City workers speak out in Troy

The toxic atmosphere surrounding Troy

city government over the past year is negatively impacting its

employees, a few of the city’s 16 workers said during a special

city council meeting last Thursday evening.

City employees have been caught in the

middle of a months-long power struggle between Mayor Don Banning

and the city council. A portion remains mostly quiet about feelings

of uneasiness in the divisive environment. Some complain that

council demands are overwhelming. A few openly accused the council

of seeking retribution for workers who question their tactics.

Some – like Chief of Police Bob McLeod

– just want city business to be carried out. He pleaded with the

mayor and council on Thursday to at least contract out a city

attorney to interpret the law – to help him in his role as chief

and to referee in council-mayor disputes.

“I’ve got policies on my desk that I’m

trying to pass for my officers,” McLeod said. “I’ve got a few

things that I could sure use the help of a city attorney for.”

The two sides refuse to agree on a

candidate for the position that has been vacant since Jan. 1. After

the council voted down the mayor’s choice last month, Banning

advertised the job once more with a March 11 closing date. The

State of Montana is temporarily performing the city’s criminal

prosecution work, but will not help in the civil realm.

Before a discussion about a

councilmember’s grievance with a city employee last Thursday,

Banning pointed out that, per city policy, the council does not

have direct authority over city workers and must go through

him.

“I would suggest getting your personnel

policy out and reading it and learning how it’s handled,” he said

later in the meeting. “It’s not handled by the city council.”

Though Banning is by statute the

administrator over city departments, the council has, on occasion,

flexed its legislative muscle by managing the city through

policies, resolutions and ordinances – a fact that councilmember

Fran McCully was quick to point out.

“The personnel policy actually is a

policy that we should, on a periodic timeframe, be looking at and

seeing if it needs revisions,” she said in response to Banning’s

remark. “A personnel policy isn’t made one day and lasts for 20

years. That’s another policy that needs to be looked at to be

reviewed – and that’s our job.”

One of the meeting’s topics included

that of deputy clerk Tracy Rebo’s actions toward councilmember Phil

Fisher during a prior council meeting. He objected to the way in

which she addressed him, accusing her of throwing papers in his

direction and making a “smart remark” to him after he asked a

question during a tense council meeting.

Rebo said that she had already received

a written reprimand over the matter and that she responded by

apologizing to the mayor and to Fisher for her actions.

“This is the first that we have heard

of this. The very first,” Fisher said, adding that Rebo did not

personally apologize to him.

Rebo then gave an emotional response

about how the council and mayor’s fighting has personally affected

her and other city employees.

“I know some of these other (city

workers), our families, our spouses are suffering because you can’t

get along,” Rebo said. “And you guys are so hardheaded. If you give

in a little bit, you might get a little bit. This has been going on

for 14 months and I can’t take it anymore. I’m about ready to break

down.”

A few employees responded angrily to

the council when the meeting’s other agenda item – a labor union’s

cease and desist letter – was discussed.

A union that represents about six of

the city’s employees threatened to file a formal grievance and

possible lawsuit if the mayor continues to allow members of the

council to have access to employee files without first reviewing

applicable privacy laws.

Members of the council argue that they

have legally reviewed timecards and noted employees’ pay, overtime,

sick leave and vacation in order to assess the city’s financial

situation. Councilmember Phil Fisher said that the former city

attorney had OK’d their request for the information.

“We have a budget to make and the

information we get helps us make our budget and know how much

vacation you’re getting, how much you’ve accrued, because there is

a policy that says you can only accrue so much,” he said.

Union steward Bob Boren disagreed.

“Our wages, overtime, all that – you

are correct, that is public knowledge. Sick leave and vacation

time, that is information between me as a supervisor and my

employee and the mayor,” he said. “If somebody is taking sick leave

– for example, for cancer – you don’t need to know that. The public

doesn’t need to know that.”

The council has, for three consecutive

meetings over the past two weeks, tried to discuss and pass a

resolution to hire an attorney to negotiate a union contract with

workers. Banning has called their proposed resolution out of order

and pointed out that usually the city attorney and mayor negotiate

the contract, which is then subject to the council’s approval.

City worker Dennis Dupis said that the

employees perceive the council’s attempt to hire an attorney for

negotiations as retribution for complaining about their looking at

employee timecards.

McCully responded that it was an

incorrect assumption. Hiring a lawyer for negotiations has been an

ongoing discussion with the county and other cities, she said.

Public works director Dave Norman

responded that trying to hire an attorney when the union members

have not made any demands is clearly a form of punishment.

“You’re willing to spend taxpayers’

money to hire a high-priced attorney to negotiate a contract when

we haven’t even told you what we’re interested in, if we’re even

interested in anything,” he said. “… This came right at the heels

of this cease and desist letter. Right away you slammed this thing

down and then you wonder why we’re angry. That’s obvious, blatant

harassment and intimidation.”

The city has 11 full-time and five

part-time employees, which includes water, sewer and power workers,

as well as members of the police, court and city hall.

Banning continues to refuse to allow

the council to discuss proposed measures until a city attorney is

hired.