The ongoing dispute between the City of Meridian’s Chief Administrative Officer and parts of the City Council continued Tuesday, with the council considering an order to authorize an investigation into the CAO position.

In the last month, the council voted to cut the pay of CAO Richie McAlister to $0, citing job performance, but Mayor Percy Bland vetoed the order.

Ward 5 tepresentative Weston Lindemann, longtime critic of Bland’s administration and McAlister, introduced an order to authorize a council investigation at the April 16 meeting but the council voted to table the item. Lindemann re-introduced the motion Tuesday.

“Basically the council will have the full authority to determine scope of the investigation (and) the process of the investigation,” Lindemann said. 

Lindemann’s proposal would rescind the section of the municipal code that authorized the CAO, temporarily eliminating the position through the course of the investigation to reduce potential interference, Lindemann said. 

“The council has the authority to investigate any part of the municipal government as a whole, not as an individual,” Bill Hammack, one of the city’s attorneys, said. “If you rescind the ordinance providing for the position of the CAO, the city will not have a CAO for the duration of the investigation.”

Bland asked the council to move past the dispute, which has continued for more than a year.

“At some point we need to move forward. We can’t continue to just throw spaghetti at the wall and think that we’re going to get some results as far as an investigation,” Bland said. “Councilman Lindemann doesn’t even know what he wants to investigate; he just wants this man removed from his position. I think we need to, in good governance, just move forward.”

Bland told the council he would veto any actions taken by the council and that McAlister would remain in the position unless the council cut the CAO position out of the upcoming year’s budget.

“Whatever you guys do right now will be vetoed and we’ll just be right back in the same place where no action was taken,” Bland said. “For the sake of the 42,000 people that we represent, can we please move forward?”

Bland publicly apologized to each council representative during mayor comments at the end of the meeting. 

“Apologies without changes is called manipulation,” Houston said during her council comments.

Other council members echoed the idea of moving forward, with Tyrone Johnson the president of the council, urging council members to expand the investigation’s parameters, if necessary, but also focus on other city issues.

“As it relates to the investigation, as a council (and) as a body, I wouldn’t mind doing it but individually, I don’t want to just target this position,” Johnson, the representative for Ward 2, said, asking to expand it to employee complaints and the Civil Service Commission. “But (this) is really holding up progress … We should be trying to figure out how to get more jobs to Meridian; how we’re going to build up morale for city employees; how we’re going to take care of paving. We need to talk about crime and how to increase revenue in this city.”

With a lack of consensus on the scope of the investigation, the council decided to let the motion die and bring it up at a work session next week after city attorneys could research the issue.

“If this is going to happen, I think the help of our legal counsel is really needed,” Houston said. “I just think we could get to a better place rather than discussing this in front of all these people.” 

Houston, Johnson and Lindemann all seemed to be interested in interviewing city employees about their job satisfaction and giving them an open, protected space to talk about their complaints.

Thomas and Bland both pointed to the Civil Service Commission, saying that would be the appropriate place to discuss these concerns.

“The Civil Service Commission is a system that is set up to provide that for employees,” Thomas said. “That’s why the Civil Service is there – to protect employees.”

Following the meeting, Bland repeated that the commission is designed to be a resource.

“We don’t get involved in any of those things (before the Civil Service),” Bland said. “Sometimes they rule with the administration and sometimes they rule with the employee. The bottom line is I appoint someone and the city council confirms.”

Thomas also noted that with budget discussions approaching, the council should turn their attention to that.

“We’re not spending enough time on the projects we should be focusing on,” Thomas said. “We continue to debate problems rather than look at solutions… (such as) paving, vacant and abandoned homes, Crossroads (II), we have stores closing … those are some of the things we have to deal with.”

Houston, Johnson and Lindemann said that some employees didn’t seem to have any confidence in the civil service commission. 

“We hear often that many employees with complaints at Civil Service have been compromised,” Houston said. “If our employees are unhappy, it affects job performance.”

Lindemann went further, saying employees didn’t trust their complaints at Human Resources or the Equal Opportunity Office.

“Most employees know that Human Resources and the Equal Opportunity Officer does not keep their complaints in confidence and shares them with the mayor’s office,” Lindemann said. “Additionally, there are complaints brought up that are not followed up on.”

This distrust factored into Johnson’s and Houston’s desire to give employees a platform to talk about their dissatisfaction, expanding a potential investigation beyond McAlister and into employee morale in general.

“We can put the employee on record and give the mayor the opportunity to take action or ignore it,” Houston said. “I think everybody is at a point now where they want change … by having an investigation, it will give us the power to dig deeper and let employees know they’re protected.”

“(But) we don’t want anyone to be anonymous,” Johnson said. “In return, their jobs are protected.”

Houston, Johnson and Lindemann all voted to cut McAlister’s pay to $0 in April.

“The mayor chooses to hold onto this young man even though the majority of the council has said they have no confidence in him,” Houston said. 

Lindemann said he wanted to continue to dig into payroll discrepancies he’d previously highlighted but had been told he could only access certain records in a council investigation.

“Originally, I wanted to be as broad as possible,” Lindemann said. “But after talking to other councilmembers, I think we’ll want to prioritize employee interviews and inspect employee pay records.”

At least two former department heads have named McAlister in legal filings against the city: Bunky Partridge, who oversaw community development, and Kelvin McGruder, who oversaw Parks and Recreation. Neither suit has reached a conclusion.

Lindemann cited litigation, such as those, as a reason for prioritizing the investigation over other issues.

“When you count up the wasted money and lawsuits … to me, it’s the highest priority,” Lindemann said. “We can’t address other issues like paving until we address this.”

Bland stood behind McAlister, saying his background made him an asset to Bland’s administration.

“We have a lot of projects coming up that (McAlister) has been the point person on,” Bland said, naming 22nd Avenue’s revitalization, a sidewalk project in Ward 4, the Threefoot Building, the Children’s Museum and an as-yet-unannounced project at Old Village Fair Mall.

“If I have been the problem, I won’t be anymore. (McAlister) definitely won’t be the problem,” Bland said. “We’re on the horizon to do major things. (McAlister)’s background and experience but him in a position that he’s uniquely qualified for.”