CLEVELAND, Tenn. - A suite of changes for Cleveland's personnel policies, with special attention to disciplinary matters, is scheduled for a Monday vote by the Cleveland City Council.
"This will help us stay out of Chancery Court and out of the front page of the newspaper," Councilman Richard Banks said in September when the city hired Nashville attorney J. Gregory Grisham, a workplace law expert, to assist in the months-long policy review and revision.
A key decision to be made Monday will be whether personnel policies will give employees a means to appeal disciplinary actions.
One proposed personnel revision calls for the city to continue using a third-party attorney, rather than the city manager, for disciplinary appeals. The council adopted that policy in September.
Several current and former employees challenging discipline or termination in court have called the former appeals process improper and a violation of their rights. A recent Chancery Court ruling in a case involving former firefighter Josh Keller essentially stated that the city manager cannot serve both as disciplinarian and hearing officer in a disciplinary appeal.
The other proposed appeals-related option calls for eliminating employee appeals altogether.
An October memo to employees said the city manager, all department heads and all but one member of the city's human resources committee "recommended the removal of the appeals process" and that the Municipal Technical Advisory Service agreed.
The statement was issued in response to a pair of anonymous employee queries cited in the memo. One employee said eliminating appeals was "damaging for city employees."
The proposed personnel revision allows delegation of the power to suspend and fire to department heads instead of concentrating it solely with the city manager.
"The City Manager, or the city manager may, at the manager's discretion, authorize the head of a department or office responsible to the manager to take such actions regarding subordinates in such department or office," according to proposed suspension and dismissal policies.
City Manager Janice Casteel has said several times the proposed policy changes are intended to help the city run "more like a business."
The proposed package also includes a new technology policy to replace a 1993 policy that is limited to excessive or long-distance use of office phones by city employees.
The new policy, proposed by Banks, addresses acceptable and unacceptable uses of city technology and services, including computers, Internet, email and cell phones.
"It is advisable to take into consideration that we have come a long ways in the last 20 years with telecommunications," Banks has said.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.