UPDATED: Chief Bradley George suspended for 30 days

GREENFIELD – Members of the Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District board have voted to suspend Chief Bradley George for 30 days without pay.

George was brought before Paint Creek board members for a hearing Tuesday, Sept. 8 at the Paint Creek Fire Station in Greenfield on charges of malfeasance, gross negligence of duty and failure of good behavior.

Andrew Esposito of Clemans, Nelson & Associates outlined allegations that George:

• Failed to pay overtime to part-time employees;

• Told fiscal officer Jacalyn Emerick to only pay overtime to some part-time employees; and

• Incorrectly reported hours on his own time sheet in February 2015.

A fourth charge against George was dismissed prior to the hearing.

The hearing was directed by attorney William Peelle of Wilmington. George was represented by Highland County Court, Madison Township Division, Judge Robert Judkins of Greenfield.

As previously reported in The Highland County Press, George has been on paid leave for almost two months following action by the Paint Creek Joint EMS and Fire District board members.

At the end of a nearly two-hour executive session, several board members addressed George.

“I know this was quite difficult for this board,” Bill Redenbaugh said. “It’s pretty much determined by the board there’s probably cause for the charges brought. We feel the evidence presented has pretty much agreed with those charges.”

Members Steve Edingfield, Travis Mootz and Randy Mustard expressed “disappointment” in the handling of taxpayer dollars.

“I feel like as chief of a fire department, it’s your responsibility for day-to-day operations,” Mootz said. “I feel like you kind of let myself down in this situation as well as my taxpayers.”

Jerry Williams said that he too was “disappointed in what happened here and what it’s going to cost the taxpayers.”

“We are going to make it right to these guys, somewhere down the road,” Williams said. If they need to be paid, they will be paid, and we will set the record straight. I can’t sit here and say that I’m not disappointed. This shouldn’t have happened.

“I remember many occasions, I asked you if you could do the things you were doing and you stated yes. Well, that wasn’t true.”

Peelle asked the board to discuss the three charges and to make motions for each charge separately.

Board members moved on all three charges to indicate they found them to be true. The motion for the first charge passed 9-0, while a motion for the second charge passed 8-1 (Redenbaugh dissenting) and the motion for the third charge passed 7-2 (Redenbaugh and Grant Palmer dissenting).

“It is this board’s basic general determination that the charges as presented have been established,” Peelle said.

Peelle asked the board to discuss “any action the board should take.”

“Since I felt two out of the three charges were unsubstantiated, my recommendation would be disciplinary action in the form of suspension,” Redenbaugh said.

Mootz said that he felt termination was appropriate. “These are very serious charges,” Mootz said.

Mootz made a motion for the termination of George as chief.

“This is not an easy decision,” Mootz said. “It’s nothing personal.”

Peelle reminded the board that the motion would require a two-thirds majority, with six votes needed. The motion failed with four yes votes and five no votes.

Redenbaugh then moved to suspend George for 30 days without pay.

“At the end of that 30 days, we will put together guidelines for him to follow to continue as fire chief,” Redenbaugh said.

The motion carried by a 9-0 vote.

Esposito began the hearing by calling George to testify on the three charges. Esposito asked if it was true that George failed to pay overtime to part-time employees of the district.

“Yes, but it wasn’t just I [sic], it was the department,” George said.

“Your statement to me was that you told Jackie [Emerick], the fiscal officer, to only pay overtime if the employee designated overtime on their time sheet,” Esposito said.

Esposito showed evidence of an email dated July 19, 2012, sent by George to Brian Butcher of Clemans, Nelson & Associates, and Butcher’s response.

“I also need information on policies regarding part-time, how many hours they can work in a week and when is it actually overtime,” George wrote in the email.

Butcher responded that “The only time they earn overtime is if they work over the overtime standards that you have adopted. Firefighters have the right to go up to 28 days, 212 hours. For record-keeping, it may be wise to just mirror the CBA [collective bargaining agreement].”

“If a part-time employee worked 213 hours in a 28-day cycle, would they be entitled to overtime?” Esposito asked.

“Yes,” George said.

“Did you pay part-time employees who worked in excess of 212 hours overtime?” Esposito said.

“No, because I was going on the second part, to mirror the CBA,” George said.

“The CBA only covers full-time employees,” Esposito said. “Why would you assume it covers part-time?”

“When he stated ‘It may be wise just to mirror the CBA,” George said.

“Do you know what the standard is of the CBA?” Esposito asked.

“Anything over 144 [hours],” George said.

“If someone worked over 144 hours in a 19-day cycle, did you pay them overtime?” Esposito asked.

“No, in 2012, there was no overtime being paid,” George said.

For the second charge, Esposito said that “it was alleged that you had instructed Jackie, the fiscal officer … to pay some employee overtime and others none.

“Did you give that order?” Esposito asked.

“If it was on their time sheet and documented properly, we paid overtime,” George said.

“If someone had overtime and didn’t document it properly on their time sheet, did you ever move those hours to the overtime bank?” Esposito asked.

“No,” George said.

Esposito presented a part-time firefighter’s time sheet from March 2, 2013, in which numbers were changed in the hours worked column and in the overtime column, and asked George if he altered the timesheet.

“I don’t recall making the change,” George said.

“Do you recall on this day telling Jackie to start paying overtime to part-timers?” Esposito asked.

George said that he did not recall the exact date.

Esposito then presented a separate timesheet from the same firefighter.

“In this one, in the hours worked column, were listed as 24.5 and 25.25 with no OT originally,” Esposito said. “Did you write in the .5 and the .25?”

“This one, I did,” George said. “He let me know he had late runs.”

“So when you said you never put overtime hours in, that wasn’t recalled correctly?” Esposito asked.

“Correct,” George said.

In the third charge, regarding George’s own time sheet, George had marked himself as working eight hours on Feb. 20, 2015 for the fire district while also filling out a slip stating that he worked 13-3/4 hours as varsity swim coach at McClain High School, Esposito said.

“So on Feb. 20, 2015, did you work 21-3/4 hours?” Esposito asked.

“No, I didn’t work at the fire department that day,” George said. “That should have been comp time.”

“Did you sign it as a true and accurate copy?” Esposito asked.

“Yes,” George said.

Esposito also brought three witnesses to the stand.

Emerick, who said she has been the district’s fiscal officer since Jan. 4, 2010, told Esposito she initially reported to George but has been reporting to the board for “about a year.”

“When you were in direct report to the chief, were you aware of overtime being paid incorrectly?” Esposito asked.

“I was aware that some people were paying overtime and some people weren’t,” Emerick said. “We had never paid overtime, and I had a time sheet where a part-time member had overtime.

“I asked the chief about it, why we were paying some and not paying some. I said it was my understanding that part-time people didn’t get overtime, and I asked him why were paying one and we weren’t paying the others.”

“What was the chief’s response?” Esposito asked.

“He basically said that the employee we were paying knew more about rules and stuff and could make problems for us, so he was going to pay him,” Emerick said.

Emerick testified that George was responsible for putting hours on the timesheet and giving them to her.

Judkins asked Emerick if she personally was confused regarding standards for overtime.

“I’m given the time sheets by the chief, and I’m to correctly pay those time sheets as he directs me,” Emerick said.

“Did he tell you that you should pay or not pay overtime based on what’s on their timesheet?” Judkins asked.

“He gives me the sheets already filled out,” Emerick said. “He doesn’t tell me one way or the other. If I have a question, I go ask him.”

“Did Bradley ever tell you ‘don’t pay a specific person, even though I know he’s entitled to overtime?’” Judkins asked.

“The first time he had me pay someone overtime, there were other people who to me looked like the same overtime as the man we paid,” Emerick said. “I asked him about that, and he said, ‘When I put it on there, you’re to pay it. Don’t pay it if I don’t put it on there.’ That’s what he said.”

“He could have been making that decision based on if they had scheduled or not scheduled that overtime,” Judkins said.

Judkins provided Emerick with evidence of an email conversation between George and Butcher from February 2014 on firefighters “volunteering” for shifts, while Esposito brought forth evidence of a part-time firefighter’s time sheets from 2013, in which he worked 351 hours in the month of May and 331 hours in the month of June.

“He worked just under 700 hours, and he wasn’t paid a single hour of overtime,” Esposito said. “This was approximately eight months before the chief sent the email to Brian [Butcher] talking about paying overtime and straight time for pickup shifts. It is after Brian Butcher told him he has to pay overtime for anything over 212 hours in a 28-day cycle.”

“There was a period of time you weren’t paying part-time employees any overtime, correct?” Judkins asked Emerick. “That would be consistent with when he received this email from Brian Butcher, correct?”

“The overtime was paid 3/3/13,” Emerick said.

“Do you know whether or not [the firefighter] was volunteering all these extra hours on these particular time sheets or if he was scheduled?” Judkins said.

“I have no idea,” Emerick said.

Chad Hamilton testified that as assistant fire chief, he “heard rumblings” from employees on overtime pay and asked George about it “probably two or three times.” Hamilton told Esposito that George said that he looked into it and that their procedures were “fine.”

“Do you know when a part-time employee is entitled to overtime?” Esposito asked.

“It’s defined in a 28-day period, anything in excess of 212 hours,” Hamilton said.

“Is that something that any fire chief, or any assistant chief, should know?” Esposito asked.

“If not, the information is available out there,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton discussed the department’s investigation conducted by Danielle Clifton of the Department of Labor.

“After reviewing multiple documents – time sheets, payroll reports – she determined there were multiple errors,” Hamilton said. “We discussed many things in that review. She was here for about three days.

"She made the statement there was no rhyme or reason to how overtime was paid to part-timers. Even if based on the 144 hours in the [collective bargaining act], there was still inaccuracies.”

Hamilton said that Clifton told him “it was the worst case that she’s investigated.”

Esposito asked if Clifton provided “an estimate for how much the district will be liable for these mistakes.”

Hamilton said that “we had done our own investigation” and estimated the total to be about $80,000.

“[Clifton] told me the third time she was in here that my estimate would be pretty close,” Hamilton said.

Judkins asked Hamilton if he and George were able to “work together effectively” since starting at the district at the same time, to which Hamilton agreed.

“Would you say that the chief, through all this time, has been a very dedicated person, trying to keep the interests of the district first?” Judkins asked.

“I can’t say that that was always the case,” Hamilton said.

Butcher, a regional manager for Clemans Nelson, “a management and HR consulting firm,” testified regarding his conversations with George on overtime pay.

Esposito asked if George contacted Butcher regarding paying overtime to part-time employees.

“If I remember correctly, it’s probably come up two or three times and typically surrounds a variety of issues,” Butcher said. “One is whether part-time employees were covered under the 1,500-hour rule. For those of you who don’t know, for townships, if an employee is expected to work over 1,500 hours, they’re supposed to provide insurance.

“It also came up in respect to overtime, which my answer was essentially they play by the same rules as the full-timers. That doesn’t mean you cannot go beneath the max, but you can go up to 28 days and 212 hours."

Judkins asked Butcher if people often contact him with questions regarding overtime.

“I would say that fire contracts and fire employees, that’s the most confusing, the most complex of any public employee,” Butcher said.

Judkins presented the February 2014 email evidence to Butcher.

“Do I see how the chief could be confused? Maybe,” Butcher said. “I’ve worked for the chief since 2009, I believe. This issue’s come up a lot. I guess I thought we were on the same page.”

Judkins called upon two witnesses, Tim Hester and Carolyn Snodgrass.

Hester, the Greenfield police chief, complimented George’s work as fire chief and his relationship with the police department.

“It’s been a very good, professional relationship,” Hester said. “There has been excellent coordination [between the fire department and the police department].”

“Have you observed any form of dedication that Brad has shown to the district?” Judkins asked.

“I’ve known Brad a long time, and his dedication really hasn’t changed,” Hester said. “It still has been the same. He’s been the guy you call at 4 o’clock in the morning and say ‘I need help,’ and he’ll be there.”

Snodgrass, the finance director for the village of Greenfield, testified that she issues payroll for village employees.

“Are you then required to make determinations as to whether overtime should or should not be paid?” Hester asked.

“Yes,” Snodgrass said.

“Do you ever have disagreements with the department heads regarding that?” Hester said.

“Yes, occasionally,” Snodgrass said, but testified that she is “ultimately responsible” for the decisions.

Finally, Judkins called George to the stand. George testified that he was hired as a firefighter for the city of Greenfield in 1989, where he was promoted as assistant chief in 1997. In 2007, he began working for the state fire marshal’s office for two years in code enforcement, before being “lucky enough to come back and be the first fire chief” of the Paint Creek district.

George said that as the district expanded, a need arose for part-time firefighters.

“Was there confusion on your part regarding part-time people and when they are actually entitled to overtime?” Judkins asked.

“Yes,” George said. “As it’s been through today, there was confusion all over on my part.”

Judkins asked George, “Did you ever deliberately not pay any part-time employee overtime who you thought was entitled to overtime?”

“No,” George said.

“When you were reviewing the time sheets, what was your basis in deciding whether overtime should be paid or not?” Judkins asked.

“I would look at the schedule if they truly picked up an extra shift, which we weren’t really doing at that point in time,” George said. “If it was truly overtime, at that time, it went to full-time [firefighters] first.”

Judkins said that in the email conversation between George and Butcher, George mentioned “departments not paying part-time people overtime for volunteering their time.”

“Did you honestly believe that was the correct standard?” Judkins asked.

“Up until the labor board came in and we got into it,” George said.

George also testified that the district has “been through two state audits” with “no complaints” on the payment of overtime.

On the charges regarding George’s own time sheets, he testified that the eight hours written on the time sheet “would have been comp time.”

“You simply were taking your comp time that you were entitled to,” Judkins said.

Judkins asked George “what you feel your working relationship is going to be with your fellow professionals here in the district” in the future.

“I would hope whatever relationship there was then, after six years, we can still work through all of that and keep maintaining the service in the department we have for six years,” George said.

“You feel you have maintained a good relationship with each and every one of these employees in this district?” Judkins asked.

“I would like to sit here and think so,” George said.

“You feel like there’s anything in your nature that makes you want to have any revenge against anyone?” Judkins asked.

“I’m not a revengeful person,” George said. “I’ve worked for people like that, and no good can come of it. Nobody benefits from anything like that.”

Judkins also asked George to discuss his dedication to the district.

“First of all, I’m so proud to be the first fire chief and everything we’ve accomplished,” George said. “I couldn’t have done it without the staff and Chief Hamilton. To see the people and hear the respect we have out in the community, and it’s not me, it’s them. I’ve always been so proud.

“I’ve lived this. Since 1986, my junior year of high school, I’ve put on a fire uniform through vocational school. This isn’t a job. This has been my life.”

After Esposito called Butcher back as a rebuttal witness to discuss the concept that “you cannot volunteer to do something that you are already paid for,” counsel provided closing arguments.

“My duty to the board is to present you with charges I feel are supported by my investigation,” Esposito said. “Nothing that I heard here today, nothing that the evidence put on today, changes my opinion in what I would have submitted.

“One quote you all have to hear in your head is Chief George saying ‘I messed up.’ … He admitted to failing to pay the overtime correctly. He admitted to not putting the correct designation on the time sheet even though there’s an attestation it’s a true and accurate document. He admitted to telling the fiscal clerk to not pay OT if they don’t designate it as OT.

“I just pulled one example for the exhibits of [a firefighter] who worked 650-plus hours in a two-month period and didn’t get paid a single dime of overtime,” Esposito continued. “For all of us who work 40-hour or 50-hour work weeks, that’s daunting. And now it’s coming back to bite us. You heard Chad Hamilton say what the damages would be: approximately between $60,000 and $80,000. The chief messed up. It’s going to cost the district a lot of money to fix it.”

“I think the most important thing is he tried to get a clarification of [the overtime laws],” Judkins said. “If you look at Exhibit 2 [email between George and Butcher], what would any reasonable person conclude about that?

“Brad did what he thought was best. He tried to keep the budget of this district under control. That’s part of the instructions you guys give, is to try to keep the costs under control. When he thought they had an authorization to say they’re volunteering their time, you don’t have to pay them overtime, he truly believed that. He wasn’t trying to say ‘I’m not going to pay this guy overtime because I don’t like this guy.’

“I would hope this board would consider this man’s overall record,” Judkins said. “This has been a successful district. It is widely respected and admired. Brad did his best for this district, and I would hope that you will not take anything and say this justifies ruining his life or ruining his reputation. A man acting in faith, I think, should be cut a break.”

The board then moved to enter the executive session to discuss the charges. Members of the board briefly re-entered regular session in order to ask counsel, including Peelle, for a definition of “gross neglect of duty,” and the board also sent nonvoting member Lee Koogler to speak with counsel from both sides at one point.