County commission Chairman Dan Kalil and Commission David Montgomery, however, say the resignation had nothing to do with that grant.
“I didn’t even know about the (Homeland Security) grant prior to him resigning,” Kalil said, adding his understanding is Casler was asked to resign because “there was no teamwork, no communication,” between him and the agencies he’s to work with such as fire departments and law enforcement agencies.
As supervisor of the emergency services department, Montgomery said he didn’t want to elaborate out of respect of Casler’s privacy. He did say if Casler has issues as to why he was asked to resign, he should contact county officials.
On May 8, Montgomery visited Casler’s office and asked him to resign. Commissioner Don Arnson also was present as a witness. Casler submitted his resignation, but has questioned why, as well as the manner in which he was asked to resign. One concern Casler has is he thinks he was asked to resign due to allegedly mishandling a federal grant the county received recently. The $96,000 Homeland Security grant is for creating a county-wide hazardous-materials incident response team. It also is for purchasing equipment to replace the outdated hazmat equipment stored in the special operations trailer parked at the Williston Fire Department. The grant paperwork also specifies the purchase of a Ford F-350 truck to pull the trailer.
Because the truck was for the trailer, Casler attended the Williston City Commission meeting on April 14 and asked the commission if the city would purchase the truck. The city would then be reimbursed through Casler’s office, because the grant is distributed through the county with Casler as the fiscal agent. The city commission unanimously approved the action.
Issues with the grant began the following day when John Kautzman, city auditor, received an e-mail from city Fire Chief Alan Hanson, saying Casler was in agreement the truck should be bid out. Kautzman had questioned why the truck wouldn’t be bid out.
Upon receipt of the e-mail, Kautzman advertised for the bid. He admitted he should have checked the commission minutes to verify what motion was approved.
“When Mike (Casler) challenged that, basically saying, ‘Well, I never said we should be bidding it out,’ and that the board had authorized the purchase, I went back, verified the minutes, he was correct in that,” Kautzman said.
The sole bid received wasn’t opened and was returned, with the explanation it was bid in error, he said.
Concern over the grant didn’t stop there as Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching volunteered to be the “point person” for the emergency disaster services office upon Casler‘s resignation. Busching reported to the county commission at its May 12 meeting that he halted purchase of the truck because he was concerned Casler was having the county act as a fiscal agent for a city purchase. He said it may have been legitimate, but he wanted to look further into the grant.
The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said Casler did indeed do what he should have done with the Homeland Security grant.
“From this department’s perspective, Mr. Casler did not mishandle the grant,” said Cecily Fong, public information officer for the state department of emergency services.
Although Montgomery and Kalil contend the Homeland Security grant isn’t the reason Casler was asked to resign, Casler is still concerned about the way in which his resignation came about.
Casler questions if there was a county personnel committee meeting held to make the decision to ask him to resign, and if not, how that decision was made. He also said a performance evaluation wasn’t done, saying he was asked to resign based upon his job performance is wrong.
Williams County is an “at-will” employer, meaning it has the legal right to ask employees to leave at any time for any reason, said Helen Askim, human resources administrator for the county. This applies to county department heads as well.
Askim and Kalil each said there wasn’t a personnel committee meeting to make the decision to ask Casler to leave, because Casler is an at-will employee and there wasn’t a need for such a meeting.
As for why Casler hasn’t come to the commission to question why he was asked to resign, he said via e-mail he is still considering his options. The North Dakota Attorney General’s Office also is looking into the matter, he said.
The attorney general’s office is looking into whether the county commission held a meeting without public notice, said Liz Brocker, public information officer for the office. A complaint was filed by one of Casler’s family members, she said.
On May 13, the office received the complaint, and it was assigned within the department on May 21, Brocker said. After the office receives a request, it’s reviewed for timeliness and then is assigned to an assistant attorney general, she said.
“The assistant attorney general reviews the complaint and contacts the public entity to ask for additional information and a response to the facts alleged. The public entity has only a short period of time within which to provide that information. After we receive the entity’s response, the opinion drafting process begins. We are required by law to base our opinion on the facts provided by the public entity,” she said.
The assistant attorney general prepares a draft opinion based on the office research. Each draft opinion is reviewed by at least one other assistant attorney general, the division director, the chief deputy attorney general and the attorney general, and the opinion may be revised throughout the process.
It is then is issued to the public entity, with a copy to the person who made the complaint. The opinion drafting process is typically 120 to 180 days, while complex issues may take longer, Brocker said.
“Even if we find a public entity has violated the open meeting laws, we do not have the power to change, overrule or void any votes or action taken by the entity at that meeting,” Brocker said.
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