Behind the Headlines

A couple things about the story that ran today on the alleged “secret” settlement deal. (Read the story here)

Jerry Oley was not questioning whether Mr. Berns was fired. It was pretty clear that he was fired and Mr. Oley said something to the effect of it was a pretty sweet deal for someone who was an at-will employee (no contract) who had been fired. There was a little mix up in the editing process. It was my fault - I wasn’t clear about what I was saying in the story.

Also, in the web version of the story, the sidebar with details of the contract didn’t appear as they did in the print version. Here is what the sidebar said:

“The agreement stated that Mr. Berns could not seek any legal retribution against the county or the 911 board authority for any reason if he signed. Here are some of the provisions of the settlement agreement:
• The county will pay $50,000 in severance, minus state, federal and local income tax withholdings to Mr. Berns.
• The county will also pay $10,126.37 for accrued but unused vacation and sick days as of Dec. 31, 2007.
• Should Mr. Berns participate in the county-sponsored health, dental or vision plans, the county will pay the monthly COBRA premiums for up to eight months, starting in January of 2008.
• He will remain on paid administrative leave until Dec. 31, 2007.
• All records of discipline will be purged from the personnel file.
• Mr. Berns can still call on the county for written or phone references.
• The county agreed not to oppose his application for unemployment.
• Mr. Berns agreed not to disparage or demean the county or the people outlined in an earlier provision.
The agreement was signed by Charles Londo, county administrator and chief financial officer, Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield and Mr. Berns and went into effect on Dec. 28, 2007.”

One reader emailed me after reading the story and asked a great question. He wondered where the funding for the 911 board comes from - i.e. is the county contributing to it, “which would justify Mr. Oley’s concerns”?

Here was my reply:
“From what I understand, the county board does supply the Central Dispatch department with budgeted funds and, as listed in the line item budget, the position was considered a central dispatch position. Essentially that means the county supplies the money for the job. However, once money is allocated to an authority – which falls under a different class of organizational structure – the county doesn’t really have much say in what they do with it. So, it’s not a very straightforward answer. This is just what I’ve found out and I need to verify it to see what is the real deal here.”

To take it further, the Ambulance Authority is a separate budget item, but is also supplied money through the county. As an authority it has certain autonomy, very much like the community mental health board authority. The county commissioners appoint the board members but don’t have direct oversight like they would a committee.