A year ago on June 15, 2009, Robert Lee accepted a position with the Division of Work Force Development for St. Louis County.
The position is his primary source of income, according to his court deposition taken on June 2, 2010. His starting annual salary was $47,000.
At the time, Lee was a director for the Northeast Fire Protection District in North St. Louis County. Under state law, “When any fire protection district director accepts any office or employment under this state or any political subdivision thereof, his office shall thereby be vacated.”
On July 2, 2009, the district board passed a resolution recognizing that Lee had accepted a County government job and could no longer be a board member.
The Missouri law exists to prevents “double-dipping,” said Normandy Mayor Patrick Green, and no one to his knowledge has challenged it.
Yet for the past few months, Lee has been fighting in court saying that he is not a St. Louis County employee because his position is not paid by St. Louis County tax revenues. He argues that, although he receives paychecks from St. Louis County, the U.S. Department of Labor pays for his position. He also believes that the district board should have filed a petition with the court because the board had no authority to “remove” him without due process.
This is what Lee states in his petition to the St. Louis County Circuit Court, submitted Nov. 24, 2009 (nearly five months after he was vacated from the board).
At a June 7, 2010 hearing, Judge Stephen Goldman ordered present Northeast Fire District board members to file an official petition seeking Lee’s removal. Upon filing, Goldman will take on the competing petitions by June 21.
If Goldman accepts Lee’s position that he should be placed back on the board, the decision may oust Rhea Willis, the board member who came on the board after Lee.
In Lee’s deposition, he said that he has never filled out paperwork that had the caption “Department of Labor” at the top. He doesn’t know where the department deposits the money for St. Louis County. He stated that he doesn’t work at that level.
Rufus Tate, defending attorney for Rhea Willis, asked Lee in the deposition, “You seem to be certain that you’re not paid by St. Louis County tax revenue. How do you know that?”
Lee answered, “All of the – everything that happens, we get money from the Department of Labor, we have to manage contracts. We have to track our time by what we’re working on.”
In the deposition, Lee said he submits his time sheets to a man who reports to Gene Gordon, executive director of Workforce Development for the St. Louis County Department of Human Resources. All of Lee’s supervisors also receive paychecks from St. Louis County.
Lee’s lawyer Neil Bruntrager said the burden of proof that Lee is a St. Louis County employee falls on the district’s attorneys. Bruntrager said he has started gathering evidence to argue that Lee is not a St. Louis County employee.
“It is something I’ve looked into,” Bruntrager said. “I’m going to wait to see what they do.”
At the Northeast Fire Protection District’s public board meeting on June 8, board director Bridget Quinlisk-Dailey stated that the district should not file a petition to have Lee removed.
“I am in favor of allowing the court to rule that the removal was illegal,” she said.
She also said that after Lee gets reinstated, the district could then figure out whether or not he is eligible to be on the board.
Lee previously worked with Quinlisk-Dailey’s brother, Brian Quinlisk, on the board. Both Dailey and Lee have ties with the union that represents district firefighters, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2665.
Quinlisk-Dailey encouraged district board members to challenge the state law’s constitutionality.
“There is no rational basis for the restrictions this statute places on the right of the St. Louis County residents to hold public office,” she said. “These questions should be addressed by the court.”
Mayor of Normandy Patrick Green said the law is constitutional. He said the law prevents these abuses: getting paid twice by the taxpayers, conflicts of interest, monopolizing power for abuse and political gain, and giving preferential treatment to groups or individuals.
“Does Ms. Quinlisk believe that fire districts don’t need governing and guidance by law?” Green said.
“Does she believe in getting paid twice by the taxpayers? Does she believe in conflicts of interest? Does she believe in monopolizing power for abuse and political gain? Does she support lawlessness? The law is clear.”
The district is waiting for the court to rule.
Hanging in the balance could be the job of Fire Chief Angelia Elgin, the first African-American female fire chief in Missouri history.
Elgin has been targeted by district firefighters and board members who side with them since she called attention to wasteful and expensive customary practices for taking sick and vacation time.