BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — The investigation into Starke Commissioner Danny Nugent’s alleged behavior toward city and contract employees was over before it even began.
Commissioners Scott Roberts and Shannon Smith ended the investigation during their second meeting Nov. 23 after hearing from Nugent’s attorney, Dan Sikes, that the city lacked both standards for commissioner behavior and a process for enforcing them.
Roberts and Smith were unanimously appointed to an ad hoc committee on ethics and discipline by the entire board — including Commissioner Nugent — to investigate employee complaints that Nugent had interfered with their work, screamed obscenities at them and threatened their employment.
City Manager Drew Mullins requested the investigation as well as clarification on the appropriate chain of command.
The original intent of the second committee meeting was to hear from employees and contract workers from Asplundh who had already filed written statements about the events of Nov. 15 and ask them follow-up questions.
Instead, Sikes spoke for Nugent, initially asking them for more time to prepare a response, including time for the city clerk’s office to comply with a sizeable public records request seeking all written complaints from employees about any commissioner over the past four years.
Sikes had also requested a copy of the specific city ordinance or state statute Nugent is accused of violating as well as any documented history “concerning censorship of a commissioner concerning the conduct of that commissioner with city employees who are on his private property.”
There was no calculating how long it would take city employees to comply with such a broad request, and City Clerk Jimmy Crosby asked for specific dates and times, saying he couldn’t look through four years of emails.
But Sikes also presented a recommendation to nullify the records request — that the city end the investigation of Nugent.
Offering the analogy that the city was trying to build an airplane on the runway mid-takeoff, Sikes said commissioners should instead focus on creating a complaint process. He cautioned them against trying to enforce ex post facto laws — declaring something illegal after the fact — and suddenly holding a commissioner accountable when others have not been.
“I can tell you that there have been complaints received about city commissioners before in the past,” Sikes said, “and I can tell you that I know of more than one incident where various members of the commission have been rude and abusive to members of the staff and members of the city.”
Establishing a process would allow everyone, including commissioners, to be clear about what the rules and procedures are in the future, Sikes said. In the meantime, if employees feel Nugent’s alleged actions had violated state statute, he invited them to file an ethics complaint.
The city commission asked Roberts and Smith to investigate and bring any recommended action — including discipline — back to the full commission for consideration on Dec. 7. At the time they were told disciplinary options included reprimand, censure or even removal from the board.
City attorney Clay Martin told them they could also deliver other recommendations to the commission.
“As you’ve embarked on this effort to investigate, it’s really become apparent to you that there may be a lack of rules and procedures pertaining to the actions of commissioners, pertaining to the role of commissioners, pertaining to the role of the city manager as it relates to management of city employees,” Martin said. If they find there are not sufficient procedures to recommend any action regarding the Nugent investigation, they could instead recommend the commission focus its efforts on developing those procedures, he said.
“If and when this were to ever occur again, and allegations were to be made, you’d have something to act on, a standard to hold the commissioner to,” he said, “and the commissioners would all have gotten some of what’s expected of them.”
The city doesn’t have any standards against which to judge a commissioner, Martin said, but he agreed if there were any state laws violated, employees could file complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
If the committee recommended establishing a process for future complaints as well as clarifying expectations of commissioners and the chain of command, everyone would be better off than they were when this began, Martin said.
Roberts asked about carrying on the investigation happened and postponing any final recommendation until they were clear on what actions the city commission could take.
“At this point, we’re just trying to figure out what happened,” Roberts said.
Sikes said due process entitles the defense to call their own witnesses and examine the past conduct of other commissioners and how the city handled those situations. Hence, the broad records request.
“Both sides get to be heard. That’s due process,” Sikes said, adding that process is not going to be simple. “I know of two witnesses right now that are prepared to testify about a member of the city commission that has been very abusive with various members of city staff. I don’t want to have to go to that, but if I have to call that to level the playing field, I will.”
Roberts said this wasn’t a witch hunt and they didn’t want anyone to be deprived of due process, but legal arguments aside, he said the commission represents the entire city and its employees, and from that standpoint, he felt there might be more to hear.
“If we’ve got an ad hoc committee to look into this, my point was I want to look into it,” he said. If on the other hand, the city’s counselor says they can’t, then the attorneys should get in a room and work it out, he said.
“The issue is not that you can’t look into it,” Martin said. “I think the issue is, at the end of the day, after you’ve looked into it, you really have nothing there to be able to judge against.”
It’s not the investigation, but what happens after the investigation they are concerned about, Martin said.
While the city charter allows the commission to develop rules and procedures and to punish commissioners for misconduct, those rules and procedures have not been established, and the same is true of standards for conduct.
Smith supported moving forward with creating them, including a policy on communications between commissioners and employees about their work assignments, something he said commissioners are guilty of. Sikes said he’s witnessed it for years.
“We’re going to correct that on our side. I know that’s one of the things I want to come out of this whole procedure,” Smith said, adding it was a positive thing for the city that all of this came to light.
Seeing no need to continue the current investigation, Roberts and Smith voted to suspend the investigation. Sikes withdrew his records request.
“The only thing that we can do, as it relates to this series of events, is focus our attention on preventing them from happening again or equipping ourselves to be able to address them if they do happen again,” Martin said.
