The former director of the Jasper County 9-1-1 dispatch center said the chairman of the board of the center has denied him a hearing to appeal his firing by the board earlier this month.
Rich Nordell, the fired director of the center, said he received a three-sentence letter refusing to let Nordell appeal his firing before the board.
Board Chairman Kelly Stephens said the Emergency Services policy does not provide a grievance hearing for the director.
He said the director works directly for the board. The director hires and fires the people who work below that position and those people are afforded the opportunity to have a hearing with the board if the director fires them.
The director, however, works directly for the board and that person does not have the opportunity for a hearing.
“For the director, his process was that board vote,” Stephens said. “The board voted and made its decision.”
Nordell was fired on Feb. 9 after a closed session of the Emergency Services Board. The vote was 4-1 with Stephens, Directors Jeff Merriman and Carl Francis, both from the western district, and Larry Newman, an eastern district director voting yes. Director Bill Lyscio, from the western district, voted no. William “Butch” Rowland and Dan Stanley, both from the eastern district, were absent from the meeting.
Stephens did not say on Feb. 10 why Nordell was fired, saying it was a personnel matter.
He said the board will “look for someone who can communicate very well with the chiefs. . .”
A number of area fire chiefs attended an Emergency Services board meeting on Feb. 16 and presented a letter to the board protesting Nordell’s firing but the board did not respond to the letter.
Nordell said on Saturday Stephens made the decision denying him a hearing without consulting with the rest of the board.
He had planned to release to the public the reasons the board gave him for his firing at a hearing with the board.
Stephens said he consulted with the board’s attorney and didn’t have to consult with the board when the
When asked if he considered letting Nordell air his views, Stephens said; “No.”
“We’re moving on,” Stephens said. “We’re taking resumes and looking at moving on.”
Nordell said he planned to meet with his attorney later next week to decide his next step.
“This is about principle,” Nordell said. “If this group doesn’t have the honor to realize what they’ve done is wrong, what will they do in the future? Everyone I’ve talked to said they don’t know what the board was thinking. Past employers and others have told me to fight this.
“Who’s above the board, the attorney general’s office, the ethics commission? Everyone knows what they’ve done is wrong.”
