Another fly in the ointment

One of the demands placed on the City of Pacific by its insurance carrier is that it hire competent staff to head its departments. One position which has been filled recently is that of the Public Safety Director. John Calkins has been restored to that position after successfully fighting his termination earlier this year by Pacific Mayor Cy Sun. Now that Mr. Calkins is back on the job, maybe he can correct an error his department has apparently made that affects the employability of a former Pacific firefighter.

On August 16, 2012, Tyler K. Firkins, an attorney for the Auburn law firm of Van Siclen, Stocks & Firkins, sent a letter to Pacific City Attorney Ken Luce, claiming that Pacific is disseminating false information about this former employee, Tom Jowers. Mr. Jowers drew mention a year ago on this blog with regard to official city documents relating to him which, on their face, were contradictory and not credible. They bore what was purported to be his signature and said he had been reprimanded for an infraction, with the reprimand coming before the order was even given to perform the reprimand. Jowers claims that he didn't sign that document and that his signature was forged.

Regarding this more current complaint, Mr. Firkins' letter states that the "City of Pacific is maintaining and disseminating information it knows to be false pertaining to (Tom Jowers):"

"The city of Pacific, and John Calkins, then Chief Calkins, authored a letter dated November 20, 2006, terminating the employment of Mr. Jowers. The letter contained a number of false statements and inaccurate information."

Firkins states that an administrative law judge found many of the city's allegations to be untrue, and the city continued to maintain that information and disseminated false information to the Tacoma School District. 

The attorney said this action by the city violated Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 357-22-040 and asked that the false information be removed and destroyed and that the city "send a letter to the Tacoma School District indicating that the information provided was inaccurate."

Mr. Jowers tells me that, as of this writing, the City of Pacific has not taken steps to correct this alleged code violation and damage to his reputation.

What we are describing here is an action by the City of Pacific that interfers with a former employee's ability to find work.

City Attorney Ken Luce has already advised the council the city may be bankrupt in 90 days. If Mr. Firkins' allegations are correct, it would be a great kindness--not to mention an ethical obligation--to clear up the record on Mr. Jowers while there is still a city government that can do that.

It would also be a sign of respect to the committee seeking to save the city by recalling Mayor Cy Sun. Presumably the members of that committee are operating on the presumption that the City of Pacific is an honorable institution.