More details emerge on sudden firing of Fort Smith sanitation boss, City Directors react

Five of seven Fort Smith City Directors reacted to the abrupt termination of Sanitation Director T. Baridi Nkokheli on Tuesday(Dec. 8) in comments exclusive to Talk Business & Politics. Additionally, Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman weighed in on the reasons behind Nkokheli’s termination.

On Monday, Dingman fired the 10-year department head — and the city’s only African-American department head — for “violation of personnel policies and the code of business conduct,” stating that he believed the sudden dismissal would stand up under scrutiny and that he “wouldn’t have taken such an action” if he didn’t think so. 

Nkokheli (pronounced NO-KO-KAYLEE) indicated he would be willing to take Dingman up on that challenge, telling Talk Business & Politics he will likely file a lawsuit and discrimination complaint. If he follows through, his complaint will join a second pending lawsuit from Fort Smith Police Officer Wendall Sampson, who filed against the city on grounds of discrimination and retaliation on Nov. 30. 

DINGMAN’S SIDE
Nkokheli and Dingman disagree on the validity of the termination, but do share similarities in their stories. Nkokheli explains he was terminated for insubordination related to the demotion of Dustin Bradshaw, and for alleged personal use of city equipment, seeking a personal loan from a vendor, and other complaints, all of which Dingman mentions in the official notice of termination obtained from the city.

However, there are key differences.

Dingman and Nkokheli both acknowledge the city administrator came to him as “interim HR director” following the departure of former department head Richard Jones and advised Nkokheli not to demote Bradshaw, and that Nkokheli did so anyway. Nkokheli said he understood Dingman was coming to him as HR director, and as such, could not override a department head’s decision to promote or demote employees. In the notice, however, Dingman cites “further conversation” that made it clear Dingman was advising him as “Acting City Administrator” and that Nkokheli acted in spite of this understanding.

Of the “personal loan” Nkokheli allegedly solicited from a city vendor, Dingman’s notice provides a few more details, stating the loan was solicited from Roger Williams, an employee of River City Hydraulics, a vendor with which the city does business. 

“Mr. Williams was interviewed and provided a statement that he loaned you $4,500 on a 30-day basis, and that such loan was paid back by you within that timeframe,” Dingman writes. “Mr. Williams acknowledged that he did not know you well on a personal basis, and acknowledged that his company was doing business with the city, particularly the Department of Sanitation, at the time and he and his superiors at River City Hydraulics wanted to maintain favor for the city’s business by loaning you the money.”

Dingman said the fact the request was made “was inappropriate and a violation of city policy irrespective of any stated intentions that such arrangement was not made in order for the vendor to gain favor with the city for business considerations.” 

Also, in order to “maintain favor” with Nkokheli, Dingman said, a number of subordinate employees would “accommodate” the Sanitation Director’s solicitation of personal loans. The notice names Joseph Hopper and John Barnes as two employees from whom Nkokheli would frequently solicit. 

“This is a misuse of your position as the employees’ immediate supervisor and as such is a violation of city policy,” Dingman added.

Last but not least, Dingman charged Nkokheli with “misuse of city equipment and personnel” for repairing his personal vehicle, citing statements from Hopper, Barnes, and Terry Rankin that Nkokheli “directed … subordinate employees to repair a personal vehicle while on city time, using city facilities, and using parts belonging to the city, including tires.”

(Link here for the two-page termination letter the city issued to Nkokheli.)

NKOKHELI’S SIDE
Nkokheli told Talk Business & Politics that Dingman’s allegations are either false or don’t tell the full story.

Responding to the charges, Nkokheli told TB&P that the five who testified against him are good friends. He noted that Bradshaw is the Ozark police officer forced to resign in 2009 after he tasered a 10-year old girl. Bradshaw was then hired by Hopper, the former No. 2 person at the DOS who recently was hired to run sanitation services in Conway. According to Nkokheli, Hopper served with Bradshaw on the Ozark police force.

“He (Bradshaw) came here and he was totally unqualified for the job,” Nkokheli said. “So I’ve been terminated because of the testimony of these five guys, and everything brought up against me is false. These guys are all good friends, you know, some are hunting buddies … and so when I made the move to demote Bradshaw, they all circled the wagons.”

In addition to Nkokheli’s rebuttal, the former Sanitation Head also believes Dingman acted out of personal reasons because he viewed Nkokheli as a threat to the full-time city administrator position, which is still up in the air following the resignation of Ray Gosack in July 2015.

Nkokheli plans to sue the city for wrongful termination and possibly other issues, but does not want his job back. He also is pursuing a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

THE BOARD REACTS
When asked about the firing of Nkokheli, the possibility of two simultaneous racial discrimination lawsuits, and the lack of African-American representation hindering the city’s police department (cited in Sampson’s lawsuit), City Directors were somewhat divided on how the issues will look to the public. 

“I think you’ve seen me on numerous occasions say that I didn’t think our workforce was indicative of the demographics of the city of Fort Smith, and I stand by that,” said Ward 1 Director Keith Lau. “However, I don’t see this (Nkokheli’s termination) as being racially motivated in any way, shape, form, or fashion.” 

Lau acknowledged that it was a “personnel issue” and was something Dingman “thought he should do, so I’m going to stand behind the city administrator because the City Directors gave him the hire-and-fire authority.” That said, Lau said he was a “big supporter” of Nkokheli’s throughout the city’s highly publicized changeover to automated trash collection, “and I still am a big supporter of the landfill and what we do over there … and the niceties that we have.”

Lau, along with the other Directors, said they knew nothing of the reasons behind Nkokheli’s termination, but did express irritation at what he viewed as a mismanagement of funds on the now-former department head’s part. 

“The bottom line is that our fund balance in the sanitation (department) has been spent down to the point that we can’t replace needed equipment, and that would include bulldozers — which, I have been told, we need four, we’ve got two, and we can’t buy one. So that irritates me. And that, to me, is something that was Baridi’s responsibility. He spent that money on other things.” 

To close, Lau reemphasized that those were just his thoughts, and that Dingman had not said anything about the actual reason for termination.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION?
Many on the Board were left confused by the abrupt nature of Nkokheli’s termination with Ward 4 Director George Catsavis claiming he “wanted answers.”

“We weren’t aware of it until we were emailed by Jeff Dingman, but I want to know why,” Catsavis said. “We’re just going to have to see what the facts are.”

At-Large Director Don Hutchings said he was “going to find out more about what happened, and just ask a lot of questions.”

“I don’t know what happened,” he continued. “I got an email yesterday afternoon from Jeff. The reason was not in the email, just that it was a termination.”

Despite the shock, Hutchings said, he did not see the public tying Nkokheli’s termination to the racial discrimination lawsuit and lack of minority representation in the police department.

“I think people will see it as a unique issue because they’re not tied together at all,” Hutchings said, adding that he was “very interested in getting more African-American police officers. That’s huge to me. But I don’t think that has anything to do with the sanitation department, and I think the perception will be that once we get all the facts.” 

Ward 2 Director André Good, the city’s only African-American Board member, had a different perspective. While mirroring his fellow City Directors on how he found out and the lack of detailed explanation from Dingman, he said it is difficult to separate Nkokheli’s firing from the other issues. 

“When I asked him (Dingman) about the reasoning, he just said that at this time, he wasn’t making any comments about it,” Good explained. “He just wanted to make sure that the Board members did receive the email. My only comment to him was that I hoped that his reasoning was founded. And then before I knew it, there was information on (Talk Business).”

Good continued: “It can’t help but get grouped in with the other issues because there is such a poor representation of minorities throughout the whole city of Fort Smith. And that’s not saying whether the reasoning behind Mr. Nkokheli’s termination was founded or not, but public-wise, it’s going to be viewed as the same situation, as discrimination. It’s going to be blocked in there together.”

For Dingman’s part, the Acting City Administrator said he “would not speculate as to how people will perceive it.”

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s done. We operate within the guise of the personnel policies. That’s what we’re charged to do. All the city employees are held to that standard,” Dingman said.

When asked if he had read the accusations Nkokheli made in the media, he admitted that he had, but offered only a “No comment” in response.

Directors Tracy Pennartz (At-Large) and Mike Lorenz (Ward 3) were unavailable, and Vice-Mayor Kevin Settle refused to discuss the issues.