Star-Journbal Editor
After a six-year tenure marked by significant accomplishments but marred by unsatisfactory job reviews, Steve Garrett has been removed as Hillsboro city administrator.
At a special meeting with a one-topic agenda, the Hillsboro City Council voted unanimously Jan. 24 to terminate his contract, effective immediately.
Council members are prohibited by law from discussing specifics in personnel files and employee-employer topics discussed in executive session.
In the days after his contract was terminated, officials praised the strengths Garrett brought to the job; project management, budget preparation, and the ability to work with outside contractors and engineers. But by law, they could not reveal the reasons for his dismissal.
The vote came after the council met in executive session. When the doors opened, Mayor Delores Dalke, in a voice that said she took no pleasure in the proceedings, addressed Garrett.
"We went into executive session to discuss personnel, Steve, and you happen to be the object of the personnel."
In a level voice, Garrett said, "OK."
"So is there anybody here that is ready to make a motion?" she asked.
Council member Byron McCarty said, "Yes, I'll make a motion that as of today we terminate the contract with the city administrator."
His motion was quickly seconded by council member Shelby Dirks.
Dalke asked for discussion on the motion, and then waited, for one second, two seconds, three
"Hearing none, all in favor?"
"Aye," the council members said.
It was just after 5 p.m.
It had taken less than five minutes to attend to the matter, and, just as quickly, Garrett's six-year term as the city's top boss was at an end.
After being voted out, Garrett offered to help the city get its affairs in order in his absence.
Dalke accepted his offer, suggesting that Garrett spend Thursday collecting his personal effects from his office and preparing a report for a final meeting Friday.
In an interview Saturday, Garrett said he was "somewhat surprised" by the council's decision to end his contract. And that while calm on the exterior, he felt it inside.
"There were some moments of churning, mostly about the unknown and the future," Garrett said.
Garrett's annual salary began at $50,000, increasing over six years to more than $60,000 at the time of his last paycheck, Dalke said.
According to the terms of his contract, Garrett will receive two months severance pay, and all of his accumulated vacation time.
"He never used his vacation time," Dalke said. "He was too much of a workaholic to use it. And I mean that in a good way.
"There's no question that he was very, very dedicated to his job."
Hillsboro is the largest city Garrett, 42, has overseen. He was city manager of Stockton, (pop. 1,600) before coming to Hillsboro. Before that, he was town administrator at Mannford, Okla., (pop. 2,100).
While Garrett received merit increases after his first and second year on the job, they did not continue, Dalke said. Merit-worthy performance reviews devolved into increasingly less satisfactory reviews, conducted every six months, she added.
"Performance evaluations always tell you if things are going good or not," Dalke said. "We started out doing regular annual performance evaluations, and then they became closer and closer together.
"We would do them, and realizing we didn't agree on the way things were being done, we'd agree that we'd have another one within six months instead of a normal year.
"And that's what started to tell us that we weren't in agreement with the way things were being handled."
Dalke stressed that his dismissal was not due to any improprieties.
"There were no problems with those kinds of things," Dalke said. "But the governing body did not agree with the way some things were being handled on a day-to-day basis.
"Finally we got to the point where we needed to decide, 'Are we going to continue going this way, or are we going to change what we're doing?'"
Leaving the council chambers after the vote, council member McCarty said, "I'd probably better not comment. I got along well with Steve. We did have some issues and the issues weren't addressed."
Council member Matt Hiebert said he was bound by law not to discuss specific personnel issues that led to Garrett's dismissal, adding, "Anytime you get into executive session and discuss personnel, it's pretty much a hush-hush thing."
On his was to the parking lot, city attorney Dan Baldwin said the council had conducted Garrett's dismissal with the diligence required by today's stringent employment laws. Garrett's evaluations cannot be made public, he added, because of employee-employer privacy issues.
"Nobody would be able to see them," Baldwin said. "But they were completed in writing.
"My job is to advise the council on each step of the way and so I'm confident that the city has handled it appropriately," he added.
As the city attorney pulled out of his parking stall, he stopped and rolled down the window.
"I just wanted to say that I thought the way Steve handled it in offering to continue to update the city and continue to make sure projects are fully understood by everyone," he said. "It was a gentleman's gesture."
On Saturday Garret said, "I've poured my heart and soul into what it is we're trying to accomplish here, that's what I signed on for.
"Regardless of how it's going at the end, it would have been wrong for me to have just said, 'I'm done, you guys figure out what that stack on my desk means.' That would have gone against everything I believe."
