May 20, 2008 12:36 am
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By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
Allegations that council member and former Mayor Jon Tupper engaged in a pattern of harassment of parks employees aimed at the ouster of parks director Jerry Calvin and that he accused a parks employee of stealing are contained in a memo that was included among open-records documents sought by the Globe.
Tupper allegedly told some city parks employees that he told City Manager Mark Rohr “to shut the f--- up,” during a telephone call, allegedly justifying his behavior by declaring that he was “the mayor of the godd----- city.”
The memo is a report to the city manager by the city’s human resources director, Reba Snavely. City Attorney Brian Head had said last week that the basis of a complaint against Tupper was reports made by some city employees to the human resources director.
Tupper did not return a telephone message left at his business seeking comment, and he declined, after a council meeting Monday night, to give his side of the story.
Much of the report deals with comments Tupper allegedly made to parks worker Kyle Knight and a parks supervisor, Steve Curry, saying he intended to drive Calvin out of the job as parks director or get Calvin fired. The collection of alleged comments begins on March 7 and ends on April 16. Calvin resigned on April 22, effective May 30.
Calvin’s resignation came after a City Council meeting in which softball players complained about access to city ball fields.
Calvin declined to comment Monday night.
The report portrays conflict between Tupper and the parks department over conditions at Joe Becker Stadium.
City Council members, under council ethics rules, are not to interfere with city employees and department heads.
In the memo, the human resources director says, “I received a personal visit from Jerry Calvin of Parks, Cemeteries and Recreation, on March 7, 2008, about his concern over Mayor Jon Tupper talking negatively about him to an employee at Joe Becker Stadium, Kyle Knight, and a Parks Supervisor, Steve Curry.”
Calvin told Snavely that Tupper, who was mayor at the time, told parks employees working at Joe Becker Stadium that “if he (Tupper) continues to harass Jerry Calvin long enough, maybe he will leave.”
On another occasion, Tupper allegedly called Knight and complained that Calvin had canceled a college baseball game “and that (Calvin) did not know what he was doing.” The memo notes that there was 2 inches of frozen snow and ice on the outfield, and that the rest of the field was wet.
The memo, evidently meant to go to the city manager, notes that “(Calvin) wants this stopped immediately.”
Snavely reports that she interviewed Knight on March 14. She writes that Knight told her, “The mayor comes to the ball field every day and keeps a list of what he thinks Jerry does wrong.” The memo continues: “He (Tupper) told him (Knight) that he has to stay on Jerry in hopes he’ll leave. He also told Kyle that Jerry was not working well with others and that he didn’t run his department well.”
Knight also reportedly told Snavely that Tupper “bragged that he was going to complain about something every day until Jerry either quit or got fired. He (Tupper) told him (Knight) that harassment was the best way to get rid of someone.”
Knight could not be contacted Monday.
A canceled Missouri Southern State University baseball game on March 1 or 2 also is mentioned in the report.
Curry, the parks maintenance supervisor, reportedly told Snavely on March 14 that Tupper told the parks staff “there would be no more game conditions where they could not play.” Curry told Snavely that MSSU ended up canceling eight games because the field at Joe Becker was not playable played because of weather.
Another conversation reported to the city by Curry alleges this exchange involving Knight and another person who is not a city employee:
“Mayor Tupper was on the cell phone. He slammed his cell off and came over to them. He said, ‘That was the city manager I was just talking to. I told him to shut the f--- up, that I was the mayor of the godd----- city, and when he figured that out, he could call me back.’”
The final incident reported to the city allegedly took place on April 16.
Curry reported that Tupper had Knight making out a new list “so he can keep pressure on Jerry (Calvin).”
Tupper also allegedly complained about Knight, saying, “If he (Knight) isn’t breaking it, he was stealing it.”
Knight, according to the report, “was very offended by this accusation.”
Tupper filed a request last week for hundreds of pages of documents to be disclosed by the city, including time sheets and expense sheets of Calvin, Knight and Curry.
Curry did not return a telephone message Monday seeking comment.
The council has set a hearing date of June 23 on the issue.
Prohibition of interference
Joplin’s code of ethics for council members reads that council members should not request the appointment or removal of any person to office or employment with the city. Council members “shall deal with the administrative officers and services solely through the city manager and neither the council nor any member thereof shall give orders to the subordinates of the city manager, either publicly or privately.”
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