Inweekly has been told that the Beggs & Lane law firm has completed its investigation of Interim Fire Chief Matt Schmitt and Deputy Fire Chief Joe Glover. The report has been in the hands of Mayor Ashton Hayward for more than week, according to sources.
The public doesn’t know for what the two leaders of the high regarded Pensacola Fire Department are being investigated. City Administrator Eric Olson has placed a gag order on all city staff regarding the matter.
WEAR TV 3 reports that the city has paid the two men nearly $40,000 for their administrative leave. The city has not released any information on how much the investigation has cost the taxpayers.
This may go down as the most expensive and longest investigation of any city employee for a non-criminal matter in the city’s history. We can find not any record of a city employee being placed on eight consecutive paid administrative leaves.
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Update: On News Radio 1620’s morning show on Wednesday, April 27, Mayor Hayward said that he does not have the Beggs & Lane report: “…I do not. And I did hear some rumors. That’s just silly. I don’t have the report and you know, I’ve been completely away from this.”
He reiterated later during the interview: “I’ve seen no report. There is no report on my desk. That’s just silly.”
A month ago, Will Isern reported, “Assistant City Administrator Keith Wilkins said city administration met last week with the lawyer conducting the investigation, Russell VanSickle, and that he anticipates completing and submitting a report within the next two weeks.” (Pensacola News Journal, “Pensacola fire chief investigation ending soon,” March 26)