Pottsville City Council members unanimously denied a grievance filed by a police officer whose promotion was not ratified earlier this month after he’d already been promoted.
That decision could find the City involved in a future legal battle, the cop’s lawyer says.
On Aug. 11, Pottsville Police officer Jonathan Randolph’s promotion to Sergeant was not ratified in a 4-1 vote among council members at their regular monthly.
In July, after returning from administrative leave, Randolph was promoted to Sergeant and a swearing-in ceremony was held. His promotion was the recommendation of Mayor William Messaros because Randolph was the highest-scoring candidate for the promotion.
Messaros, at the Aug. 11 meeting, was the only council member to vote for ratifying Randolph’s promotion.
On Monday night, at a special meeting of Pottsville’s City Council, Randolph was represented by city attorney BJ Evans who argued that voting to deny the officer’s grievance would be “legally erroneous.”
“It would be wrong. It would be an error of law to do that,” Evans told council members prior to them breaking for a closed-door executive session.
Evans argued that the City’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the police union forces them to accept the Mayor’s recommendation for the promotion to Sergeant. He said it does not give the right to council members to select who gets promoted.
Evans said that in Pottsville’s charter, power over the police force is given to the Mayor.
“You need to ratify the Mayor’s decision and that is the action you must take,” he told council members.
However, after voting against ratifying the promotion earlier this month, Pottsville Solicitor Ed Brennan told council members that the City’s CBA allows them to choose to ask the Civil Service Board to come up with a certified list of candidates for the position of Sergeant.
“The law specifically provides if the vacancy continues, which it is at this point, that you can ask the Civil Service Board to certify an eligible list of candidates for this position of Sergeant,” Brennan said earlier this month.
During his argument, Evans said that after the promotion was not ratified, Randolph filed a grievance. The grievance was upheld by Pottsville Police Chief John Morrow and later by then-City Administrator Ian Mahal.
“At that point in time, this should never have gone any further,” Evans said, citing his interpretation of the CBA. “Frankly, it’s improper for you to make any decision on a grievance. It’s not before you.”
When council members emerged from their nearly two-hour executive session – during which other personnel matters were discussed in addition to Randolph’s grievance – a unanimous vote to deny the grievance was taken.
“Nothing really changed between now and the last time we were there,” Councilman Andy Wollyung told The Canary.
Of Evans’ argument, Wollyung said, “He was defending for his client and that’s his job.
“I can’t speak about the particulars of what was presented and the process of what happened. I just know I voted the correct way. I would have voted the same way again if it got presented to me the exact same way,” he said.
Council members have mostly been mum on why they’re opposed to Randolph’s promotion, despite being asked several times the issue has arisen.
At their regular council meeting earlier this month, Councilwoman Dottie Botto said prior to voting against the ratification of Randolph’s promotion, “I have to say, I know this may put us in a not good position but morally, I can not vote ‘Yes’ to this, so my answer is ‘No’.”
On Monday night, after the special meeting, Councilwoman Cat Mahon told The Canary, “Our job is to think of the people who live here and their safety. You can’t put a price on morality. There’s the right thing to do and we need to own up to what we did.”
When contacted by The Canary for a reaction to council’s decision on Tuesday night, Evans spelled out his likely next step on behalf of Randolph.
“I will be reviewing our options and filing a unfair labor practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, a lawsuit in Schuylkill County court or a request for arbitration,” he said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this same article listed the date of the August City Council meeting as Aug. 12. It was on the 11th.
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