Firing a Campbell water worker wasn’t in city’s best interest

Opinion: August 29, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

I read with astonishment and disbelief that the mayor of Campbell would go to the extreme of firing someone with, in my opinion, no justification.

As a resident of the city and one who attends meetings, I remember back in October when Mr. Jackson was hired. At the time of Mr. Jackson’s appointment for the position at the water department, not one single council member made any sort of reference to it at any meeting, and that included Mr. VanSuch, who at that time was council president.

Prior to the appointment of Mr. Jackson, when the law director for the city was asked to give his legal opinion on Civil Service exams, he stated there was no mandatory requirement under Ohio law that a list must be maintained if the municipality is not hiring or has, for example, imposed a hiring freeze. He also cited Ohio Revised Code section 124.30 which states in the event that there are urgent reasons for filling a vacancy in any position in the classified service and the director is unable to certify to that appointing authority a list of eligible persons for the appointment, the appointing authority may fill the position by non-competitive examination.

To the best of my knowledge Mr. Jackson has performed his duties extremely well, been a model employee, passed all EPA requirements and certification, but yet is under attack from the current mayor. It is also my understanding that the cost of training Mr. Jackson for his position is between $5,000 and $7,000. Are we going to spend that again to train someone else because he didn’t pass the unnecessary and questionable exam?

This whole thing to me is nothing more than a political grudge against the former city administrator, who this mayor also fired.

The firing of Mr. Jackson, who is the sole provider for his young children, has an excellent job record and meets all EPA requirements and certifications, is not serving the mayor’s constituents.

Chris Grachanin, Campbell