Calvin, Jerry - Testimony Transcript

Transcript of the Testimony of Jerry Calvin
Date: December 4, 2013 Volume: I Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
Printed On: December 18, 2013
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc. Phone: 417-358-4078 Fax: 417-451-1114 Email:daholliday@hotmail.com Internet:
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Joplin Critical Investigation
Page 1
IN RE:
JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION
SWORN STATEMENT OF
JERRY CALVIN
Taken on Wednesday, December 4, 2013, from 2:57 p.m. to 3:57 p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626 S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of Missouri, before SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650, a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc. 417-358-4078
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 2
APPEARANCES
MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE Loraine & Associates, LLC 4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300 Osage Beach, MO 65065
tellaw@loraineandassociates.com
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
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S T I P U L A T I O N
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and afterwards reduced into typewriting. It is further stipulated that the signature of the witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of said witness shall be of the same force and effect as though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 4 I N D E X Page/Line DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4
E X H I B I T S
Exhibit #A.
5-8
Advice of Rights
Exhibit #44
43-25
Mr. Calvin's outline
Note:
Exhibits in separate binder
(sic) - typed as spoken (ph.) - phonetic
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. JERRY CALVIN Having been first duly sworn and examined, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE: Q. A. Q. Sir, what is your name for the record? Jerry Calvin. Mr. Calvin, have you been handed this Advice of Rights form, Exhibit #A? Yes, sir. And have you read that thoroughly? Yes, sir. Sir, I am compelled to read it to you just as a matter of procedure so I'm going to do that. "I wish to advise you that you are
being questioned as part of an official investigation by the City of Joplin. will be asked questions related and specifically directed to the performance of your official duties of fitness for office. You are entitled to all the rights and privileges guaranteed by the laws of the Constitution of the State and the Constitution of the United States, including the right not to be compelled to incriminate yourself. I further wish to advise you that You
Jerry Calvin
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Page 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. if you refuse to testify or to answer questions relating to the performance of your official duties, you will be subject to departmental charges, which could result in your dismissal from your official duties. you do answer these statements may be used against you in relation to subsequent departmental charges, but not in any subsequent criminal proceedings. I have read If
and fully understand the Advice of Rights as it appears above. This information has also
been read to me prior to answering any questions." You understood what I said?
(Nodding head) And my understanding is that was a yes for the record? Yes. I'm sorry. It's my understanding
That was Exhibit #A.
you no longer work for the City of Joplin? That's correct. You told me that in the hall and this isn't really applicable to you so it could be uniform so I know everybody here is at least trying to tell me the truth I'd like you to execute that, if you would, and date it
Jerry Calvin
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Page 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. December 4th. Sure, I understand. And since you do not work for the City I really appreciate you coming in and subjecting yourself to this nonsense, but I've got a job to do. Well, I do have some love for this city. I know that. In the nine years that I did work here. December 4th. (Witness complies) Mr. Calvin, have you now executed that document, Jerry Calvin, and dated it, I think it's the 4th, isn't it? The 4th. I'm going to scratch that 3 out and make it a 4. Is that okay with you?
That will be fine. Can I witness that then for your signature? Yes, sir. That will be part of the record. Now having
said that could you give me a little background? Tell me, Mr. Calvin, what have
you done in the past with the City of Joplin? My career was Parks and Recreation. I was
Jerry Calvin
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Page 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. A. Q. A. Q. Q. hired here in 1999 as the Director of Parks and Recreation. It was an older parks system
and in need of a lot of tender loving care, TLC, need for a lot of improvements. One of
the first things was a management plan, 10 year Management Plan, and then there was a 10 year Park Master Plan we carried out before we started, all with a lot of citizen input. I'm sorry, what was the second, Master Plan did you say? Park Master Plan. All right. those? Yes, sir. That was probably quite comprehensive and lengthy? Yes, very much so. Took a lot of evidence on that? Yes, the biggest need was to involve citizens because the citizens here had an attitude they don't listen to us and when they do they don't pay any attention to what we tell them, so that was the number one challenge to overcome that. Did a good job and we got And you were part of both of
finished, particularly the Park Master Plan,
Jerry Calvin
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Page 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. Q. Q. A. Q. A. A. Q. standing room only in the Council chambers the night the Council approved that. What did you do before you came to work here as Parks and Recreation Department Head? I was the Director of Parks and Recreation in Mulberry, Missouri for 23 years. I know where that is. 23 years. Wow.
Planned on being there 3 to 5. That's a big growing city now, isn't it? Well, it's been kind of stagnant. I thought
it would take off a little bit when they put dual lane all the way. They put that hospital in there, though, now. A. Right. I thought there would have been more
people from the Columbia area move into there, but I think the thing that hurts it they've got the Mulberry Medium Security Prison immediately south of town and I'm thinking maybe that years ago when they accepted that payroll they also accepted some of the negative that goes along with it. Well, people are worried about those guys getting out, I guess. It seemed like if they
got out the best thing they could do is get far away pretty quick.
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Page 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. A. Q. A. Q. Q. A. Well, not only that, but when they come there in prison all their families and all their social problems that are attached to them also come up. Oh, I didn't know that. That is negative. for coming in here. Didn't realize that.
I want to thank you again Tell me, when did you
get your retirement with the City? May 2008. Was that a full retirement? Full retirement, yes. And you went out with not being driven out or anything by anybody? It was my free choice to retire, but there was an awful lot of pressure. The first five
years I was here was the best five years in my professional career. got a lot done. Very enjoyable. We
The last four years I worked
was pure hell, just to put it. Why was it? me? Had a very strong City Manager named Steve Lewis that hired me in here and when he left the individual that they employed just wiped the expertise, the leadership skills, the Can you explain a little bit to
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Page 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. Q. ethical professional skills that you want with somebody in that position. And you're referring to the replacement of Steve Lewis? That's correct. And who was that? Mark Rohr. And he's still the City Manager as I understand it? Yes, he is. Can you explain a little bit as to your experience with Mr. Rohr's techniques of management or lack thereof or knowledge, you said he had no knowledge? little bit to me. His relations with his department heads as an example, he always gave the impression to me that he didn't want to be bothered, it was beneath him to meet with City staff. Prior Explain that a
to his arrival we used to have a City staff meeting every Monday morning, and I found that to be very beneficial because when you're out and about in the community you're not only asked questions about your department, but you're also asked about other
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Page 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 areas of the city so these meetings were very good at picking up information of what was going on in other departments and helped you answer some of the citizen questions or inquiries that you ran into when you were out and about. these. Anyway Mr. Rohr did away with
He acted like he just didn't want any He always gave me the
part of them.
impression he really didn't listen or pay attention to questions in meetings. treatment of staff could be compared, contrasted I think with a teacher and kindergarten students. We mentioned earlier His
the Park Management Plan and the Park Master Plan. Prior to his arrival each department
head was to meet with him, so I went through and pulled out all the objectives and goals of both of those plans and gave him a summary statement on each one of them. It was very That way
impressive what we had carried out.
I felt he didn't have to read the entire plan, he had a good summation of what had gone on. He left me the impression - I know
he never did even bother to look at any of those summary statements or ever even look at
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Page 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. Q. the plans because of some of the discussions and things that went on later. So you knew for a fact that he had not looked at it because the questions he later asked would have been answered had he looked at them? Is that what you're telling me?
He never asked questions and we never revisited either one of those plans again. So you know from his actions then that he had not read them. How do you know that?
Primarily because again the goals and objectives contained in the plan, he had no knowledge of any of those and didn't seem to really want to acquire a knowledge of what was left to be completed. Like I said we
made good progress in carrying out all those goals and objectives and we were about at year five and we were way ahead of schedule, probably better than 50 percent of those things had been completed on the 10 year plan. But for whatever reason he gave me the
impression that he just really didn't care anything about it. And none of those goals were then subsequently achieved, I guess?
Jerry Calvin
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Page 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Right. Okay. Any time he was in contact he gave the impression he already had formed his opinion and really didn't care about my input, and regardless of whatever the results of the meeting it was up to me to carry out his directions even if I felt they were wrong. Overall I hated to be called to meetings in his office because, well, - I'm trying to think. Bully I guess would be the most Now he wasn't interested in
practical terms.
anything I had to offer even with all my experience and education and background and everything else. And then the driving thing
when he while he was here was an individual that became Mayor name of Jon Tupper. Jon
Tupper ran a shirt screening business here in the community and he was also very involved in the Joplin Sports Authority, which turned out to be a big conflict of interest because his big interest in it was in selling shirts at the different events that came in here. He would know he wasn't supposed to be doing that. And then when somebody called him on
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Page 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. it he just sidestepped it and hired some lady to sell the shirts and set it up like it was her business even though it wasn't. Mark
knew all these things, but he never did anything on my behalf to stop the bullying and the things that were going on. This guy
was going out into the park settings telling some of my employees don't listen to all this stuff that Calvin tells you, we're going to drive him out of here. If you don't want
somebody you just harass them until they finally give up and retire, which I guess I finally did because it got to a point it wasn't fun going to work anymore. Had a very
enjoyable career and thank God I was at a position I could make that decision and walk away from it. Mark allowed him to micromanage you as a Mayor? Yeah, he was -Tupper? No, the Charter very specifically says what all the different relationships are to be, and he's not supposed to go out and give direction to City employees. City employees
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Page 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. aren't supposed to go to the Council members or to the Mayor with gripes or complaints. mean the lines are set up. arbitrator in all this. And you made Mark aware of what Tupper was doing? He was aware of all this stuff that went on, but he did nothing to take care of it. Where And Mark is the I
it finally all blew up is after I was out about two weeks everyone all of a sudden said, well, we were under the impression that Calvin was going to work for 10 or 12 years and here it is, he's retired early. that? Why is
And then the newspaper started digging
in and I don't know where they got their information, but someone must have tipped them off to all the different things that was going on because all of a sudden the Globe was requesting all the email and any correspondence between the Mayor, the City Manager, between the City Manager and myself. I had two files that thick (indicating) because I never did anything with any of them that I didn't keep a copy of it. You're indicating with your fingers 3 inches
Jerry Calvin
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Page 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. in thickness? Yes, two files like that. Anyway, the last
staff meeting, one of the few staff meetings he called that I attended, it almost had to be my last week there, when the staff meeting was over Mark pulls me aside, he says, I just wanted you to know that the Mayor threatened to get rid of me if I didn't get rid of you, the Recreation Manager, and the Memorial Hall Manager. I said, oh, is that right? And I
thought, now is a heck of a fine time to be making a move for becoming aware that there's action that needs to be taken with this guy. I didn't say anything, I just went on back to my office and then I called the Recreation Manager and I called the Memorial Hall Manager and I told both of them I'm going to send you an email here in a little bit that covers the conversation I just had with Mark and telling them what he had to say. I want
this in hard copy because I said the Globe is starting to inquire, they're going to come in here wanting all the email traffic and I think it would be good if that was part of the record, and they both agreed and I sent
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Page 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. them an email telling them exactly what Mark had told in the conference that we had. Well, a couple of weeks goes by and then all of a sudden I hear there's a big investigation underway by the H.R. Director checking out on all these charges we had on this guy. We had employees that had given
statements on what he had told them about harassing me until I left. On what guy? that? The Mayor. Different things that he gone You said on this guy. Who is
out, you know, gone out and told employees we're just going to harass Calvin until he leaves and bring -So how many other people told you that the Mayor had told them that you were going to be harassed until you left? Yes, and there was a written record of that. My Parks Manager went out and this kid signed off, yeah, that's what he told me. Okay,
that's relations with department heads. Professionalism. Mark often bragged that he
had never attended a professional organization or professional education
Jerry Calvin
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Page 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. meeting. It was really tough sitting there
and not coming back and saying, yes, and it obviously shows. We had a really good I was a
professional organization here.
Certified Professional by the National Recreation Park Association, the Recreation Manager was certified, and basically to keep that certification you have to attend 20 hours of continuing education workshops every year. When I got here they had never
bothered to give some of the training to the Parks Manager that they should. They hadn't
sent him to any of the Playground Safety Institutes, they hadn't sent him to any of the ADA compliance workshops. to that position. got him enrolled. All critical
So I took care of that and All my staff people that
were under me were -What was that guy's name? Steve Curry. people. All of them were excellent
If they hadn't have been with all
the harassment and junk that was going on during that four year period we wouldn't have been able to build what we were supposed to be doing. I mean it was just that bad. It
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Page 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 was just crazy stuff constantly going on. think some of it may have to do - now I'm getting into a little bit of speculation. I I
think the employment process when they hired Mark may have been just a little flawed, and I base that on it seemed like to me the three finalists including Mark really didn't measure up to what I thought we should have been looking for for a City Manager for Joplin. Steve Lewis may have spoiled me. I
mean everything by the book, all the T's crossed, all the I's dotted. And I think,
too, in all fairness the Council at that time, they wanted more control, more say in how things were being run, and I think with Steve leaving they saw that as an opportunity. So I think Mark in a lot of
ways was hired in here to be a yes man, whatever Council wants that's the way it's going to be regardless without all the other rules, regulations, policies and everything else that needed to be, any decisions that are ever made when it comes to the City. And
I'm going to come back to and say this, as a profession at that time I recall reading an
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Page 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 article in the New York Times and I remember the statement out of that article was that there was a 70, 75 percent shortage of people that were qualified for city administrator or city manager positions in this country. was the article and that was included. That Now
what they based that on I don't know, but I take it that somebody did some research on it. And then in some of the stories I get
from some of my friends in other communities and other places I'd say, yeah, so people that they are getting for city managers this day and age lack a lot. I think one of his
biggest problems is not only the lack of, this lack of professional direction or guidance to the Council. My feeling is I
shouldn't be here talking to you today and most of that is because Mark does not provide professional guidance to the Council. doesn't head off problems. He
When individual
Council people get on a terror like this Mayor was with me he should have come back with something along the lines of, well, I think this is something we need to take to the entire Council. He didn't want to face
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Page 22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that pressure himself or if he couldn't handle it himself. He also puts out an
attitude or a projection of not really being interested in anything other than what his expertise is. Downtown area is basically
what I'm talking about. That's where a lot of his attention, an awful lot of man hours and everything else has gone to the downtown area. And I don't disagree with that, the
downtown looks pretty nice now and there needed to be some improvements, but I don't think that has to be at the expense of everything else that's going on in the City. A lot of people are amazed at all the different things that the City can be responsible for. And of course all the
citizens out there, the thing they're most interested in is what affects them. Whether
it's a pothole in front of their house or whatever, that's what they're interested in. I think there's definitely a lack of concern about the ramifications, the results of his direction or orders until it's too late. shoots too late from the hip and again doesn't ask for the input that he should He
Jerry Calvin
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Page 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. before he pulls the trigger a lot of times. Doesn't know how to use his professionals, huh? Yeah, and I'll give you a good example. of many I could give you, but just a good example. We were finishing up the Cunningham One
Park Family Aquatic Center. We were down to a point where I called in the architect engineering firm from Kansas City and then the local contractor was completing the project because we were close enough I wanted to go through and do a punch list to make sure that we were getting everything done the way that it should be. The guy from Kansas
City arrives and the contractor shows up and we haven't been talking about what needs to be done five minutes until my cell phone rings. It's Mark's secretary, Vicki. Vicki
says, Jerry, Mark needs to talk to you right now, and I said, Vicki, I'm just right into the middle of a meeting I called and one of the individuals has traveled all the way from Kansas City. I told her what I was doing.
She said, well, let me check with him right quick. She comes back in a minute or two and
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Page 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 says he wants you in his office right now. So I apologize to the contractor and the architect and engineering firm and I said you all go ahead without me because I've been called to the City Manager's office for some reason and I'll try to get back and catch up with you to make sure we have a clear understanding of where everybody is at. I
get down to Mark's office and Vicki says, oh, Mark doesn't need you now. He took care of So I go on
whatever it was that he needed.
back out to the park and we complete the punch list we were working on. like that just drive you crazy. and ethically is deficient. Just stuff Mark morally
When he left
Piqua, Ohio he had become involved with a city employee there and ended up having to marry her, and then there was a messy divorce and all of that blew up when he left there. He had been here about two months, we had employed a gal. The City of Joplin has one
of the largest cemetery operations in the State of Missouri municipally owned, four large cemeteries and some of them go back a hundred years. Nobody had ever bothered to
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Page 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 computerize any of the records. I mean we
had old records written out on Red Chief tablets. It was that bad. Anyway Steve
Lewis before he left gave me permission to hire a part-time employee to come in and work several hours a day and get these records all computerized so we weren't such a rag-tag outfit when it came to our cemetery operations. I hired a young gal name of A sharp gal, attractive, and
Regina Goodwin.
had the brain power we needed to pull all that stuff together and computerize it. After Mark had been here about two months she comes into my office one morning and closes the door, which is something that always scares you when an employee does that to begin with, but she said, Jerry, I just wanted you to know something up front. said, oh, what's that? are dating. I said, oh. I
She said Mark and I She says, what do
you think about that, and I said, well, Regina, I guess in a way it's none of my business unless it starts affecting my business. I said, but that's something
that's definitely between Mark and the
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Page 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Council, that they might have an interest in. I'm going to let you know right up front on that. She says I promise you it will never I
interfere with the work situation here. said okay.
That goes on for about two weeks
and then she comes back one Monday morning, closes the door again and she says, Mark has told me that we could have a much better relationship if I didn't work here, and I said, well, Regina, I can understand that to a certain extent, but I sure hate to lose you because we're making such good progress here and you're a good employee. She says, well,
I just feel I need to leave the position, so she resigned her position. A couple of weeks
after that she comes back and she says the Council still told Mark he's not to have anything to do with me, to date me, and I said -Was she still working for the City? Yeah. In a different department? Yeah. Who was she working for? Excuse me?
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Page 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. What department did she move to? She was working - she didn't leave my department, she resigned from the City work force altogether. After a couple of weeks
she comes back and says, well, Mark says he can't date me anymore anyway because of the ruckus that was raised with the Council, and she's crying and it was a Monday morning, Council meeting was that night. And she says
and I'm going to go to the City Council meeting tonight and raise my concerns and issues with the Council. Now I'm thinking to
myself I'd almost like to let her go, but she's a good person and I don't want to see her embarrassed, humiliated publicly, which is exactly what's going to happen. So I
visited with her for about 15 or 20 minutes and basically convinced her it wasn't a good idea to go to the City Council meeting. And
then several months goes by and her and Mark are no longer a thing. It was all over then
when she came and told me about going to the City Council meeting. her. He'd already dumped
And she came back and I re-employed her We
and got her going back on the records.
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Page 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. Q. A. hadn't been able to find anyone. ideal person for that position. She was an And then she
told me some things that when he kept all of his dating secret, hush hush, we knew that he was dating two or three other women when he was dating Regina, and she told me she found a black book on his breakfast counter that listed out the two or three women in advance that he wanted to date in the future. Were they all City employees? No, she was around the calendar year at four hours a day, 8:00 in the morning until 12:00. She also worked for UPS so it was a good arrangement for her and it was a good arrangement for us. Were any of the other people that she talked about him dating City employees? Not to my knowledge. All right. I know there was a Walmart employee, there was a bank employee that were all involved. If you're going to be in a position that's over 600 employees, and I always knew this, just being over 30 some employees had an example to set for those people. You can't
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Page 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. ask them to walk the walk and talk the talk if you don't do that yourself on a daily practice. He gets him a new gal and he gets Never bothers to marry her, City employees
her pregnant.
just gets her pregnant.
spring back when he comes in carrying the baby in this deal and then she comes in with him. The City employees, they're all going
like this talking about that. Now this was a different woman? Yeah, this is a different woman. Is that gal his present wife? Yes, as far as I know. Then he gets her
pregnant again, and after he finally gets her pregnant the second time then he bothers to marry her. Then it's my understanding
between then and now they divorced once and then made up and are back together. And the
City employees tell me, this is hearsay, that there was a disturbance, domestic disturbance call at the Rohr residence earlier this summer, a 911 call, one of the kids called in. But it's also my understanding, and I
can't understand this, Council had the Police Chief investigate this disturbance call.
Jerry Calvin
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Page 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. There should have been a third party. I mean
how is a guy going to go out and investigate his boss and come back with anything negative? That was poor judgment there and I
told all of them that I've seen about that since then. He shoots from the hip completely when it comes to Human Resources. The Human
Resource manual is just ignored and where we've spent five years getting away from all the good old boy operation down to where everything was professional. When an
employee messed up they were called in, we did a hearing. And the guy that was here,
Ted Sandlin was H.R. Director was great at this in making sure if there was an employee problem and there was a hearing everything was fair to the employee as well as the City given that we didn't want somebody coming back and saying they had been mistreated, whatever the process was. And he was really
good in making sure that was carried out to the letter. Now what was that guy's name? Ted Sandlin. But Mark just started ignoring
that Human Resource manual altogether and
Jerry Calvin
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Page 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. Q. just shooting from the hip. What you sound like you talk to me about, it sounds like Mark created what would be a termed a hostile work environment. Yes. Would you agree with that? Very much so. Nobody has ever filed lawsuits or anything on him? Excuse me? Nobody has filed any lawsuits on that, though? Not that I know about. The golf course I
situation out here is a good example. guess there were some people that were unhappy with the clubhouse manager.
I get
called into his office one morning, told that I'm going to move the clubhouse manager over to the Maintenance Supervisor position, to take the Maintenance Supervisor position and put him in charge of these entryway signs around the community. Didn't bother to ask,
didn't want any input from me or the H.R. Director whatsoever, this is just what we're going to do.
Jerry Calvin
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Page 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. Q. A. Mark told you that? He just said do this. He didn't say what do
you think about this or what's your knowledge of this or anything else? He didn't know if they had any training or anything for the various positions? ask about them? No, and what he didn't know was about a year before the Golf Maintenance Supervisor had a circulatory problem and had to have one of his feet amputated. Now the man did a Didn't
fantastic job at rehabilitation and had the prosthesis and Ted and I had determined that the man could still do the work at the golf course. We don't have a lot of hills on the
golf course or anything like this so we made an ADA accommodation with the man and everything was working great. When he pushes
him over on the entryway plots you're crossing ditches, he's climbing up steep banks and everything else to get to these. Then the next thing I know - golf courses are a tough go this day and age. Years ago there
wasn't so many of them and you could make money off of them and people had a tough time
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 readapting. Just like one time Joplin would
have been the only golf course in this immediate area. Now every little town around A lot more
us has got a golf course.
competition, a lot fewer rounds on the golf course that we have. But people have a tough
time readjusting and identifying with what the problem is. So he starts digging into
the golf course budget and again without any discussion whatsoever the next thing I know I've lost the light equipment mechanic that works at the course at a time that we're running ten year old carts, 60 golf carts ten years old, which means you're on continual maintenance. So this guys retires so I'm out
an employee which means I'm having to pull parts people back into the golf course to take care of the golf carts any time there's a problem, and there was a lot of problems. I'm having to pull parts people back in to take care of these entryway plots because there's no way this poor guy can take care of those. And in the meantime I'm having to
fall back and find things, a task or job responsibilities that this individual can
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. handle. And cut back? Right. Because it wasn't his fault he got
transferred out of a position. What was his name? George McKee. Here is the bad part of it.
The H.R. Director was one of my best friends. And who is that? Ted Sandlin. And Ted is very, very That's why he
professional, very thorough.
was brought in here was to clean up the good old boy operation, get us on a professional goal and in compliance with the H.R. manual. I'm convinced that this fiasco with employees is what drove him over the edge and he took his own life. And basically my wife and I
and the Fire Chief flew to Birmingham, Alabama where he was from for the funeral and the preacher gave the eulogy and basically backed up everything I just told you. Ted
was very thorough, he insisted on everything being done right, all the T's crossed, all the I's dotted, and perfect grade point all the way through school and he was very thorough and very professional in what he
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. did. I think when Mark just came in helter
skelter and just started moving, especially after Ted had worked for five years getting rid of all the good old boy things and doing everything by the Council approved H.R. manual. And then when Mark went back to the good old boy process this pushed this guy -Yeah, just blew that all out of the water. And I guess you never know. indication. Ted gave no
And they always tell you that
people that are really going to do it give no indication. Me and all of his friends, it We couldn't believe it. A
just floored us.
nice wife, attractive wife, and a nice young daughter. It was a real tragedy. And then
continual things that go on and he was still in date mode. one day -You're talking about - you're saying he. you're talking back about Mark? Yes. I'm just trying to keep this reference. Okay. I'm sorry. Some of the parks staff Now Some of the parks guys come in
comes in one morning and they say you won't
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 36 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 guess what we just heard on the radio. said beyond me. I
And they said, well, Mark
Rohr was on the radio with one of the shop gals, shopkeepers uptown, and it had to do with the downtown improvements is why they were there. But this gal proceeds to tell
everyone how good Mark looks with his shirt off. You know, any way you call it my
employees I hope, if anyone that ever worked with or for me if you were pulling in here they'll tell you that I always insisted in setting a good example, always insisted on doing things to keep employees out of problems, and always insisted on giving them an environment where they could have success, they could accomplish things. And that's not Mark's. He doesn't provide an environment I think his
where people can have success.
is just all tied up with Council relations on an individual basis and he doesn't even do a good job with those because of all the problems obviously that have occurred. People in this community are good people and I think they deserve a lot better than what they're getting. Hard working people.
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. A. Q. Economic wise not as well off as they could be. When I retired the average household
income in this community was $10,000.00 below national average, and we certainly know that hasn't improved since then. But good people.
Honest people. If you lose your billfold on the street there's a good chance you're going to get it back and everything will be intact. When you go in and out of places you hold the door for somebody, they thank you, and if they hold the door. Young people especially
in this town have good manners. I've noticed that. I have noticed that. In
here working I have noticed that. Yes, very courteous people. And good work
ethic and they believe in doing what's right. When I got here when they said nobody at City Hall listens to us and when they do they don't pay any attention to us, they were telling it exactly the way it was and that's why we worked so hard getting people back involved in their parks system. we had the success we had. Mark has destroyed all that? Destroyed all that. You know, we never have That's why
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 a perception of ourselves that other people have, and I'm thinking that's probably true of Mark. His perception of himself is not And, let's see, oh, some
shared by others.
time during the last 12 months that I was still working he calls me on the phone one morning, he says, where is my monthly reports? And I said, Mark, I don't know, Well, at the end of each
I'll check on it.
month before the next Council meeting you send reports to the City Clerk's Office on the golf course, Memorial Hall, swimming pools, whatever is going on at the time, give him the numbers and everything that's going on. So I call up the City Clerk. I've
already turned in my reports.
I said,
Barbara, Mark says he doesn't have his monthly reports. I said did you all maybe
not put his in his Council agenda or something? She said, no, I don't think so,
I'm sure we did that, but we'll go over and check. She goes over and opens up his
Council packet and shows him the monthly reports. And a few minutes after that I get
an email from him telling me that he's going
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. Q. A. to place an oral reprimand in my file, and I said, well, Mark -Why would he do that? His comment with that email was I'm tired of you having your flunkies do your work for you? He meant Barb? As far as you know you had
given him that report and they found that report and he was maybe embarrassed by the fact he couldn't find it, whatever it was, and he gave you an oral reprimand? Yeah. Hum. Did you report that to anybody else?
Yeah, I told him, I said, well, that's your right if you want to do that, but I'm going to draw up a memorandum telling exactly what happened and have that placed in my file. Ted Sandlin was still alive at the time and as far as I know he placed my memorandum in the file. Now whether Mark ever followed
through with the oral reprimand or not I don't know. I don't know. An oral reprimand, written file, Anyway that doesn't make a lot I always go over my outline All right, there is one other
of sense either. and make sure.
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. thing I want to add. This Mayor that's so
heavily involved in the Sports Authority, the Sports Authority -What Mayor? Jon Tupper. Okay, Tupper, yeah. There was a guy at the time that was running the Sports Authority, the director of the Sports Authority by the name of Mike Greninger. And going back the other way the
charter and everything and the H.R. manual is very specific about Council not only coming out and visiting the City employees and telling them how to do their job -Not doing that you're saying? Yeah, but it's also very specific that City employees are not supposed to go to the Council members. Part of the problem with
myself and the Mayor was this employee had carte blanche. There was three Council In
members he as continually visiting with. other words he had improper relations with City Council. What employees are you talking about?
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. Q. A. A. That's Mike Greninger. He had an improper
relationship with the Mayor and two other Council members, so any of his requests or whatever we're going through the proper channels. And very specifically there should
have been disciplinary action. Did he work for you, Greninger? No, but at the time he was a City employee and subject to all rules and regulations just like the rest of us. So why he was allowed to fraternize with the Mayor and two other Councilmen and have that direct contact that other City employees are not allowed to have just caused us all kinds of grief and problems. Was the City Manager aware of that? He had to have been. But you don't know that he was? No. What have you got there in front of you, how many pages? I just put together two pages of kind of an outline last night. Could I make a copy of that to attach to your --
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 42 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. Q. A. A. Q. Q. A. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Yeah, if you'd like. If you wouldn't mind. It's just basically an outline. And have we covered everything on here? Do what? Have we covered everything on here? No, no, if I put everything we would be here until midnight. Okay. Let me mark this.
I just put that together as an outline so I would have some type of order coming down here. I appreciate that. I'm going to show you
this as marked for the record. I wasn't aware Mark was going to be included until about a week or two ago and there were some people that called. I watched all the
other stuff that was going on in the paper, but I'm telling you -You're on record still. Everything that's wrong right now with the City Council, all of it has to do with Mark's lack of professionalism and leadership skills. It all directly relates back to Mark. That's
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 43 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. Q. A. A. why you're telling me there's the split in the Council and the way they all argue is a result of Mark's shenanigans? Absolutely. You don't do things to divide a
Council, you work continually to bring them together for a consensus. Absolutely. And there's one statement you'll never hear out of Mark's mouth. Out of all the other
City Managers I worked with and worked for every once in awhile you'll hear one of them say we've got to protect the Council. In other words they're heading into a direction that could get a little messy, and you don't want that to happen. So whether that was
individual contact or bringing them together for a work session or whatever it took we took the time to do that and just saved all kinds of headaches and embarrassment. just a good way to operate. It was
But you'll never As far
hear those words out of Mark's mouth.
as he's concerned the Council is out there taking all the heat. Just a minute, sir. That's great. I'm going to hand you This
back what's been marked #44, two pages.
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 44 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. Q. A. Q. A. A. Q. A. Q. is your outline that we've discussed here today? (Nodding head) Is that yes? Yes. Okay. I'll include that with your report.
Anything else you think I should know about? You've got one more piece of paper. that about? That's just from your people telling me confirming the meeting. Okay. That's from Nancy, my secretary, yeah. What's
Do you have anything else I need to know about Mark? The other problems I had, I'm sure if I went back and researched all my records and everything I could, yeah, I could find -Let me get a little bit more background on you. Where did you work prior to working for
the City? I was at Moberly, Missouri for three years. And what did you do up there? I was the Director of Parks and Recreation. So you had City Managers up there or City Administrators that you watched?
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. A. Q. Q. A. Q. A. Except -Is that a yes? It was a strong City Manager government, but there they had a nine member administrative park board that I answered to. But made it
even more imperative that I had a good working relationship with the City Manager because by and large City Councils don't like administrative boards. that. I don't understand
It's like a park board, they make
three new appointments every year, but that doesn't seem to always be enough control. But what we did up there we always sat the Council and the park board down once a year so if somebody had their jaws tight about something we could get it out on the table and get it out so it didn't -Well, you worked towards consensus and unity like you said? Yes. Let me ask you, before the job up there in Moberly what did you do? I was a Director of Parks and Recreation at Nevada, Missouri for three years. my first job out of school. That was
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 46 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Where did you go to school? I went to University of Missouri. is Recreation Park Administration. So you have a college degree in that? Yes, sir. All right. I was in the Air Force for four years. That's how I paid for my education. I can't tell you how much I appreciate having you come in here. And I guess what I'm My degree
saying is some of your opinions concerning Marks' management style is compared to what you have watched for the last 30 years of your life, is that right? Yeah, except I can't - when Mark first got here I thought there's no way this guy can last more than two or three years, and if you went back and checked his work history that's true. Community in Florida, two or three
years, Piqua, Ohio, a few years, one other community in Ohio a few very years. you also go back and look at those communities you'll almost see a complete turnover of City staff in every last one of them. I don't know, maybe those places all And if
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 47 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. had terrible City staffs. I'm telling you
Joplin had a good professional staff with good leadership in all their departments. was enjoyable working with those people. just blew it all out. Well, I'm kind of surprised the City of Joplin hasn't had lawsuits on hostile work environments. Surprises me. It And
He's probably going to have one in the future. That Clubhouse Manager out there,
when they moved him over to the Maintenance Division they cut his salary all the way back to the initial step, and then at the employee hearing when they were explaining all of this stuff to the Personnel Board, the Personnel Board, one of the members specifically asked, these people are all going to be making the same money that they are now. This is not a
demotion where somebody is going to be making less money. the case. And they were assured that was And you've got a City Councilman The Personnel
that sat in on that hearing.
Board member that asked the question is a local attorney. Who was that?
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. A. Q. Q. A. Q. A. A. Jim Fleischaker. The gal that was chairing
the committee at the time, Sherry, and I can't remember her last name, has a big background in Human Resources. she's done. That's what
So when Jay if he does take
legal - and I've always told him, I said you got run over. How long ago did that happen to Jay? Been about '81, '82. Too long. He probably let it go. 1981?
I told him, I said, if you ever want to take this I'll go to the wall with you because it wasn't right. So he actually received a demotion then because of his handicap? I think they were basically trying to drive him off. And Mark was here then? Yeah. Not '81. Huh? Not in 1981 he wasn't. No, no, no, I gave you the wrong date on that. sorry It would have been 2006, 2007. I'm
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 49 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. 2006, 2007, okay. That makes a little more
sense because you had said '81 and I just caught that. In all fairness, too, Jay had some personnel problems, but every time he had one of those problems he was brought in, the appropriate disciplinary measure was taken, and his employee records will reflect all that. He hasn't done anything that was deserving of termination as yet and he had never done anything on the job, he just did some things out in the community that he got in trouble. What you've told me is that the style of management that Mr. Rohr follows is disruptive, it is not creating a good working environment, it's bad for the employees, it's bad for the City, and it also causes what we call in our business a hostile work environment. That's correct. They've done a lot of
research in employee relations and the number one thing employees always put down that they're interested in is not money. will never be the top of the list. That The
things that employees will always list is
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Q. A. Q. that they feel like the job they're doing is appreciated, what they're doing is vital to the operation, and the need for success. Those things will always be before money. Always. on that. They've done all kinds of research I think there would have been a lot
more department head turnover here, but there's several people that are local so their whole life is here, they grew up here, and that makes it a lot tougher for them to move on to something else. I appreciate your insight and the fact that you have recognized these issues over your past experience of more than 30 years, and I value your opinions highly. Overall the way things have been you could probably write a book when you finish with this. That's the good news.
I don't know who is going to read it, but it is very interesting and your observation that Mark's management style divides the Council, that's not the first time I've heard that. That's exactly what's going on. And because
of that they had to the five votes to get rid of him, unfortunately they did not take -
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. A. A. Q. Q. they didn't bother to check with the City Attorney to line their ducks up in a row like they should so he ended up with an illegal meeting and an illegal vote, but again professional guidance should never have gotten to that situation. gotten there. I suspect if they're going to do something like that they need to bring in outside counsel for that, probably like they did with me on this issue because it needs to be somebody out of the area. Yeah. Got too much heat on the City Attorney. I It should not have
appreciate your knowledge and your disclosing this information to me. Well, the good news for you is if you write that book when this is all finished nobody may believe it or read it, but you may end up getting put in for fiction of the year. Thank you, sir. Thank you. (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 52 1 2
Jerry Calvin
In Re:
Page 53
REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
STATE OF MISSOURI ss. COUNTY OF JASPER I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the 4th day of December, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was examined. That examination was then taken by me by
steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith returned. I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of either party or of the attorney of either party, or otherwise interested in the event of this suit.
_________________________ SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

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Transcript of the Testimony of Jerry Calvin

Date: December 4, 2013 Volume: I Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: December 18, 2013

Joplin Critical Investigation

JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

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Page 4 I N D E X Page/Line DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4

Mr. Calvin's outline

Exhibits in separate binder

(sic) - typed as spoken (ph.) - phonetic

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That was Exhibit #A.

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finished, particularly the Park Master Plan,

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I want to thank you again Tell me, when did you

The last four years I worked

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He acted like he just didn't want any He always gave me the

impressive what we had carried out.

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And then the newspaper started digging

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had never attended a professional organization or professional education

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Page 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q. A. meeting. It was really tough sitting there

professional organization here.

So I took care of that and All my staff people that

If they hadn't have been with all

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