Hearing
officer upholds Goodyear police worker’s firing
by
Jackee Coe on Mar. 29, 2012, under Arizona Republic News
An independent hearing officer upheld
Goodyear’s decision to fire John Rowan, who officials said was insubordinate
when he refused to answer multiple questions during an internal investigation.
Rowan,
who was the assistant to the police chief and department spokesman, was fired
Dec. 22 for insubordination and willful disobedience for failing to answer 28
questions and attempting to walk out of an internal investigation interview
Nov. 16, according to a Goodyear internal investigation. Rowan appealed the
termination.
Rowan
claimed city leaders retaliated against him for multiple testimonies he has
given alleging police misconduct in two federal lawsuits against the city, and
that the inquiry, which was investigating his actions during the death
investigation of 18-year-oldJered Pendleton in April 2008, was the city’s
attempt to re-investigate him after previous inquiries.
Harold
Merkow is an attorney who works as a hearing officer for numerous state and
city agencies and was hired by Goodyear to oversee Rowan’s appeal hearing Feb.
22. He said Rowan was required to answer the questions regardless of the
circumstances, that previous testimonies he had given could not be applied to
the current investigation and that the city had “the complete right” to
investigate Rowan’s conduct during the Pendleton investigation.
In
his findings, obtained by The Republic through a public-records request, Merkow
said Rowan “did not intend to participate” in the interview.
“He
thought that the city had an agenda, which included dismissing him from his
position and that the interview was set up to further that agenda,” Merkow
wrote. “However, despite (Rowan’s) mistrust and suspicions about the interview,
he still had an overarching responsibility to answer the questions posed to
him, even if his answers were the fifth iteration of the same subject.”
Rowan
told The Republic on Tuesday he answered the questions according to his
attorney’s advise.
“They
just didn’t like the answers they were getting,” he said. “And questions that,
to my knowledge, were never asked, I did answer.”
Merkow
said Rowan evidently “made a conscious decision not to cooperate” with the
investigation and “to avoid accounting for his own actions and conduct.” He
said Rowan’s repeated answers of “I’m going to refer back to my prior
testimony” and “I’ve already testified to this” were “impudent and his pious
outrage about having to answer (the investigator’s) questions was nothing less
than posturing.”
Merkow
said the termination was “not excessive and is reasonably related to the
seriousness of multiple counts of willful disobedience and insubordination.”
City
Manager John Fischbach, who abruptly resigned last week, wrote in a letter
dated March 16 to Rowan’s attorney that, based on “a thorough review of the
facts” and city policy violations outlined in a pre-termination letter, he was
upholding the termination.
The
investigation into Pendleton’s 2008 hit-and-run death has led to turmoil within
the Police Department. There have been multiple internal and external
investigations.
Rowan
has been interviewed multiple times in the internal and external
investigations, and lawsuits.
Department
investigators alleged Rowan failed to advise the police chief and city
management of information he had related to the Pendleton death investigation
and made false or misleading statements about city employees during interviews
and depositions.
Rowan,
who is running for Maricopa County sheriff, reasserted his claims of
retaliation.
“The
only two people that were terminated are the two employees that came forward,”
Rowan said Tuesday. “Most city governments reward employees who come forward
and report misconduct. Goodyear fires them.”
Assistant
Police Chief Bill Cusson, who was interim police chief when Rowan was fired,
said Rowan’s termination was “absolutely justified” based on department
policies.
Rowan
doesn’t regret his choices.
“I’m
very proud of the actions that I have taken and the decisions that I’ve made in
reference to reporting the misconduct,” Rowan said, “and I would do it again.”