New documents published by former Pensacola Councilwoman Maren Deweese have cast doubts about the independence of Beggs & Lane attorney Russell Van Sickle’s investigation of Fire Chief Matt Schmitt and Deputy Fire Chief. After reviewing the attorney’s report, Mayor Ashton Hayward dismissed both chiefs last week.
Last week, Council President Charles Bare said that his review of Beggs & Lane invoices made him think “not investigation but impeachment” when it came to the investigation of the fire chiefs.
“I did a records request of all of the invoices from the three law firms, probably the big three who we do business with,” said Bare during the May 12 council meeting. “I started looking at the Beggs & Lane invoices and the number of contacts that Ed Sisson has had with Russ VanSickle and the Mayor has had over a period of months leading up to this investigation and what comes to my mind in not investigation but impeachment.”
DeWeese posted the Beggs & Lane invoices on her blog. They show the City and its Human Resources Department were clients of the Van Sickle for much of the past year.
Deweese wrote, “Billing records from Beggs & Lane reflect, in fact, VanSickle had been retained for almost a year for HR related matters including the hiring of Eric Olson, the departure of Tamara Fountain, defending the City in an ongoing EEOC complaint and changes to the Employee Manual concerning the Appeals Panel.” Read VanSickle Deceived Public and Chiefs Claiming Independence.
In February, Van Sickle told News Journal that the investigation was independent.
Van Sickle: “I’ve just been asked to conduct an independent investigation and I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.â (Pensacola News Journal, “Fire chiefs not focus of investigation,â 2/5/16)
Mayor Ashton Hayward, who had several conversations with Van Sickle last year according to the invoices, has repeatedly talked about independence when he asked about the investigation. The mayor has made it clear the Van Sickle’s report was the basis of his decision to terminate the fire chiefs.
Hayward told WEAR TV, “It’s very difficult as the boss to make decisions like this. There are substantial facts in the report that made it for me; easier than I anticipated.”
According to Deputy Fire Joe Glover, Van Sickle never disclosed his relationship with the City HR department, Mayor Ashton Hayward and Chief Human Resources Officer Ed Sisson, against whom Glover had filed an EEOC complaint. Glover said he was led to believe the investigation was independent, and he was repeatedly encouraged to share his concerns about Sisson and the HR department.
“I never would have done the interview with Van Sickle if I had known he had been working with Sisson prior to the investigation,” Glover told Inweekly in a phone interview. “I would have demanded a more independent attorney.”
Records show that both Glover and Fire Chief Schmitt were reluctant to be interviewed by Van Sickle. When both men asked to reply to Van Sickle’s questions in writing, the attorney refused the requests. (Read RVS_Glover).
When Van Sickle met with Glover, he encouraged the deputy fire chief to share his concerns. Transcript from his interview with Glover:
“If there’s something that you feel that I should know to gather facts, then you need to tell me. Do not assume that I am an expert because I’m not in how the fire department runs, what you do in the fire department. I’ve gotten some education from Chief Schmitt this morning, but that’s not my background.
So if there’s something that comes up that you feel that the person investigating this needs to know and to go look into it, because when I’m finished with interviewing you and Chief Schmitt, that’s not the end of my investigation.”
Though Van Sickle repeatedly told the chiefs that he was not investigating their EEOC complaints. He succeeded in getting the men to share information related to those complaints. Much of the information the chiefs shared, Van Sickle went to great lengths to debunk in the report.
The attorney explained the inclusion of the EEOC information in the report: “I was not tasked with responding to the charges of discrimination to the EEOC or FCHR, as another law firm was retained for that purpose. However, in the course of determining whether the concerns brought forward by Sisson regarding the management of PFD were legitimate, my investigation necessarily included an assessment of any concerns raised by Schmitt and Glover.”
Deweese pointed out in her blog post that Van Sickle billed the City of Pensacola for a Nov. 17 conversation with Sisson about the “disciplinary appeals section.” A week later, Sisson was rewriting the HR manual to do away with the independent appeals board. (Note: The new manual would not be posted until Feb 2 after the chiefs were placed on administrative leave.)
Van Sickle devoted an entire section of his report to the changes to the HR manual. His finding: “The City maintains both a disciplinary and administrative appeal process, and, as discussed above, the Cityâs policies provide that any City employee may make good faith complaints, including complaints regarding discipline. In any event, any act by the City to remove or change any type of disciplinary appeals process would apply to all affected City employees, not merely to Glover or Schmitt. The City provided an analysis and timeline of the decision to remove the previously existing disciplinary process for my informational purposes. The evidence shows that the amendments to the policy about which Glover complains were initiated on November 25, 2015.”
The attorney did not disclose his role in drafting the changes to the manual.
Inweekly has formally requested that someone with the City of Pensacola explain Van Sickleâs relationship with the city, his work on the appeal process and other matters related to the fire chiefs and to Edward Deas’ complaint prior to his being hired for the investigation of the fire chiefs. If an interview is granted, we will publish it on this blog.
Deputy Fire Chief Glover said he was stunned at the length Mayor Hayward and his administration have gone to discredit him and Chief Schmitt.
He said, “This has become a modern day lynching.”