BY TRACY TATE
Telegraph Staff Writer
LAKE BUTLER — The City of Lake Butler will soon begin the search for a new city manager as the city board of commissioners voted unanimously to terminate their employment of City Manager Dale Walker, the day before his fourth anniversary in the position.
The move came at the end of the third meeting where Walker’s spending and job performance were questioned. Among the issues leading to the firing were questionable charges on the city credit cards and decisions made by Walker, including policy changes that were never brought before the commission for approval.
The motion to terminate Walker was made by Commissioner Melissa Hendrix, who has been spending hours looking at the budget, the financial reports and the credit card statements for the past two years. One instance, reported to the commission by Hendrix, involved a change in city policy allowing employees to buy out a portion of their accumulated unused sick leave and vacation pay, rather than having to wait until they left their job or retired.
An email, dated July 8, 2022, from Walker to then mayor Jack Schenck was distributed to the commissioners in which Walker seemed to be continuing a discussion with Schenck concerning the accumulated sick and vacation leave, calling it “a liability” for the city that, under the policy then in effect, would be paid to them when they left city employment at their salary at the time of separation.
Walker proposed to Schenck that the city buy back these hours at the employee’s request “at the discretion of the city manager if the city has enough cash available to accomplish the sell back.” Also included was the provision that the city manager was responsible “to determine and oversee that the hours owed are sufficient for the sell back will not harm them” should they need to use sick leave or take a vacation.
The email continues, informing Schenck that if he agreed, Walker would put the proposal in the personnel policy, then goes on to say that “as a test case, I (Walker) will redeem 600 hours of sick leave at my current salary. It will be added to the next pay period and taxes will be taken out of the larger amount.”
The document was signed by Walker and also by Schenck, over the words “accept and agree.” The sell back resulted in Walker receiving gross earnings for the month of July 2022 of $31,752. 38.
While the policy change was accepted and agreed to by Schenck, the change was never brought before the commission for approval as it should have been.
In her motion, Hendrix stated that Walker was not managing his staff and not doing the job he was hired to do.
“I do not know how much of this lack of transparency we can handle and this cannot continue,” Hendrix said. “We don’t even know what we don’t know about all that has been done. ”
Acting Mayor Annette Redman, with tears in her eyes, commented before the vote, saying, “Some things were not brought to us that should have been and things were never brought back to us to make the decisions.”
As the commission voted on Hendrix’s motion, the large number of citizens who had come to hear the meeting said “Aye” along with the commissioners and then applauded the decision. Walker was terminated on the spot, with his keys and city vehicle taken away, and he was prohibited from removing anything from his office at that time.
The Lake Butler City Commission has put out a request for resumes to be considered at a special meeting on March 7 for the selection of an interim city manager to serve while they search for someone for the permanent position. Persons willing to serve as an interim manager must be Union County residents and submit their resume to city hall no later than 5 p.m. on March 6.
All applicants will be posted on the city website prior to the meeting.
Until an interim manager is selected, Finance Director/Asst. City Clerk John Sapp will assume the role of Interim City Clerk. This will ensure that the city can do business as needed, writing checks and using a single credit card for city purchases and business. Redman will approve and sign all checks and approve all charges.
The commission is currently awaiting a forensic audit report on city spending under Walker’s leadership — a special audit that will have a different focus than the annual audit that determines if financial statements offer a fair assessment of financial position. Forensic audits aim to uncover improprieties and fraud.
