calvin, jerry | testimony transcript
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
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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
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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
Jerry Calvin In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 52
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Jerry Calvin In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
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