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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Civil Service Board - 01/14/2019h MINUTES 582ujd CIVIL SERVICE BOARD HEARING 1201 LEOPARD ST., CITY HALL HUMAN RESOURCES CONFERENCE ROOM January 14, 2019 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Guy Nickleson, Chairperson Robert Judkins, Member Gerald Avila, Member CITY STAFF PRESENT: Steve Viera, HR Director Renatto Garcia, City Attorney II Sherri Eldridge, Sr. hR Analyst Brittney Latka, HR Analyst Sylvia Guzman, HR Administrator Guy Nickleson called the 582 Civil Service Board hearing to order at 9:18 am. Item #1:Review and approve the minutes of the 58 1st Civil Service Board hearing held on October 9, 2018. Item #2:Review and consider the appeal filed by Ruben Rojas, Laborer for Parks and Recreation, on his termination. Mr. Nickleson moves to approve agenda item #1. The motion is seconded by Mr. Judkiris. Mr. Nickleson moves to Item #2, and Mr. Nickleson reads. Mr. Garcia advises Mr. Nickleson that Mr. Rojas is stating he was never advised that he would be responsible for representing himself today. Ms. Guzman states that at the time Mr. Rojas was given the Rules & Regulations of the Civil Service Board, they were explained to him in Spanish. Ms. Guzman advises Mr. Nickleson to turn to Exhibit L where Mr. Rojas signed. Short recess is called at 9:29 am. Mr. Nickleson swears in the witnesses. City Attorney II Renafto Garcia makes the opening statement about the termination of Ruben Rojas. He explains the purpose of disciplinary action is to correct and not punish employees. He explains that Ms. Rojas engaged in the fabrication of false information, workplace dishonesty and deception. His acts constituted internal theft and a breach in inventory management. All of which resulted in irreparable loss in confidence in Mr. Rojas. Mr. Garcia states that the City must only show a burden of truth, the truth of misconduct and that termination was the oniy disciplinary action that the City was able to take. Mr. Rojas' burden is to prove collateral defenses. Chairman asked if Mr. Rojas would like to make an opening statement. Mr. Rojas was unable to understand due to a language barrier. Mr. Rojas brought a family friend with him by the name of Gus Aranda. Ms. Aranda was under the impression that he was here as support and not as a translator. Human Resources Sherri Eldridge supplied Mr. Rojas with the Rules and Regulations packet. Human Resources was able to find a translator by the name of Isabel Lopez for Mr. Rojas. Mr. Rojas agrees to the translator. Mr. Rojas states he did not take anything. Other employees would use his truck to place items in and even placed a magnetic City of Corpus Christi sign on his truck. He states that Bobby Salinas, another employee, would say he was going to do whatever it takes to get him fired. His truck lights were broken at one point and he had to pay $500 to get them replaced. The City calls Becky Perrin as a witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks Ms. Perrin to state her name and position for the record, then goes on to question the witness. Mr. Garcia asks Ms. Perrin if she was serving as the Director at that time to which she answered no. The Director was Jay Ellington. He asked her to review exhibits A & B in the binder. Mr. Garcia asks who the ultimate decision maker is in Parks and Recreation when it comes to terminations. Ms. Perrin responds with the Director of Parks and Recreation. Mr. Garcia asks if she understood what the termination was for in which she responds, yes. Mr. Garcia asks if based on the information she has seen and the meetings with staff regarding this termination if she supports the termination, Ms. Perrin answers with yes. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia passes the witness to Mr. Rojas for questioning. Mr. Rojas explains that it was not Ms. Pen-in that terminated him, it was Jay Ellington. He also says he did not do what he is being accused of doing. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia calls Ruben Rojas as the next witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks if Mr. Rojas understood why he was terminated. Mr. Rojas responds with he believes a coworker put something in his truck. He also states he did not lie to Management when he denied having the cabbage in the bed of his truck. Mr. Garcia asks what his defense to the City's allegation is that he lied to a supervisor. Mr. Rojas explains that it was dirty cabbage, and he would not have used it. He admits to puffing cabbage peelings in his truck to feed his caffle but not the actual cabbage. Mr. Garcia asks to elaborate on his defense that he did not lie. Mr. Rojas said he did not lie and did not take anything. Mr. Garcia asks if he is aware that cabbage was found in the bed of his truck. Mr. Rojas says if it was found they should have told him right away and taken him to jail. Mr. Garcia asked the question again and Mr. Rojas refused to answer the question. Mr. Garcia asked Mr. Rojas to look at Exhibit Dl. Mr. Rojas acknowledges that the photo is of his truck with cabbage shells in the bed of the truck. He understands those photos were taken on 10/17/17. Mr. Garcia asks Mr. Rojas to turn to Exhibits D2 & D3. Mr. Rojas denies that those are photographs of his truck and say Mr. Bobby Salinas took the photographs and may have put the cabbage in the truck. Mr. Garcia asked if it is his testimony that Bobby Salinas put the cabbage in his truck. Mr. Rojas said he could not say for sure since he did not see him do it. He then says his truck was vandalized and he was not able to say who did that either. Mr. Garcia asked who he thinks vandalized his truck. Mr. Rojas says he carmot say for sure, but no one helped him, and he had to pay to get it fixed. Mr. Garcia asks Mr. Rojas if he put the cabbage in the back of his truck. Mr. Rojas says he put the bags in the back of the truck but not the cabbage. Mr. Garcia states that earlier Mr. Rojas answered no and now he is answering yes. It is Mr. Rojas contention that he did not lie and he did not know where the cabbage was. Mr. Rojas says there were times other employees would place things in the back of his truck and he would worry that people would think he was stealing. He states there were times coworkers would put a magnetic City of Corpus Christi sign on his truck. He did not see who was doing this but thinks it was Bobby Salinas. There are no further questions for Mr. Rojas. The City calls Bobby Salinas as a witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks Mr. Salinas to state his name and position for the record, then goes on to question the witness. Mr. Garcia asks if he recalls writing a statement on 10/18/17 and asks if he can review exhibit G. Mr. Salinas acknowledges the statement to be his and says the statement is still truthful present day. Mr. Salinas says that staff was advised in English and in Spanish that they are not allowed to remove any products from City property. Mr. Salinas states that everyone in the department was advised of the policy and he personally translated the memo stating items are not to be removed from City property to Mr. Rojas. Mr. Salinas states that he has no bad feelings towards Mr. Rojas and did not fabricate his statement. There are no further questions for Mr. Salinas. Mr. Garcia passes the witness to Mr. Rojas for questioning. Mr. Rojas began to question Mr. Salinas. Mr. Rojas asked if he had ever placed trash or a magnetic City of Corpus Christi sign on his truck. Mr. Salinas said there was one time but it had nothing to do with this incident. Mr. Rojas asked Mr. Salinas what he has against him. Mr. Salinas stated he had nothing against him. There are no further questions for Mr. Salinas. Short Recess started at 11:38 am. Mr. Garcia calls Concepcion Reschman as the next witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks Ms. Reschman to state her name and position for the record, then goes on to question the witness. Mr. Garcia begins to question Ms. Reschman about the incident on 10/17/17. Ms. Reschman then states that there were two incidents in which Mr. Rojas took cabbage or cabbage shells from his place of employment. Ms. Reschman testified that Mr. Rojas was informed in Spanish that removing any items from City property is prohibited. Ms. Reschmann reviewed Exhibits M, Dl, D2 and D3 and acknowledge they are accurate. Ms. Reschmann states that on 10/17/17 she was with Ms. 'Vargas when the pictures were taken of the cabbage in the bed of Mr. Rojas' truck. Ms. Reschmann reviewed Exhibit J which was her statement regarding the incident and confirmed the statement is still accurate. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia passes the witness to Mr. Rojas for questioning. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia call Lisa Vargas as the next witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks Ms. Vargas to state her name and position for the record, then goes on to question the witness. Ms. Vargas testifies that on 10/17/17 she was Mr. Rojas' direct supervisor, On the date of the incident, Ms. Vargas was looking for the cabbage since the vendor was there to replace damaged cabbage. She approached Mr. Rojas and asked him in Spanish if he knew where the cabbage was, and he responded with no. She was then told by Bobby Salinas that he had seen the missing cabbage in the bed of Mr. Rojas truck. Ms. Vargas and Ms. Reschmann then walked over to the truck and saw the missing cabbage. Ms. Vargas took the photographs of the cabbage and forwarded those over to Jay Ellington and Human Resources. Ms. Vargas reviews Exhibit D and confirms that is the photograph she took on 10/17/17. She reviews Exhibit C and confirms that is the email with attachments. Mr. Garcia asked if there were any other cabbage incidents in which she confirmed there was. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia passes the witness to Mr. Rojas for questioning. Mr. Rojas begins to say that Bobby Salinas took the pictures of the cabbage in the bed of his truck. He then asks why they are changing their stoly about who took the pictures. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia calls Lisa Oliver as the next witness for the City. Mr. Garcia asks Ms. Oliver to state her name and position for the record, then goes on to question the witness. Mr. Garcia asked what knowledge she had of the incident on 10/17/17. Ms. Oliver states she received the original email and supporting photographs. Ms. Oliver states that she was the one who translated the information to Mr. Rojas on the day they met to terminate his employment. She also states that she typed Mr. Rojas statement for him and read it back to him once it was typed and signed by Mr. Rojas. Ms. Oliver states that she did not put anything in the statement that did not come from Mr. Rojas himself. Mr. Garcia asked if she was aware of any prior claims of vandalism from Mr. Rojas. She states she explained the process of filing a claim to Mr. Rojas in Spanish. Ms. Oliver states that the alleged incident occurred two years prior to the termination. Mr. Garcia asked Ms. Oliver whose decision it was to terminate Mr. Rojas' employment. She states that her and Mr. Ellington agreed that termination was the only option. Mr. Garcia asked if she still agrees with the decision to terminate the employment in which she responded yes. Mr. Garcia asked if she would be opposed to the reinstatement of Mr. Rojas' employment in which she stated yes. No further questions of the witness. Mr. Garcia passes the witness to Mr. Rojas for questioning. No further questions of the witness. Chairman asks that Mr. Rojas makes any statements that he would like to make. Mr. Rojas is asking why the cabbage was placed in his truck and why he is being accused of theft. He states that he is hearing things today for the first time such as that it was not Bobby Salinas that took the pictures of the cabbage on 10/17/17. He is asking why the cabbage never made it to his house on that day. He states that there were only cabbage peelings that arrived to his house. He also wants to know why he wasn't approached by Lisa on 10/17/17. Mr. Nickleson calls for closing arguments. Mr. Garcia gives his closing statement for the City. Mr. Garcia states the City has proven with the evidence that Mr. Rojas's termination was justified due to the evidence provided. Mr. Garcia states the City showed evidence of violation of policy, breach of inventory control and lying to his supervisors. He asks the board to uphold the termination. Mr. Rojas does not have a closing statement. Mr. Nickleson calls for closed session at 12:54 pm. 582w' Civil Service Board hearing is called back in session at 1:28 pm. Motion was made to uphold the termination of Ruben Rojas. The 582' Civil Service Board hearing is adjourned at 1:29 pm. Guy Nickleson, Chair Civil Service Board Robert Judkins, Member Civil Service Board Ger. Avila, Member CV11 Service Board Steven Viera, Secretary Civil Service Board