Poloronis Transferred

The Apalachicola City Commission had a lengthy and sometimes heated discussion last night while determining the fate of Timothy Poloronis who had his Non-DC Certification to supervise State Inmates revoked by the Department of Corrections (DOC).

According to an August 4 DOC incident report handed to the Commission by Daphne Davis, Poloronis lost his certification after a K-9 unit alerted to the scent of narcotics in a City owned vehicle with tag #86709, the narcotics tested positive for marijuana. Poloronis operated the vehicle to transport Inmates that were assigned to his work crew. The report further stated that an Inmate assigned to Poloronis supervision tested positive for marijuana and that other Inmates assigned to his crew gave statements that Poloronis had smoked marijuana with the Inmate who tested positive.

However, members of Poloronis family in attendance and City Commissioner Jimmy Elliot charged that the Department of Correction and Major Pittman had insufficient evidence to warrant the revocation of Poloronis certification to supervise Inmates. Leann Poloronis, Timothy’s wife informed the Board, that her husband (Timothy) had taken a drug test voluntarily and the results came back negative. Daphne Davis stated during the meeting, that she had been in contact with State Representative Will Kendrick’s office to look into the matter on behalf of Poloronis.

I informed both Davis and members of the audience that the loss of Poloronis certification was between Poloronis and the Department of Corrections, and at this time, the City Commission role was not to judge his guilt or innocents, but to determine what to do with his employment since he no longer held the necessary certification to perform his duties. And, should the Commission decide upon termination, at that time he would be entitled to a hearing before the Board to state his case.

I further shared some pertinent facts with the Commission, the fact that former city employees; Brian Myers, Ben Jefferson, Demetrice Cummings, and Albert Page all lost their certification or licensure to carry out their duties and the Apalachicola Board of City Commissioners terminated them all.

I then read excerpts from the minutes taken at a May 9, 1995, City Commission hearing called to determine the employment status of Ben Jefferson who had his certification revoked to supervise State Inmates. I read, “Mayor Howell stated Mr. Jefferson lost his job because he lost the required license to perform his job. The prison system revoked his right to watch Inmates . . . these employees are hired to watch prisoners, and when they lose their rights to watch prisoners, then they lose their job”.

Davis then questioned whether the Commission had allowed other employees that lost their certification to transfer into another department. Betty Taylor-Webb, City Administrator stated that to her knowledge no such transfers had occurred.

Commissioner Jimmy Elliot offered a motion similar to the one he offered during the Sept 2 meeting, this time Elliot motioned to allow Poloronis to transfer into the Street department instead of the Water department, his motion failed 2 to 3.

On October 14, 1993, the Apalachicola Board of City Commissioners voted unanimously to terminate the employment of Brian Myers for having an Inmate repair a watch and then refused to pay the Inmate $5 for the repair. Myers had his Non-DC Certification to supervise Inmates revoked by the Department of Corrections for bartering with the Inmate.

On July 2, 1996, City Commissioner Jimmy Elliot voted alone with his fellow board members to terminate the employment of both Tony Davis and Dana Walker for playing football with the Inmates. Both Davis and Walker also had their certification to supervise Inmates revoked.

Neither of these incidents can compare with the allegations of illegal drug activity with an Inmate. However, neither Commissioner Elliot nor his fellow board members afforded Myers, Davis, or Walker the opportunity to transfer into another job or position.

In the end, City Commissioner Frank Cook’s motion to transfer Poloronis into the Water Department received a second from Commissioner Val Webb and the motion passed 4 to 1.

In an attempt to be consistent and fair, I cast the lone no vote.