Buchanan Mayor Sean Denison says City Manager Benjamin Eldridge was suspended so the city could investigate employee workplace complaints against him.
Denison is facing a possible recall for his suspension of the city manager early this month with the filing of recall petition language last week.
In a new statement, he says the complaints from city hall employees were shared with the city commission, which was asked to keep them confidential. However, after one member of the commission shared the complaints with the manager, the decision was made to suspend him until the investigation could be completed.
Denison says no laws or contract rights have been violated, and “the choice was between removing one person from the work environment or many city hall staff members, to the harm of the city operations and citizens.”
He’s now asked the city commission to “consider this matter as soon as possible after the holiday.”
Below is the mayor’s full statement:
As many of you know, a recall petition was filed against me last week because of my decision to suspend the City Manager, with full pay and benefits, until the City could conclude an investigation of employee workplace complaints against the City Manager.
These complaints were shared with all members of the Commission, who were asked to keep the complaints confidential to protect all parties, until the City could investigate the complaints. If confidentiality had been maintained, the City could have left all employees working in place until conclusion of the investigation. However, one Commissioner could not honor this request and disclosed the employee complaints to the City Manager before a full and fair investigation could even be started.
To protect all of the parties, including the City Manager, from further workplace complaints or claims of retaliation, I made the decision, as chief executive of the City under Michigan law and on the advice of the City’s attorneys, to suspend the City Manager with full pay and benefits, until the investigation could be concluded and reported to the Commission for consideration in a public meeting. In this process, we gave the City Manager, with his attorney present, notice of the complaints against him and an opportunity to present his side of the story.
No laws or contract rights have been violated. Some disagree with my decision, but the choice was between removing one person from the work environment or many City Hall staff members, to the harm of the City operations and citizens. The process remains underway now and I will ask the Commission to consider this matter as soon as possible after the holiday. Consistent with the City’s Code of Conduct and Ethics, this statement is mine and does not represent the position of the City of City Commission.
