Personnel Board Upholds Employee's Firing

APPEAL HEARING HELD                                      

By a unanimous vote, the city's Personnel Board upheld the termination of corrections officer Tony Avera.

At the request of Avera's attorney John Beck, the meeting/deliberations were closed to the public.

Chief Press said afterwards that "it was unfortunate it came to this; but if all employees follow local and state laws, such things would not happen."

Before the decision was announced, Avera told a Times reporter he felt the hearing had been fair; but said afterwards he plans to appeal the Board's decision to state court.

(Publisher's Note: The appeal hearing for another officer (Tervelle Lee) that had been scheduled for this Thursday has been canceled; Lee has withdrawn his appeal.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think the request from the "dude's" attorney to close the hearing pretty much sums it up. He should count his blessings and move on. If he goes to court it will all be out in public. The good, the bad and based on what I hear the ugly, ugly truth.
Anonymous said…
Are they ever going to tell us what he was charged with doing or just keep everybody guessing?
Anonymous said…
This man should not have been fired. Reprimanded yes, but not fired. It should have been handled in-house by the chief. To ruin a man's career like this is a shame. I'm sure the truth is not as ugly as its been rumored. It appears the personnel board is very "friendly" with the Chief and I don't see any of these employees getting a truly fair hearing. We'll see how the rest go.
Anonymous said…
One should not judge the decision of the board unless one knows all the facts. Another sign that people think they should not be accountable for their actions and the things they do to other people. Each should be judged separately not as a clan. If the rest are found guilty they should be held to account. Thanks for the comment Mr. Obama...
Anonymous said…
I think they need to clean house up at that police station. I know of an incident where someone was pulled over, car searched, money taken from the glove dept and never returned or written up on arrest report. So, who's word is it going to be. Maybe Chief Press is aware of more than people know about going on up there. Unfortunately for my friend, this happened before the shirt cameras were used.
Anonymous said…
Held accountable, yes. Reprimanded, yes. Fired, No. EVERYONE makes mistakes at some point. The fact is this man lost his job because he "offended" someone's feelings. He should have been reprimanded, and this could have all been handled by Press within the department. Even Press will be held accountable for his actions at some point.
Anonymous said…
someone said this was a racial civil rights type complaint ...
Anonymous said…
Thanks again for the "do not fire comment". Is the Biscuit King related to Obama? I like his blue dress...
Anonymous said…
I bet Mr. Foster looks better in his blue dress than the Chief does in his apron and boots... What a way to represent the City!
Anonymous said…
i love biscuits ...
Anonymous said…
It is Mr. Foster or Ms. foster or little of both? What a joke....