Calvin, Jerry | Testimony transcript

Transcript of the Testimony of Jerry Calvin

Date: December 4, 2013Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: December 18, 2013

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

Jerry Calvin In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

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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.


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APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


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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.


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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


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1 JERRY CALVIN

2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,

3 testified as follows:

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

5 Q. Sir, what is your name for the record?

6 A. Jerry Calvin.

7 Q. Mr. Calvin, have you been handed this Advice

8 of Rights form, Exhibit #A?

9 A. Yes, sir.

10 Q. And have you read that thoroughly?

11 A. Yes, sir.

12 Q. Sir, I am compelled to read it to you just as

13 a matter of procedure so I'm going to do

14 that. "I wish to advise you that you are

15 being questioned as part of an official

16 investigation by the City of Joplin. You

17 will be asked questions related and

18 specifically directed to the performance of

19 your official duties of fitness for office.

20 You are entitled to all the rights and

21 privileges guaranteed by the laws of the

22 Constitution of the State and the

23 Constitution of the United States, including

24 the right not to be compelled to incriminate

25 yourself. I further wish to advise you that


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1 if you refuse to testify or to answer

2 questions relating to the performance of your

3 official duties, you will be subject to

4 departmental charges, which could result in

5 your dismissal from your official duties. If

6 you do answer these statements may be used

7 against you in relation to subsequent

8 departmental charges, but not in any

9 subsequent criminal proceedings. I have read

10 and fully understand the Advice of Rights as

11 it appears above. This information has also

12 been read to me prior to answering any

13 questions." You understood what I said?

14 A. (Nodding head)

15 Q. And my understanding is that was a yes for

16 the record?

17 A. Yes. I'm sorry.

18 Q. That was Exhibit #A. It's my understanding

19 you no longer work for the City of Joplin?

20 A. That's correct.

21 Q. You told me that in the hall and this isn't

22 really applicable to you so it could be

23 uniform so I know everybody here is at least

24 trying to tell me the truth I'd like you to

25 execute that, if you would, and date it


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1 December 4th.

2 A. Sure, I understand.

3 Q. And since you do not work for the City I

4 really appreciate you coming in and

5 subjecting yourself to this nonsense, but

6 I've got a job to do.

7 A. Well, I do have some love for this city.

8 Q. I know that.

9 A. In the nine years that I did work here.

10 Q. December 4th.

11 A. (Witness complies)

12 Q. Mr. Calvin, have you now executed that

13 document, Jerry Calvin, and dated it, I think

14 it's the 4th, isn't it?

15 A. The 4th.

16 Q. I'm going to scratch that 3 out and make it a

17 4. Is that okay with you?

18 A. That will be fine.

19 Q. Can I witness that then for your signature?

20 A. Yes, sir.

21 Q. That will be part of the record. Now having

22 said that could you give me a little

23 background? Tell me, Mr. Calvin, what have

24 you done in the past with the City of Joplin?

25 A. My career was Parks and Recreation. I was


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1 hired here in 1999 as the Director of Parks

2 and Recreation. It was an older parks system

3 and in need of a lot of tender loving care,

4 TLC, need for a lot of improvements. One of

5 the first things was a management plan, 10

6 year Management Plan, and then there was a 10

7 year Park Master Plan we carried out before

8 we started, all with a lot of citizen input.

9 Q. I'm sorry, what was the second, Master Plan

10 did you say?

11 A. Park Master Plan.

12 Q. All right. And you were part of both of

13 those?

14 A. Yes, sir.

15 Q. That was probably quite comprehensive and

16 lengthy?

17 A. Yes, very much so.

18 Q. Took a lot of evidence on that?

19 A. Yes, the biggest need was to involve citizens

20 because the citizens here had an attitude

21 they don't listen to us and when they do they

22 don't pay any attention to what we tell them,

23 so that was the number one challenge to

24 overcome that. Did a good job and we got

25 finished, particularly the Park Master Plan,


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1 standing room only in the Council chambers

2 the night the Council approved that.

3 Q. What did you do before you came to work here

4 as Parks and Recreation Department Head?

5 A. I was the Director of Parks and Recreation in

6 Mulberry, Missouri for 23 years.

7 Q. I know where that is. 23 years. Wow.

8 A. Planned on being there 3 to 5.

9 Q. That's a big growing city now, isn't it?

10 A. Well, it's been kind of stagnant. I thought

11 it would take off a little bit when they put

12 dual lane all the way.

13 Q. They put that hospital in there, though, now.

14 A. Right. I thought there would have been more

15 people from the Columbia area move into

16 there, but I think the thing that hurts it

17 they've got the Mulberry Medium Security

18 Prison immediately south of town and I'm

19 thinking maybe that years ago when they

20 accepted that payroll they also accepted some

21 of the negative that goes along with it.

22 Q. Well, people are worried about those guys

23 getting out, I guess. It seemed like if they

24 got out the best thing they could do is get

25 far away pretty quick.


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1 A. Well, not only that, but when they come there

2 in prison all their families and all their

3 social problems that are attached to them

4 also come up.

5 Q. Oh, I didn't know that. Didn't realize that.

6 That is negative. I want to thank you again

7 for coming in here. Tell me, when did you

8 get your retirement with the City?

9 A. May 2008.

10 Q. Was that a full retirement?

11 A. Full retirement, yes.

12 Q. And you went out with not being driven out or

13 anything by anybody?

14 A. It was my free choice to retire, but there

15 was an awful lot of pressure. The first five

16 years I was here was the best five years in

17 my professional career. Very enjoyable. We

18 got a lot done. The last four years I worked

19 was pure hell, just to put it.

20 Q. Why was it? Can you explain a little bit to

21 me?

22 A. Had a very strong City Manager named Steve

23 Lewis that hired me in here and when he left

24 the individual that they employed just wiped

25 the expertise, the leadership skills, the


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1 ethical professional skills that you want

2 with somebody in that position.

3 Q. And you're referring to the replacement of

4 Steve Lewis?

5 A. That's correct.

6 Q. And who was that?

7 A. Mark Rohr.

8 Q. And he's still the City Manager as I

9 understand it?

10 A. Yes, he is.

11 Q. Can you explain a little bit as to your

12 experience with Mr. Rohr's techniques of

13 management or lack thereof or knowledge, you

14 said he had no knowledge? Explain that a

15 little bit to me.

16 A. His relations with his department heads as an

17 example, he always gave the impression to me

18 that he didn't want to be bothered, it was

19 beneath him to meet with City staff. Prior

20 to his arrival we used to have a City staff

21 meeting every Monday morning, and I found

22 that to be very beneficial because when

23 you're out and about in the community you're

24 not only asked questions about your

25 department, but you're also asked about other


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1 areas of the city so these meetings were very

2 good at picking up information of what was

3 going on in other departments and helped you

4 answer some of the citizen questions or

5 inquiries that you ran into when you were out

6 and about. Anyway Mr. Rohr did away with

7 these. He acted like he just didn't want any

8 part of them. He always gave me the

9 impression he really didn't listen or pay

10 attention to questions in meetings. His

11 treatment of staff could be compared,

12 contrasted I think with a teacher and

13 kindergarten students. We mentioned earlier

14 the Park Management Plan and the Park Master

15 Plan. Prior to his arrival each department

16 head was to meet with him, so I went through

17 and pulled out all the objectives and goals

18 of both of those plans and gave him a summary

19 statement on each one of them. It was very

20 impressive what we had carried out. That way

21 I felt he didn't have to read the entire

22 plan, he had a good summation of what had

23 gone on. He left me the impression - I know

24 he never did even bother to look at any of

25 those summary statements or ever even look at


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1 the plans because of some of the discussions

2 and things that went on later.

3 Q. So you knew for a fact that he had not looked

4 at it because the questions he later asked

5 would have been answered had he looked at

6 them? Is that what you're telling me?

7 A. He never asked questions and we never

8 revisited either one of those plans again.

9 Q. So you know from his actions then that he had

10 not read them. How do you know that?

11 A. Primarily because again the goals and

12 objectives contained in the plan, he had no

13 knowledge of any of those and didn't seem to

14 really want to acquire a knowledge of what

15 was left to be completed. Like I said we

16 made good progress in carrying out all those

17 goals and objectives and we were about at

18 year five and we were way ahead of schedule,

19 probably better than 50 percent of those

20 things had been completed on the 10 year

21 plan. But for whatever reason he gave me the

22 impression that he just really didn't care

23 anything about it.

24 Q. And none of those goals were then

25 subsequently achieved, I guess?


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1 A. Right.

2 Q. Okay.

3 A. Any time he was in contact he gave the

4 impression he already had formed his opinion

5 and really didn't care about my input, and

6 regardless of whatever the results of the

7 meeting it was up to me to carry out his

8 directions even if I felt they were wrong.

9 Overall I hated to be called to meetings in

10 his office because, well, - I'm trying to

11 think. Bully I guess would be the most

12 practical terms. Now he wasn't interested in

13 anything I had to offer even with all my

14 experience and education and background and

15 everything else. And then the driving thing

16 when he while he was here was an individual

17 that became Mayor name of Jon Tupper. Jon

18 Tupper ran a shirt screening business here in

19 the community and he was also very involved

20 in the Joplin Sports Authority, which turned

21 out to be a big conflict of interest because

22 his big interest in it was in selling shirts

23 at the different events that came in here.

24 He would know he wasn't supposed to be doing

25 that. And then when somebody called him on


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1 it he just sidestepped it and hired some lady

2 to sell the shirts and set it up like it was

3 her business even though it wasn't. Mark

4 knew all these things, but he never did

5 anything on my behalf to stop the bullying

6 and the things that were going on. This guy

7 was going out into the park settings telling

8 some of my employees don't listen to all this

9 stuff that Calvin tells you, we're going to

10 drive him out of here. If you don't want

11 somebody you just harass them until they

12 finally give up and retire, which I guess I

13 finally did because it got to a point it

14 wasn't fun going to work anymore. Had a very

15 enjoyable career and thank God I was at a

16 position I could make that decision and walk

17 away from it.

18 Q. Mark allowed him to micromanage you as a

19 Mayor?

20 A. Yeah, he was --

21 Q. Tupper?

22 A. No, the Charter very specifically says what

23 all the different relationships are to be,

24 and he's not supposed to go out and give

25 direction to City employees. City employees


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1 aren't supposed to go to the Council members

2 or to the Mayor with gripes or complaints. I

3 mean the lines are set up. And Mark is the

4 arbitrator in all this.

5 Q. And you made Mark aware of what Tupper was

6 doing?

7 A. He was aware of all this stuff that went on,

8 but he did nothing to take care of it. Where

9 it finally all blew up is after I was out

10 about two weeks everyone all of a sudden

11 said, well, we were under the impression that

12 Calvin was going to work for 10 or 12 years

13 and here it is, he's retired early. Why is

14 that? And then the newspaper started digging

15 in and I don't know where they got their

16 information, but someone must have tipped

17 them off to all the different things that was

18 going on because all of a sudden the Globe

19 was requesting all the email and any

20 correspondence between the Mayor, the City

21 Manager, between the City Manager and myself.

22 I had two files that thick (indicating)

23 because I never did anything with any of them

24 that I didn't keep a copy of it.

25 Q. You're indicating with your fingers 3 inches


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1 in thickness?

2 A. Yes, two files like that. Anyway, the last

3 staff meeting, one of the few staff meetings

4 he called that I attended, it almost had to

5 be my last week there, when the staff meeting

6 was over Mark pulls me aside, he says, I just

7 wanted you to know that the Mayor threatened

8 to get rid of me if I didn't get rid of you,

9 the Recreation Manager, and the Memorial Hall

10 Manager. I said, oh, is that right? And I

11 thought, now is a heck of a fine time to be

12 making a move for becoming aware that there's

13 action that needs to be taken with this guy.

14 I didn't say anything, I just went on back to

15 my office and then I called the Recreation

16 Manager and I called the Memorial Hall

17 Manager and I told both of them I'm going to

18 send you an email here in a little bit that

19 covers the conversation I just had with Mark

20 and telling them what he had to say. I want

21 this in hard copy because I said the Globe is

22 starting to inquire, they're going to come in

23 here wanting all the email traffic and I

24 think it would be good if that was part of

25 the record, and they both agreed and I sent


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1 them an email telling them exactly what Mark

2 had told in the conference that we had.

3 Well, a couple of weeks goes by and then all

4 of a sudden I hear there's a big

5 investigation underway by the H.R. Director

6 checking out on all these charges we had on

7 this guy. We had employees that had given

8 statements on what he had told them about

9 harassing me until I left.

10 Q. On what guy? You said on this guy. Who is

11 that?

12 A. The Mayor. Different things that he gone

13 out, you know, gone out and told employees

14 we're just going to harass Calvin until he

15 leaves and bring --

16 Q. So how many other people told you that the

17 Mayor had told them that you were going to be

18 harassed until you left?

19 A. Yes, and there was a written record of that.

20 My Parks Manager went out and this kid signed

21 off, yeah, that's what he told me. Okay,

22 that's relations with department heads.

23 Professionalism. Mark often bragged that he

24 had never attended a professional

25 organization or professional education


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1 meeting. It was really tough sitting there

2 and not coming back and saying, yes, and it

3 obviously shows. We had a really good

4 professional organization here. I was a

5 Certified Professional by the National

6 Recreation Park Association, the Recreation

7 Manager was certified, and basically to keep

8 that certification you have to attend 20

9 hours of continuing education workshops every

10 year. When I got here they had never

11 bothered to give some of the training to the

12 Parks Manager that they should. They hadn't

13 sent him to any of the Playground Safety

14 Institutes, they hadn't sent him to any of

15 the ADA compliance workshops. All critical

16 to that position. So I took care of that and

17 got him enrolled. All my staff people that

18 were under me were --

19 Q. What was that guy's name?

20 A. Steve Curry. All of them were excellent

21 people. If they hadn't have been with all

22 the harassment and junk that was going on

23 during that four year period we wouldn't have

24 been able to build what we were supposed to

25 be doing. I mean it was just that bad. It


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1 was just crazy stuff constantly going on. I

2 think some of it may have to do - now I'm

3 getting into a little bit of speculation. I

4 think the employment process when they hired

5 Mark may have been just a little flawed, and

6 I base that on it seemed like to me the three

7 finalists including Mark really didn't

8 measure up to what I thought we should have

9 been looking for for a City Manager for

10 Joplin. Steve Lewis may have spoiled me. I

11 mean everything by the book, all the T's

12 crossed, all the I's dotted. And I think,

13 too, in all fairness the Council at that

14 time, they wanted more control, more say in

15 how things were being run, and I think with

16 Steve leaving they saw that as an

17 opportunity. So I think Mark in a lot of

18 ways was hired in here to be a yes man,

19 whatever Council wants that's the way it's

20 going to be regardless without all the other

21 rules, regulations, policies and everything

22 else that needed to be, any decisions that

23 are ever made when it comes to the City. And

24 I'm going to come back to and say this, as a

25 profession at that time I recall reading an


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1 article in the New York Times and I remember

2 the statement out of that article was that

3 there was a 70, 75 percent shortage of people

4 that were qualified for city administrator or

5 city manager positions in this country. That

6 was the article and that was included. Now

7 what they based that on I don't know, but I

8 take it that somebody did some research on

9 it. And then in some of the stories I get

10 from some of my friends in other communities

11 and other places I'd say, yeah, so people

12 that they are getting for city managers this

13 day and age lack a lot. I think one of his

14 biggest problems is not only the lack of,

15 this lack of professional direction or

16 guidance to the Council. My feeling is I

17 shouldn't be here talking to you today and

18 most of that is because Mark does not provide

19 professional guidance to the Council. He

20 doesn't head off problems. When individual

21 Council people get on a terror like this

22 Mayor was with me he should have come back

23 with something along the lines of, well, I

24 think this is something we need to take to

25 the entire Council. He didn't want to face


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1 that pressure himself or if he couldn't

2 handle it himself. He also puts out an

3 attitude or a projection of not really being

4 interested in anything other than what his

5 expertise is. Downtown area is basically

6 what I'm talking about. That's where a lot of

7 his attention, an awful lot of man hours and

8 everything else has gone to the downtown

9 area. And I don't disagree with that, the

10 downtown looks pretty nice now and there

11 needed to be some improvements, but I don't

12 think that has to be at the expense of

13 everything else that's going on in the City.

14 A lot of people are amazed at all the

15 different things that the City can be

16 responsible for. And of course all the

17 citizens out there, the thing they're most

18 interested in is what affects them. Whether

19 it's a pothole in front of their house or

20 whatever, that's what they're interested in.

21 I think there's definitely a lack of concern

22 about the ramifications, the results of his

23 direction or orders until it's too late. He

24 shoots too late from the hip and again

25 doesn't ask for the input that he should


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1 before he pulls the trigger a lot of times.

2 Q. Doesn't know how to use his professionals,

3 huh?

4 A. Yeah, and I'll give you a good example. One

5 of many I could give you, but just a good

6 example. We were finishing up the Cunningham

7 Park Family Aquatic Center. We were down to a

8 point where I called in the architect

9 engineering firm from Kansas City and then

10 the local contractor was completing the

11 project because we were close enough I wanted

12 to go through and do a punch list to make

13 sure that we were getting everything done the

14 way that it should be. The guy from Kansas

15 City arrives and the contractor shows up and

16 we haven't been talking about what needs to

17 be done five minutes until my cell phone

18 rings. It's Mark's secretary, Vicki. Vicki

19 says, Jerry, Mark needs to talk to you right

20 now, and I said, Vicki, I'm just right into

21 the middle of a meeting I called and one of

22 the individuals has traveled all the way from

23 Kansas City. I told her what I was doing.

24 She said, well, let me check with him right

25 quick. She comes back in a minute or two and


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1 says he wants you in his office right now.

2 So I apologize to the contractor and the

3 architect and engineering firm and I said you

4 all go ahead without me because I've been

5 called to the City Manager's office for some

6 reason and I'll try to get back and catch up

7 with you to make sure we have a clear

8 understanding of where everybody is at. I

9 get down to Mark's office and Vicki says, oh,

10 Mark doesn't need you now. He took care of

11 whatever it was that he needed. So I go on

12 back out to the park and we complete the

13 punch list we were working on. Just stuff

14 like that just drive you crazy. Mark morally

15 and ethically is deficient. When he left

16 Piqua, Ohio he had become involved with a

17 city employee there and ended up having to

18 marry her, and then there was a messy divorce

19 and all of that blew up when he left there.

20 He had been here about two months, we had

21 employed a gal. The City of Joplin has one

22 of the largest cemetery operations in the

23 State of Missouri municipally owned, four

24 large cemeteries and some of them go back a

25 hundred years. Nobody had ever bothered to


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1 computerize any of the records. I mean we

2 had old records written out on Red Chief

3 tablets. It was that bad. Anyway Steve

4 Lewis before he left gave me permission to

5 hire a part-time employee to come in and work

6 several hours a day and get these records all

7 computerized so we weren't such a rag-tag

8 outfit when it came to our cemetery

9 operations. I hired a young gal name of

10 Regina Goodwin. A sharp gal, attractive, and

11 had the brain power we needed to pull all

12 that stuff together and computerize it.

13 After Mark had been here about two months she

14 comes into my office one morning and closes

15 the door, which is something that always

16 scares you when an employee does that to

17 begin with, but she said, Jerry, I just

18 wanted you to know something up front. I

19 said, oh, what's that? She said Mark and I

20 are dating. I said, oh. She says, what do

21 you think about that, and I said, well,

22 Regina, I guess in a way it's none of my

23 business unless it starts affecting my

24 business. I said, but that's something

25 that's definitely between Mark and the


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1 Council, that they might have an interest in.

2 I'm going to let you know right up front on

3 that. She says I promise you it will never

4 interfere with the work situation here. I

5 said okay. That goes on for about two weeks

6 and then she comes back one Monday morning,

7 closes the door again and she says, Mark has

8 told me that we could have a much better

9 relationship if I didn't work here, and I

10 said, well, Regina, I can understand that to

11 a certain extent, but I sure hate to lose you

12 because we're making such good progress here

13 and you're a good employee. She says, well,

14 I just feel I need to leave the position, so

15 she resigned her position. A couple of weeks

16 after that she comes back and she says the

17 Council still told Mark he's not to have

18 anything to do with me, to date me, and I

19 said --

20 Q. Was she still working for the City?

21 A. Yeah.

22 Q. In a different department?

23 A. Yeah.

24 Q. Who was she working for?

25 A. Excuse me?


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1 Q. What department did she move to?

2 A. She was working - she didn't leave my

3 department, she resigned from the City work

4 force altogether. After a couple of weeks

5 she comes back and says, well, Mark says he

6 can't date me anymore anyway because of the

7 ruckus that was raised with the Council, and

8 she's crying and it was a Monday morning,

9 Council meeting was that night. And she says

10 and I'm going to go to the City Council

11 meeting tonight and raise my concerns and

12 issues with the Council. Now I'm thinking to

13 myself I'd almost like to let her go, but

14 she's a good person and I don't want to see

15 her embarrassed, humiliated publicly, which

16 is exactly what's going to happen. So I

17 visited with her for about 15 or 20 minutes

18 and basically convinced her it wasn't a good

19 idea to go to the City Council meeting. And

20 then several months goes by and her and Mark

21 are no longer a thing. It was all over then

22 when she came and told me about going to the

23 City Council meeting. He'd already dumped

24 her. And she came back and I re-employed her

25 and got her going back on the records. We


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1 hadn't been able to find anyone. She was an

2 ideal person for that position. And then she

3 told me some things that when he kept all of

4 his dating secret, hush hush, we knew that he

5 was dating two or three other women when he

6 was dating Regina, and she told me she found

7 a black book on his breakfast counter that

8 listed out the two or three women in advance

9 that he wanted to date in the future.

10 Q. Were they all City employees?

11 A. No, she was around the calendar year at four

12 hours a day, 8:00 in the morning until 12:00.

13 She also worked for UPS so it was a good

14 arrangement for her and it was a good

15 arrangement for us.

16 Q. Were any of the other people that she talked

17 about him dating City employees?

18 A. Not to my knowledge.

19 Q. All right.

20 A. I know there was a Walmart employee, there

21 was a bank employee that were all involved.

22 If you're going to be in a position that's

23 over 600 employees, and I always knew this,

24 just being over 30 some employees had an

25 example to set for those people. You can't


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1 ask them to walk the walk and talk the talk

2 if you don't do that yourself on a daily

3 practice. He gets him a new gal and he gets

4 her pregnant. Never bothers to marry her,

5 just gets her pregnant. City employees

6 spring back when he comes in carrying the

7 baby in this deal and then she comes in with

8 him. The City employees, they're all going

9 like this talking about that.

10 Q. Now this was a different woman?

11 A. Yeah, this is a different woman.

12 Q. Is that gal his present wife?

13 A. Yes, as far as I know. Then he gets her

14 pregnant again, and after he finally gets her

15 pregnant the second time then he bothers to

16 marry her. Then it's my understanding

17 between then and now they divorced once and

18 then made up and are back together. And the

19 City employees tell me, this is hearsay, that

20 there was a disturbance, domestic disturbance

21 call at the Rohr residence earlier this

22 summer, a 911 call, one of the kids called

23 in. But it's also my understanding, and I

24 can't understand this, Council had the Police

25 Chief investigate this disturbance call.


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1 There should have been a third party. I mean

2 how is a guy going to go out and investigate

3 his boss and come back with anything

4 negative? That was poor judgment there and I

5 told all of them that I've seen about that

6 since then. He shoots from the hip completely

7 when it comes to Human Resources. The Human

8 Resource manual is just ignored and where

9 we've spent five years getting away from all

10 the good old boy operation down to where

11 everything was professional. When an

12 employee messed up they were called in, we

13 did a hearing. And the guy that was here,

14 Ted Sandlin was H.R. Director was great at

15 this in making sure if there was an employee

16 problem and there was a hearing everything

17 was fair to the employee as well as the City

18 given that we didn't want somebody coming

19 back and saying they had been mistreated,

20 whatever the process was. And he was really

21 good in making sure that was carried out to

22 the letter.

23 Q. Now what was that guy's name?

24 A. Ted Sandlin. But Mark just started ignoring

25 that Human Resource manual altogether and


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1 just shooting from the hip.

2 Q. What you sound like you talk to me about, it

3 sounds like Mark created what would be a

4 termed a hostile work environment.

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. Would you agree with that?

7 A. Very much so.

8 Q. Nobody has ever filed lawsuits or anything on

9 him?

10 A. Excuse me?

11 Q. Nobody has filed any lawsuits on that,

12 though?

13 A. Not that I know about. The golf course

14 situation out here is a good example. I

15 guess there were some people that were

16 unhappy with the clubhouse manager. I get

17 called into his office one morning, told that

18 I'm going to move the clubhouse manager over

19 to the Maintenance Supervisor position, to

20 take the Maintenance Supervisor position and

21 put him in charge of these entryway signs

22 around the community. Didn't bother to ask,

23 didn't want any input from me or the H.R.

24 Director whatsoever, this is just what we're

25 going to do.


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1 Q. Mark told you that?

2 A. He just said do this. He didn't say what do

3 you think about this or what's your knowledge

4 of this or anything else?

5 Q. He didn't know if they had any training or

6 anything for the various positions? Didn't

7 ask about them?

8 A. No, and what he didn't know was about a year

9 before the Golf Maintenance Supervisor had a

10 circulatory problem and had to have one of

11 his feet amputated. Now the man did a

12 fantastic job at rehabilitation and had the

13 prosthesis and Ted and I had determined that

14 the man could still do the work at the golf

15 course. We don't have a lot of hills on the

16 golf course or anything like this so we made

17 an ADA accommodation with the man and

18 everything was working great. When he pushes

19 him over on the entryway plots you're

20 crossing ditches, he's climbing up steep

21 banks and everything else to get to these.

22 Then the next thing I know - golf courses are

23 a tough go this day and age. Years ago there

24 wasn't so many of them and you could make

25 money off of them and people had a tough time


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1 readapting. Just like one time Joplin would

2 have been the only golf course in this

3 immediate area. Now every little town around

4 us has got a golf course. A lot more

5 competition, a lot fewer rounds on the golf

6 course that we have. But people have a tough

7 time readjusting and identifying with what

8 the problem is. So he starts digging into

9 the golf course budget and again without any

10 discussion whatsoever the next thing I know

11 I've lost the light equipment mechanic that

12 works at the course at a time that we're

13 running ten year old carts, 60 golf carts ten

14 years old, which means you're on continual

15 maintenance. So this guys retires so I'm out

16 an employee which means I'm having to pull

17 parts people back into the golf course to

18 take care of the golf carts any time there's

19 a problem, and there was a lot of problems.

20 I'm having to pull parts people back in to

21 take care of these entryway plots because

22 there's no way this poor guy can take care of

23 those. And in the meantime I'm having to

24 fall back and find things, a task or job

25 responsibilities that this individual can


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1 handle.

2 Q. And cut back?

3 A. Right. Because it wasn't his fault he got

4 transferred out of a position.

5 Q. What was his name?

6 A. George McKee. Here is the bad part of it.

7 The H.R. Director was one of my best friends.

8 Q. And who is that?

9 A. Ted Sandlin. And Ted is very, very

10 professional, very thorough. That's why he

11 was brought in here was to clean up the good

12 old boy operation, get us on a professional

13 goal and in compliance with the H.R. manual.

14 I'm convinced that this fiasco with employees

15 is what drove him over the edge and he took

16 his own life. And basically my wife and I

17 and the Fire Chief flew to Birmingham,

18 Alabama where he was from for the funeral and

19 the preacher gave the eulogy and basically

20 backed up everything I just told you. Ted

21 was very thorough, he insisted on everything

22 being done right, all the T's crossed, all

23 the I's dotted, and perfect grade point all

24 the way through school and he was very

25 thorough and very professional in what he


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1 did. I think when Mark just came in helter

2 skelter and just started moving, especially

3 after Ted had worked for five years getting

4 rid of all the good old boy things and doing

5 everything by the Council approved H.R.

6 manual.

7 Q. And then when Mark went back to the good old

8 boy process this pushed this guy --

9 A. Yeah, just blew that all out of the water.

10 And I guess you never know. Ted gave no

11 indication. And they always tell you that

12 people that are really going to do it give no

13 indication. Me and all of his friends, it

14 just floored us. We couldn't believe it. A

15 nice wife, attractive wife, and a nice young

16 daughter. It was a real tragedy. And then

17 continual things that go on and he was still

18 in date mode. Some of the parks guys come in

19 one day --

20 Q. You're talking about - you're saying he. Now

21 you're talking back about Mark?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. I'm just trying to keep this reference.

24 A. Okay. I'm sorry. Some of the parks staff

25 comes in one morning and they say you won't


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1 guess what we just heard on the radio. I

2 said beyond me. And they said, well, Mark

3 Rohr was on the radio with one of the shop

4 gals, shopkeepers uptown, and it had to do

5 with the downtown improvements is why they

6 were there. But this gal proceeds to tell

7 everyone how good Mark looks with his shirt

8 off. You know, any way you call it my

9 employees I hope, if anyone that ever worked

10 with or for me if you were pulling in here

11 they'll tell you that I always insisted in

12 setting a good example, always insisted on

13 doing things to keep employees out of

14 problems, and always insisted on giving them

15 an environment where they could have success,

16 they could accomplish things. And that's not

17 Mark's. He doesn't provide an environment

18 where people can have success. I think his

19 is just all tied up with Council relations on

20 an individual basis and he doesn't even do a

21 good job with those because of all the

22 problems obviously that have occurred.

23 People in this community are good people and

24 I think they deserve a lot better than what

25 they're getting. Hard working people.


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1 Economic wise not as well off as they could

2 be. When I retired the average household

3 income in this community was $10,000.00 below

4 national average, and we certainly know that

5 hasn't improved since then. But good people.

6 Honest people. If you lose your billfold on

7 the street there's a good chance you're going

8 to get it back and everything will be intact.

9 When you go in and out of places you hold

10 the door for somebody, they thank you, and if

11 they hold the door. Young people especially

12 in this town have good manners.

13 Q. I've noticed that. I have noticed that. In

14 here working I have noticed that.

15 A. Yes, very courteous people. And good work

16 ethic and they believe in doing what's right.

17 When I got here when they said nobody at

18 City Hall listens to us and when they do they

19 don't pay any attention to us, they were

20 telling it exactly the way it was and that's

21 why we worked so hard getting people back

22 involved in their parks system. That's why

23 we had the success we had.

24 Q. Mark has destroyed all that?

25 A. Destroyed all that. You know, we never have


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1 a perception of ourselves that other people

2 have, and I'm thinking that's probably true

3 of Mark. His perception of himself is not

4 shared by others. And, let's see, oh, some

5 time during the last 12 months that I was

6 still working he calls me on the phone one

7 morning, he says, where is my monthly

8 reports? And I said, Mark, I don't know,

9 I'll check on it. Well, at the end of each

10 month before the next Council meeting you

11 send reports to the City Clerk's Office on

12 the golf course, Memorial Hall, swimming

13 pools, whatever is going on at the time, give

14 him the numbers and everything that's going

15 on. So I call up the City Clerk. I've

16 already turned in my reports. I said,

17 Barbara, Mark says he doesn't have his

18 monthly reports. I said did you all maybe

19 not put his in his Council agenda or

20 something? She said, no, I don't think so,

21 I'm sure we did that, but we'll go over and

22 check. She goes over and opens up his

23 Council packet and shows him the monthly

24 reports. And a few minutes after that I get

25 an email from him telling me that he's going


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1 to place an oral reprimand in my file, and I

2 said, well, Mark --

3 Q. Why would he do that?

4 A. His comment with that email was I'm tired of

5 you having your flunkies do your work for

6 you?

7 Q. He meant Barb? As far as you know you had

8 given him that report and they found that

9 report and he was maybe embarrassed by the

10 fact he couldn't find it, whatever it was,

11 and he gave you an oral reprimand?

12 A. Yeah.

13 Q. Hum. Did you report that to anybody else?

14 A. Yeah, I told him, I said, well, that's your

15 right if you want to do that, but I'm going

16 to draw up a memorandum telling exactly what

17 happened and have that placed in my file.

18 Ted Sandlin was still alive at the time and

19 as far as I know he placed my memorandum in

20 the file. Now whether Mark ever followed

21 through with the oral reprimand or not I

22 don't know. An oral reprimand, written file,

23 I don't know. Anyway that doesn't make a lot

24 of sense either. I always go over my outline

25 and make sure. All right, there is one other


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1 thing I want to add. This Mayor that's so

2 heavily involved in the Sports Authority, the

3 Sports Authority --

4 Q. What Mayor?

5 A. Jon Tupper.

6 Q. Okay, Tupper, yeah.

7 A. There was a guy at the time that was running

8 the Sports Authority, the director of the

9 Sports Authority by the name of Mike

10 Greninger. And going back the other way the

11 charter and everything and the H.R. manual is

12 very specific about Council not only coming

13 out and visiting the City employees and

14 telling them how to do their

15 job --

16 Q. Not doing that you're saying?

17 A. Yeah, but it's also very specific that City

18 employees are not supposed to go to the

19 Council members. Part of the problem with

20 myself and the Mayor was this employee had

21 carte blanche. There was three Council

22 members he as continually visiting with. In

23 other words he had improper relations with

24 City Council.

25 Q. What employees are you talking about?


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1 A. That's Mike Greninger. He had an improper

2 relationship with the Mayor and two other

3 Council members, so any of his requests or

4 whatever we're going through the proper

5 channels. And very specifically there should

6 have been disciplinary action.

7 Q. Did he work for you, Greninger?

8 A. No, but at the time he was a City employee

9 and subject to all rules and regulations just

10 like the rest of us. So why he was allowed to

11 fraternize with the Mayor and two other

12 Councilmen and have that direct contact that

13 other City employees are not allowed to have

14 just caused us all kinds of grief and

15 problems.

16 Q. Was the City Manager aware of that?

17 A. He had to have been.

18 Q. But you don't know that he was?

19 A. No.

20 Q. What have you got there in front of you, how

21 many pages?

22 A. I just put together two pages of kind of an

23 outline last night.

24 Q. Could I make a copy of that to attach to your

25 --


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1 A. Yeah, if you'd like.

2 Q. If you wouldn't mind.

3 A. It's just basically an outline.

4 Q. And have we covered everything on here?

5 A. Do what?

6 Q. Have we covered everything on here?

7 A. No, no, if I put everything we would be here

8 until midnight.

9 Q. Okay. Let me mark this.

10 A. I just put that together as an outline so I

11 would have some type of order coming down

12 here.

13 Q. I appreciate that. I'm going to show you

14 this as marked for the record.

15 A. I wasn't aware Mark was going to be included

16 until about a week or two ago and there were

17 some people that called. I watched all the

18 other stuff that was going on in the paper,

19 but I'm telling you --

20 Q. You're on record still.

21 A. Everything that's wrong right now with the

22 City Council, all of it has to do with Mark's

23 lack of professionalism and leadership

24 skills.

25 Q. It all directly relates back to Mark. That's


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1 why you're telling me there's the split in

2 the Council and the way they all argue is a

3 result of Mark's shenanigans?

4 A. Absolutely. You don't do things to divide a

5 Council, you work continually to bring them

6 together for a consensus.

7 Q. Absolutely.

8 A. And there's one statement you'll never hear

9 out of Mark's mouth. Out of all the other

10 City Managers I worked with and worked for

11 every once in awhile you'll hear one of them

12 say we've got to protect the Council. In

13 other words they're heading into a direction

14 that could get a little messy, and you don't

15 want that to happen. So whether that was

16 individual contact or bringing them together

17 for a work session or whatever it took we

18 took the time to do that and just saved all

19 kinds of headaches and embarrassment. It was

20 just a good way to operate. But you'll never

21 hear those words out of Mark's mouth. As far

22 as he's concerned the Council is out there

23 taking all the heat. That's great.

24 Q. Just a minute, sir. I'm going to hand you

25 back what's been marked #44, two pages. This


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1 is your outline that we've discussed here

2 today?

3 A. (Nodding head)

4 Q. Is that yes?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. Okay. I'll include that with your report.

7 Anything else you think I should know about?

8 You've got one more piece of paper. What's

9 that about?

10 A. That's just from your people telling me

11 confirming the meeting.

12 Q. Okay. That's from Nancy, my secretary, yeah.

13 Do you have anything else I need to know

14 about Mark?

15 A. The other problems I had, I'm sure if I went

16 back and researched all my records and

17 everything I could, yeah, I could find --

18 Q. Let me get a little bit more background on

19 you. Where did you work prior to working for

20 the City?

21 A. I was at Moberly, Missouri for three years.

22 Q. And what did you do up there?

23 A. I was the Director of Parks and Recreation.

24 Q. So you had City Managers up there or City

25 Administrators that you watched?


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1 A. Except --

2 Q. Is that a yes?

3 A. It was a strong City Manager government, but

4 there they had a nine member administrative

5 park board that I answered to. But made it

6 even more imperative that I had a good

7 working relationship with the City Manager

8 because by and large City Councils don't like

9 administrative boards. I don't understand

10 that. It's like a park board, they make

11 three new appointments every year, but that

12 doesn't seem to always be enough control.

13 But what we did up there we always sat the

14 Council and the park board down once a year

15 so if somebody had their jaws tight about

16 something we could get it out on the table

17 and get it out so it didn't --

18 Q. Well, you worked towards consensus and unity

19 like you said?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. Let me ask you, before the job up there in

22 Moberly what did you do?

23 A. I was a Director of Parks and Recreation at

24 Nevada, Missouri for three years. That was

25 my first job out of school.


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1 Q. Where did you go to school?

2 A. I went to University of Missouri. My degree

3 is Recreation Park Administration.

4 Q. So you have a college degree in that?

5 A. Yes, sir.

6 Q. All right.

7 A. I was in the Air Force for four years.

8 That's how I paid for my education.

9 Q. I can't tell you how much I appreciate having

10 you come in here. And I guess what I'm

11 saying is some of your opinions concerning

12 Marks' management style is compared to what

13 you have watched for the last 30 years of

14 your life, is that right?

15 A. Yeah, except I can't - when Mark first got

16 here I thought there's no way this guy can

17 last more than two or three years, and if you

18 went back and checked his work history that's

19 true. Community in Florida, two or three

20 years, Piqua, Ohio, a few years, one other

21 community in Ohio a few very years. And if

22 you also go back and look at those

23 communities you'll almost see a complete

24 turnover of City staff in every last one of

25 them. I don't know, maybe those places all


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1 had terrible City staffs. I'm telling you

2 Joplin had a good professional staff with

3 good leadership in all their departments. It

4 was enjoyable working with those people. And

5 just blew it all out.

6 Q. Well, I'm kind of surprised the City of

7 Joplin hasn't had lawsuits on hostile work

8 environments. Surprises me.

9 A. He's probably going to have one in the

10 future. That Clubhouse Manager out there,

11 when they moved him over to the Maintenance

12 Division they cut his salary all the way back

13 to the initial step, and then at the employee

14 hearing when they were explaining all of this

15 stuff to the Personnel Board, the Personnel

16 Board, one of the members specifically asked,

17 these people are all going to be making the

18 same money that they are now. This is not a

19 demotion where somebody is going to be making

20 less money. And they were assured that was

21 the case. And you've got a City Councilman

22 that sat in on that hearing. The Personnel

23 Board member that asked the question is a

24 local attorney.

25 Q. Who was that?


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1 A. Jim Fleischaker. The gal that was chairing

2 the committee at the time, Sherry, and I

3 can't remember her last name, has a big

4 background in Human Resources. That's what

5 she's done. So when Jay if he does take

6 legal - and I've always told him, I said you

7 got run over.

8 Q. How long ago did that happen to Jay?

9 A. Been about '81, '82.

10 Q. Too long. He probably let it go. 1981?

11 A. I told him, I said, if you ever want to take

12 this I'll go to the wall with you because it

13 wasn't right.

14 Q. So he actually received a demotion then

15 because of his handicap?

16 A. I think they were basically trying to drive

17 him off.

18 Q. And Mark was here then?

19 A. Yeah.

20 Q. Not '81.

21 A. Huh?

22 Q. Not in 1981 he wasn't.

23 A. No, no, no, I gave you the wrong date on

24 that. It would have been 2006, 2007. I'm

25 sorry


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1 Q. 2006, 2007, okay. That makes a little more

2 sense because you had said '81 and I just

3 caught that.

4 A. In all fairness, too, Jay had some personnel

5 problems, but every time he had one of those

6 problems he was brought in, the appropriate

7 disciplinary measure was taken, and his

8 employee records will reflect all that. He

9 hasn't done anything that was deserving of

10 termination as yet and he had never done

11 anything on the job, he just did some things

12 out in the community that he got in trouble.

13 Q. What you've told me is that the style of

14 management that Mr. Rohr follows is

15 disruptive, it is not creating a good working

16 environment, it's bad for the employees, it's

17 bad for the City, and it also causes what we

18 call in our business a hostile work

19 environment.

20 A. That's correct. They've done a lot of

21 research in employee relations and the number

22 one thing employees always put down that

23 they're interested in is not money. That

24 will never be the top of the list. The

25 things that employees will always list is


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1 that they feel like the job they're doing is

2 appreciated, what they're doing is vital to

3 the operation, and the need for success.

4 Those things will always be before money.

5 Always. They've done all kinds of research

6 on that. I think there would have been a lot

7 more department head turnover here, but

8 there's several people that are local so

9 their whole life is here, they grew up here,

10 and that makes it a lot tougher for them to

11 move on to something else.

12 Q. I appreciate your insight and the fact that

13 you have recognized these issues over your

14 past experience of more than 30 years, and I

15 value your opinions highly.

16 A. Overall the way things have been you could

17 probably write a book when you finish with

18 this. That's the good news.

19 Q. I don't know who is going to read it, but it

20 is very interesting and your observation that

21 Mark's management style divides the Council,

22 that's not the first time I've heard that.

23 A. That's exactly what's going on. And because

24 of that they had to the five votes to get rid

25 of him, unfortunately they did not take -


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1 they didn't bother to check with the City

2 Attorney to line their ducks up in a row like

3 they should so he ended up with an illegal

4 meeting and an illegal vote, but again

5 professional guidance should never have

6 gotten to that situation. It should not have

7 gotten there.

8 Q. I suspect if they're going to do something

9 like that they need to bring in outside

10 counsel for that, probably like they did with

11 me on this issue because it needs to be

12 somebody out of the area.

13 A. Yeah.

14 Q. Got too much heat on the City Attorney. I

15 appreciate your knowledge and your disclosing

16 this information to me.

17 A. Well, the good news for you is if you write

18 that book when this is all finished nobody

19 may believe it or read it, but you may end up

20 getting put in for fiction of the year.

21 Q. Thank you, sir.

22 A. Thank you.

23 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

24

25


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1

2


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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

Documents

Calvin, Jerry | Testimony transcript