Emotions boil over during Rockville Town Council meeting

While the weather outside the Rockville Town Hall Monday may have been cool, it was anything but inside the town board meeting room, as emotions and cries of personal attacks boiled over during the first meeting of the year. 

At the center of the emotional discussion during the two-and-a-half hour marathon meeting was the job description for Doug Gordon, who currently serves as the Utility Superintendent for the town. 

Last month, the board voted 3-2 in favor of stripping administrative duties from Rockville Town Clerk-Treasurer Brandy Asher and giving them to Gordon on top of his duties within the utility department. 

Councilman Steve Waltz said the board was looking to take Gordon's current job and give it a new name, job description and the same salary. That sparked a several minutes long conversation on what Gordon's job title should be before councilman Dave Brown posed a question about compensation. 

"How does compensation work? He has base pay right now. What happens if we dismiss him, then what happens," Brown asked. 

Board president Liddy Dowd-Wright reminded Brown that Gordon will be adding on job duties outside of his job as the Utilities Director, which has him on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

"I understand that, but my question is how will his hours be broken down. I spoke with our attorney and he suggested talking to the labor board. I want to make sure we don't hurt you," Brown told Gordon. 

The issue of what duties will be transferred from Asher to Gordon was one that was discussed with no real solution, as councilman Parke Swaim admitted he did not know what duties will be shifted around. 

"We did away with the town administration role that Brandy did. We paid $25,000 and wanted to know what we paid for. Three of us voted to do away with it," Swaim said. 

That generated a response from Asher, who fired back at Swaim, asking what were the board's expectations for her.

"The employer asked the employee for a job description. That doesn't happen in any other job. Why don't you put your expectations together. I believe this was intentionally driven towards me and two others were caught up in it," Asher said, noting that as a result of the board stripping her of duties, Gordon and Cody Hafner, who is a firefighter and building commissioner. 

Swaim said there were no plans for grants or development, and Asher pressed the issue, asking what plans the town had to move forward 

"There was a job description and we decided to split the responsibilities between you and Doug. You would handle the inside, and Doug would do the outside. We were in the middle of a couple multi million dollar projects, but those projects are gone," Swaim explained to Asher. 

Asher again asked if there were no plans moving forward. 

"Well, moving forward, hopefully, some day, there will be some. Again, help me understand what it is you did," Swaim said. 

Again, Asher told the board she felt the decision was a personal one against her, and mentioned she no longer had any interest in hearing the words "State Board of Accounts" when talking about the job she did. 

"State Board of Accounts said they don't have a problem with it, as long as there is time kept. That is what the audit says, so this saying it is muddying the waters because I was carrying two different positions is absolutely a false statement per what it states in the audit. What are you doing moving forward? Just because you don't have a project, you don't need anyone doing anything. You don't know what I was doing," Asher said, adding she felt like it was a "take away" from her.  

Dowd-Wright tried to silence the conversation. 

"This isn't productive conversation. The action has been taken. You cannot speak for what I intended or did not intend. It has nothing to do with, personally, for or against anyone," Dowd-Wright told Asher. 

The newly voted town board president continued, telling Asher all the projects and grants have gone away and there was no need for an additional $25,000 to be paid. 

"I don't feel like $25,000 additional compensation, I don't feel like we have what you were doing at that time. We don't have any plans right now, and we don't have any grants," Dowd-Wright said.

Asher refused to back down, asking again if there was a need for anyone doing any clerical or town administrative needs. 

"Some of the things you were doing, you said you will no longer be doing. Therefore, someone will be doing them, and Doug has agreed to do them," Dowd-Wright said. 

Asher asked again if Gordon would be doing the administrative duties, prompting Dowd-Wright to curb public comment and try to silence the comments. 

"It sounds like we are at a standstill, and it sounds like there is some concern over Doug's salary," Swaim said. 

Brown said it was clear that Gordon had a job. 

"He has a job. We know what that job is, how much he is getting paid and if something happens and we are not happy with the job performance and decide he is going to be dismissed, number one is he going to retain his old job and how is that going to work with what we are calling him? I want to be clear because we haven't been very clear in the past. That is all I am asking," Brown said. 

Waltz said there is a job description for Gordon and he is paid what was agreed upon. In the event the board is not happy with what Gordon is doing, but wants to retain Gordon in another capacity, it will have to be broken out again into two separate jobs. 

"We need our attorney, and he's not here tonight. We do something or we wait and do something when our attorney is here. He knows we need an answer. We can talk and take comment all night, but we need that information. Waltz said, adding he would be in favor of making a motion to table the discussion. 

Dowd-Wright said she would call town attorney Nick Sauter to figure out when he would be available and could meet with the town. Gordon noted to the board that his current role was set to expire at midnight on Jan. 5 and inquired what would happen while they waited for this meeting. 

The board voted in favor of extending the current plan until the end of the month, as they worked to schedule a meeting with Sauter.