By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
The Whitewater Common Council recently upheld an independent hearing officer’s decision to terminate a city employee for undisclosed reasons.
As outlined in Whitewater’s municipal code, the council on April 9 rendered a decision concerning former municipal employee Nancy O’Donnell’s grievance to the hearing officer’s decision.
Because O’Donnell filed the grievance, the council was tasked with deciding whether or not the hearing officer’s decision was appropriate.
“Essentially, this is a thumbs up or thumbs down decision,” said Kyle Gulya, a Madison-based attorney with the law firm Von Briesen and Roper, S.C. Gulya assisted the council in the grievance proceeding, which was brief at last week’s meeting.
Prior to rendering their decision, the council was asked to review recorded proceedings of the independent hearing examination that involved O’Donnell and other municipal employees discussing the sequence of events that led up to the termination.
Additionally, council members were asked to pour through the documentation that had been compiled in relation to O’Donnell’s termination.
Council member Ken Kidd made the motion to uphold the decision, saying he believed the independent professional’s determination was “not capricious nor incorrect.”
Fellow council member Lynn Binnie said he agreed with Kidd’s recommended motion.
“It’s not a pleasant thing to have a termination,” Binnie said. “But after hearing the tape, it seems the impartial hearing officer allowed both sides to state their case very thoroughly. I believe he issued an opinion that appeared to be rational and well thought out.”
Prior to making their final, binding decision, the council did open the floor for public comments. No one spoke for or against the recommendation to terminate O’Donnell.
O’Donnell could not be reached for comment.
