The county road manager and his assistant were terminated during a Sunflower County Board of Supervisors executive session this past Monday.
Longtime Road Manager T.J. Fairley and Walter Williams were ousted on separate 4-1 votes, and preventative maintenance director Tim Howell has been selected to replace Fairley.
Howell will head the road, solid waste and preventative maintenance departments going forward.
The votes to terminate were made separately but followed the same process: a motion by District 2 Supervisor Riley Rice, seconded by District 3 Supervisor Roger Anthony. Supervisor Glenn Donald voted no, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Clark abstained, and Supervisors Rice, Anthony and Board President District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson all voted yes.
Clark’s abstention followed the majority vote.
Sunflower County Chancery Clerk Dr. Gloria McIntosh told The Enterprise-Tocsin this week that Fairley and Williams were terminated based on a number of allegations that led to the investigation by an independent firm.
Immediately following the dismissals, the board voted to place the road and solid waste departments under Howell’s leadership. That motion was made by Rice and seconded by Anthony, with all supervisors voting in favor except for Donald, who voted nay.
When reached for comment this week, Fairley and Williams both called Monday’s process “unfair” and separately told The E-T that they planned to file civil lawsuits against the county, as well as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints.
Donald told The Enterprise-Tocsin after the meeting that the firings were related to an independent investigation that had been commissioned after multiple county employees had come to the board of supervisors alleging sexual misconduct and other grievances against Fairley and Williams.
Donald said that the investigative firm, DeSoto County-based D&K Security LLC, which was paid just under $11,000 by the county, concluded that there was no physical evidence of sexual misconduct but still recommended Fairley’s termination based on other findings.
Documents that appear to be the investigator’s interviews and final report were sent by Donald to The E-T electronically this week.
The E-T has opted to not quote directly from those documents at this time, as they involve several individuals who are implicated in the original allegations and some individuals who were interviewed as witnesses.
“The Board of Supervisors of Sunflower County did not authorize the release or publication of any of these materials as they contain highly sensitive personal information secured during an investigation of alleged improprieties at the Sunflower County Road Department,” Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams told The E-T in an email this week, later adding, “If you intend to publish these materials or any of the information received from them, please note that the materials were not delivered to you by the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors or anyone acting (in) the authority of the Board of Supervisors of Sunflower County.”
Donald said that the report did not recommend Williams’s termination and did recommend the termination of two other employees, who were not fired during Monday’s executive session.
“These men are not just workers or employees. They are constituents, good neighbors and strong men in our communities,” Donald told The E-T. “Since no evidence exists of harassment, no one should have been terminated—no one. Our county government has become a system where people can be terminated because of an allegation. You are innocent until proven guilty. People should be required to get an IQ test before they can qualify to run for an elected office. This is a must. Too many elected officials have no business being in office—just look at their policies and decisions. Not just this incident, but past decisions as well. We are in trouble in Sunflower County.”
Donald is none too happy about the hiring process for the road manager’s replacement.
“The hiring of Tim Howell seemed like a prearranged appointment,” Donald said.
Howell has headed the maintenance department for the past two years.
