Firing of High Springs dispatcher unjust, arbitrator rules

An August 2008 decision by High Springs officials to fire a city police dispatcher was “without just cause and due process” and will cost the city thousands of dollars in back pay, a joint arbitrator in the case ruled last week.

Ginger Travers was reinstated with seniority to her position as a dispatcher at the High Springs Police Department and will be reimbursed for all wages and benefits lost since she was terminated Aug. 19, 2008. Before she was terminated, Travers had worked as a customer service clerk, police dispatcher and police chief’s administrative assistant since she was hired by the city in 1981.

Arbitrator Roger C. Williams of Tuscaloosa, Ala., delivered the ruling Dec. 29 after being appointed mediator to the wrongful termination case between Travers, who was represented by the North Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, and the City of High Springs.

The city fired Travers for insubordination when she allegedly violated a written order from High Springs Police Chief James Troiano that instructed her to “not talk to anyone other than her attorney, PBA representative, and the investigator,” about an internal investigation concerning Travers ongoing at the time, according to the arbitration document.

However, Williams ruled Troiano’s order in itself was “not a lawful order” because it violated Travers’ First Amendment rights of freedom of speech; therefore she did not “refuse” to obey the order and was unjustly terminated. He added that even if her disobedience had fit the department’s definition of insubordination, her misconduct would not have been serious enough to merit termination.

Troiano issued Travers the order to not discuss her ongoing investigation when he appointed Sgt. Antoine Sheppard in August 2008 to investigate allegations that Travers made inappropriate statements to Finance Technician Yolanda “Lani” Bowden regarding the police department and Troiano’s personal life.

These remarks stemmed from Troiano’s decision to demote Travers from administrative assistant to police dispatcher after he reopened a case concerning Travers falsifying training records in 2007, before Troiano joined the department. According to the arbitration document, Travers allegedly told Bowden that she had been unfairly disciplined and that Troiano replaced her with the new administrative assistant Shelley Moore because she was 27-years-old.

Her termination came when she later asked Bowden privately what she was being investigated for, which the city argued was a breach of a High Springs Police Department Directive to not talk about the investigation.

The falsified records investigation

One month after joining the department in March 2008, Troiano initiated an investigation into Travers concerning an allegation that she had falsified training records in 2007 while working as administrative assistant to then Police Chief Ray Kaminskas. According to arbitration documents, Travers did admit to falsifying at least one report which she knew was false, but that she had done so under direction of Kaminskas and then Captain Arvey Bass.

At the time of the falsification, Lt. Gordon Fulwood ordered Officer Steve Holley to audit training records and when it was discovered training records had been falsified, Fulwood notified Kaminskas on Aug. 30, 2007, but Kaminskas died one day later.

Acting as police chief upon Kaminskas’ death, Fulwood told City Manager James Drumm that he thought Travers should be fired for the falsifications but that at the same time he needed her in the department. According to Williams’ arbitration document, Fulwood suggested the city “rectify the training deficiencies by training the police officers as quickly as possible” and punish Travers by lowering her rating on her yearly performance appraisal.

Drumm agreed and assured Fulwood he had authority to deal with the falsification, and no internal investigation was held. The low score on Travers’ October 2007 appraisal made her ineligible for a pay raise for six months and also cost her a 3 percent pay raise.

It is also noted that Travers said she was only responsible for preparing and submitting training reports to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement under Kaminskas’ orders, and that it was the police chief’s responsibility to confirm the accuracy of the information in records and if the officers completed the training. When she heard Fulwood had discovered her role in falsification, she offered to resign but Drumm assured her the issue was “over.”

When Troiano reopened the case in April 2008 after taking his position as police chief one month earlier, he determined she had violated policy by falsifying documents and demoted Travers from administrative assistant to police dispatcher. He then filled the administrative assistant vacancy with Shelly Moore, who is no longer with the department.

Next Investigation

Troiano then called for the August 2008 investigation upon verbal allegations made by Bowden to Finance Director Helen McIver and Deputy City Clerk Jenny Parham that Travers indeed made comments about Troiano’s personal affairs to Bowden.

Sgt. Antoine Sheppard then conducted interviews with Bowden, McIver, Parham and Travers and concluded Travers spoke with Bowden in a private conversation about her demotion and her opinions about her replacement. Bowden then told McIver about Travers’ remarks, who then told Parham.

It was during these interviews that Travers was given the written order to “not talk to anyone other than her attorney, PBA representative, and the investigator” while Troiano and Sheppard investigated to see if she had violated the police department’s code of conduct with her comments.

According to the arbitration documents, Sheppard’s testimony and Bowden’s sworn statement revealed that on Aug. 6, 2008, Travers talked to Bowden about the ongoing investigation by saying “I’m going to break a rule…What the hell is going on?”

It was reported that after subsequent interviews, Sheppard was unable to prove Travers’ guilt or innocence concerning her remarks about Troiano’s personal life, because Travers claimed Bowden also made personal remarks about Troiano.

Sheppard was however able to confirm that Travers communicated with Bowden about the ongoing investigation. This, city officials believe, gave Troiano and the city grounds to fire her in August 2008 for violating a department directive because she did not adhere to his order to not discuss the case with other parties.

Troiano said Tuesday the department does not plan to appeal Williams’ decision to reinstate Travers, but he said the ruling that a police department can not direct an employee to remain silent about an internal investigation is a baffling idea.

“How can you run a law enforcement agency, and not order someone not to do something?” Troiano asked. “That’s the heart and soul of an agency is to keep secrets when they need to. It’s confusing to us because we don’t believe [Williams] properly used the law to render that part of the decision, but he made the decision and we’ll honor it, but we want clarification because it affects us and potentially every law enforcement agency in the state.”