Ark Valley News - Rec board ousts longtime director

Geddes

Rec board ousts longtime director
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: October 11, 2018

Steve Geddes, longtime director of the Valley Center Recreation Commission, was fired this week.

Following an eight-minute executive session Oct. 8, the rec commission board of directors voted 3-2 to terminate Geddes' employment. Though he declined to be specific, one board member said Geddes fractured relationships with governing bodies (apparently meaning the rec board, the school board and possibly the city council).

Recently re-appointed rec board member Danny Park made the motion to fire Geddes. It was seconded by Nick Barnes.

"I think our relationships with our governing bodies is splintered and at this time I make a motion to remove the rec director and go a different direction," Park said.

Barnes, Park and Jamie Anderson voted for termination. Board president Barry Hager and member Rod Jackson voted against it.

Hager said Geddes would receive a two-week severance.

"I hate how this came down," Hager said after the vote. "Anybody else have anything to add?"

No one spoke, and the meeting was adjourned.

"I was shocked, bewildered, dumbfounded," Geddes told The News. "Being a 33-year employee, I've given my heart and soul to this rec commission and this community."

Geddes said he has asked Hager to review the rec commission's bylaws and the director's 1992 employment contract, which has not substantially changed, to determine whether he should have been fired the way he was.

"I feel I should be reinstated," Geddes said. "… I can only be terminated for just cause. They have to give specific, written reasoning of some crime or dishonest thing that I have done to terminate me, and it has to be proven, and that is not going to happen. It calls for a hearing. I want this done in the public. I want it open."

Geddes has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing or major mistakes.

When The News asked Park to elaborate on his statement about the relationship with "governing bodies," Park said it was a personnel issue and didn't want to comment further.

"We've got splintering with the governing body and it was time to correct it," Park said.

Park declined to be specific about which governing body he referenced.

"I'm not trying to be specific with either side," he said.

The News asked Park whether his motion was born out of a personal vendetta or some sort of retaliation for any possible past issues. Park said: "That's absolutely silly."

"What would I be retaliating for?" he asked. "… If we're going to go down that road, then what were the other board members retaliating for? I have nothing to gain in all of this other than the board decided to go in a different direction."

The News asked Park whether Geddes' job performance was discussed in previous executive sessions, other than the eight-minute closed-door meeting Oct. 8.

"I'd love to answer that question but I can't," Park said.

Geddes said he was not aware of any specific allegations against him that would lead to his termination.

When asked whether he thought he was fired for any reason other than the one Park indicated, Geddes said: "No, unless someone wants to make something up."

The firing came amid a dispute between the school district and the recreation commission regarding a requested audit of the rec commission's finances. The school board formally requested an extensive audit in September. A rec board vote was delayed to this week.

After an executive session to discuss the audit request Oct. 8, the rec board agreed to give the school board five years of annual audits the rec commission had an outside agency perform and answer any specific questions the school district or city might have. If a question can't be resolved, the rec board would consider a specific audit targeting the unresolved issue.

Geddes told the rec board he had already given the school district and each school board member copies of the audits and he had made himself available for questions. The two groups also have worked together to improve the rec commission's written fiscal policies.

Park said the relationship between the rec commission and the school district was damaged when Geddes gathered an attorney and outside rec commission officials together to answer questions about what a school district can require of a rec commission.

"I would say this," Park said during the Oct. 8 meeting. "I think this is the offer we should've made up front. I really do. I don't think bringing in outsiders and telling the board they don't have authority. This is our working partner. They provide the ball fields we play on. They provide the gyms we play in. If we come out and tell them they don't have the authority, even though by statute they don't, I think we could've made this call two months ago when it was first brought up instead of being so adversarial along the way. I don't think we handled it well. I think this way we at least give them some kind of counter-offer and go from there."

The school district and the city appoint two members to the rec commission board. The fifth board member is chosen by the appointees. Although the school district serves as the taxing authority for the rec commission, the rec commission board acts as an autonomous governing body.

Geddes was hired as the first director of the VCRC in 1984. He left in 1989 to be recreation superintendent in Hays and then returned to Valley Center in 1991.