowing your Union firefighter’s voice to be heard. As always, we remain steadfast to our community with Integrity, Pride and Honor.

Respectfully,
The Professional Firefighters of Fernandina Beach – Local 2836

DIGITAL CAMERA
City Manager Joe Gerrity
File photo

October 30, 2014

Dear Ms. Marley:

As I informed you in my letter to you on October 22, 2014, I have been considering terminating your employment.  As stated in that letter, I was available to meet with you today to receive any information you desired to provide on the matter to help me make a decision.  You chose not to meet with me, but to deliver a letter.  I have reviewed your letter and all relevant information available and known to me.  Based on that information and the totality of the circumstances, I have decided to terminate your employment as Human Resources Director of the City, effective immediately.  Please call Marshall McCrary, Deputy City Manager at 904-310-3102 to arrange for return of any City property in your possession, including your City-provided cell phone, keys, badge and any City documents or other records you may have.*

Arrangements will be made to return to you any personal property you may have left at your office and to otherwise process the end of your employment.

Sincerely,

Joe Gerrity
City Manager

*Editor’s Note:  We apologize for the typographical errors contained in our previous post of City Manager Gerrity’s letter.  The errors were ours; not Mr. Gerrity’s errors.

8 Comments
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John
John (@guest_23318)
9 years ago

Glad to see Fernandina politics is still a clown show.

ralph allen
ralph allen (@guest_23322)
9 years ago

I have never worked in city administration and have no dog in this fight. But as a former business owner I would view it presumptuous and unacceptable for an employee to rebuff my request to meet with me personally, and instead serve me with a letter that insults my integrity.

John
John (@guest_23324)
9 years ago
Reply to  ralph allen

Ralph, when you have a job to do, your ego is supposed to be put aside. All this talk of “disparaging to and undermining” words is laughable.

tony crawford
tony crawford (@guest_23341)
9 years ago

This is going to be one interesting show to follow. On the surface it is hard to contend and that bad performance is a facture in Robins termination. If Robin had a long history of good performance reviews and recently received a merit raise this doesn’t seem to make sense. It also appears that the Fire Fighters Union is behind her and considered her a trusted employee even after she has been on the other side of the table throughout contract negotiations. This should be interesting to watch and for some strange reason it feels like this is going to be another matter for the lawyers to figure out.

Steve Crounse
Steve Crounse (@guest_23358)
9 years ago

Seems to me Mr. Geritty just shot himself and the tax payers of this community in the foot. Ms.Marley, If all statements are true, has a strong legal case for wrongful termination. Given the facts of ten years employment, all excellent job reviews,support of the firefighters union. Tax payers, be prepared to lose another law suit. Can you imagine what our downtown area and the riverfront would look like if we could use all the monies lost to us by law suits, perpetrated by are elected and appointed officials. We need to stop this stuff.

Ross Gass
Ross Gass (@guest_23383)
9 years ago

I find it very hard to believe that Joe Gerrity would act in this case without doing his due diligence. He knows well the cost of litigation via his exeprience with the “impact fee lawsuit.” He is familiar with human resource standards and practices from his years of business ownership with McDonalds. And, as a former commissioner/mayor of this city, he has seen the capricious nature of our fair city. Something makes me think he wouldn’t act in such a way if the circumstances didn’t require it.
And I agree with Mr. Allen; why would an employee rebuff and invitation to meet and send an insulting and disparaging letter instead? Seems highly suspect to me as though the employee knew she was in the wrong and wanted her side to get first airing.

MP
MP (@guest_23438)
9 years ago
Reply to  Ross Gass

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Mr. Gass. This certainly didnt seem like conduct becoming of a human resources director.

Sonny Florida
Sonny Florida (@guest_23442)
9 years ago

Ross, as unbelievable as it seems, it’s the truth. You’d think after the impact fee lawsuit he would have certainly learned. I predict after the numbers come out about how much the city owes from that settlement, and now this possible lawsuit nightmare, he will resign. Not to mention once the truth is revealed about all the other things he seems to have mishandled. He may be familiar with many things in the business world. However, he’s most certainly not familiar with stating facts. Poundsign Truth