Fort Oglethorpe ouncil members explain reasons for Dinley's firing
Monday April 2, 2007 1:23:53pm
Fort Oglethorpe council members say their reasons for firing city manager Jim Dinley last week stemmed solely from his involvement in a criminal investigation.
Dinley was fired in a 3-2 vote on March 27 with council members Harold Silcox and Richard Egeland voting to keep him.
Councilwoman Jane Moye said Dinley was “hung out to dry” by Councilman Richard Egeland. Dinley sent a personal letter to Egeland explaining that his testimony to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not mean he believed Egeland’s wife, Wanda, had committed extortion.
Wanda Egeland allegedly called Mayor Judd Burkhart in December 2005 and attempted to get him to have Moye drop a separate case against her and pay her $5,000 among other things, according to testimony from all the witnesses involved.
Egeland was charged with extortion for her call to Burkhart, but the case was dismissed from Catoosa Superior Court a few weeks ago based on lack of evidence and Dinley’s statements, according to court documents.
Moye said Dinley “overstepped his bounds” and became involved in the investigation in ways he shouldn’t have been involved.
“I can’t tell you what he shouldn’t have done or what he should have done. I just wish that he hadn’t have got hung out to dry like he did by Mr. Egeland,” Moye said. “I don’t think it was inappropriate. It just backfired on him because he didn’t have the same consideration from the person that he was giving them.”
Egeland said Dinley had tried to explain the situation to him in a phone call, but he was too angry to let him finish. So, Dinley gave him a letter explaining that while he stood by his statement to the GBI, he did not interpret Wanda Egeland’s statements as being serious.
Egeland said he gave Dinley’s letter to his wife and she gave it to her attorney who used it to get the case against her dismissed. Moye said the result was that Dinley “got caught up” in the matter.
“It delved into a criminal investigation which is against the law,” she said. “It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t something he planned or set out to do, but it ended up being that way and I took an oath to uphold laws. It’s very unfortunate. It’s the city’s loss.”
Council members Louis Hamm and Steve Brandon both said they fired Dinley based on his inconsistent statements to the GBI and Egeland.
Hamm said any past actions he has taken to fire Dinley had no bearing on his decision following the public hearing.
“It was the paper where he changed his statement and that’s about it,” he said. “This is not a fun thing to do.”
Brandon also criticized Dinley’s involvement.
“There was extortion involved and she got out of it because he wrote a second letter,” he said.
Councilman Harold Silcox said he changed his mind after voting to fire Dinley in a preliminary resolution March 12 because he had more time to think about the material.
He said he knew nothing about the matter until the day the council introduced a preliminary resolution to fire Dinley and that he had wanted to postpone voting. He said he voted in favor of firing him because he knew the decision wasn’t final.
Silcox said that after studying the matter over the next two weeks, he “decided that had nothing to do with (Dinley’s) work performance.”
“Jim Dinley was probably one of the better city managers Fort Oglethorpe has had,” he said.
Mayor Judd Burkhart said he believes the council made the right decision. While he said he would “hate to call it a lie,” he said Dinley’s statements were clearly not consistent with one another and that the documents “speak for themselves.”
“It’s not so much that I favored it; I think it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Egeland said Dinley was a victim of personal and political interests because he didn’t agree with Burkhart’s and City Attorney Ron Goulart’s opinions that his wife actually intended to extort the mayor.
“I think he was doing a good job and I just hate that they fired him for a personal reason,” Egeland said.
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Dinley was fired in a 3-2 vote on March 27 with council members Harold Silcox and Richard Egeland voting to keep him.
Councilwoman Jane Moye said Dinley was “hung out to dry” by Councilman Richard Egeland. Dinley sent a personal letter to Egeland explaining that his testimony to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not mean he believed Egeland’s wife, Wanda, had committed extortion.
Wanda Egeland allegedly called Mayor Judd Burkhart in December 2005 and attempted to get him to have Moye drop a separate case against her and pay her $5,000 among other things, according to testimony from all the witnesses involved.
Egeland was charged with extortion for her call to Burkhart, but the case was dismissed from Catoosa Superior Court a few weeks ago based on lack of evidence and Dinley’s statements, according to court documents.
Moye said Dinley “overstepped his bounds” and became involved in the investigation in ways he shouldn’t have been involved.
“I can’t tell you what he shouldn’t have done or what he should have done. I just wish that he hadn’t have got hung out to dry like he did by Mr. Egeland,” Moye said. “I don’t think it was inappropriate. It just backfired on him because he didn’t have the same consideration from the person that he was giving them.”
Egeland said Dinley had tried to explain the situation to him in a phone call, but he was too angry to let him finish. So, Dinley gave him a letter explaining that while he stood by his statement to the GBI, he did not interpret Wanda Egeland’s statements as being serious.
Egeland said he gave Dinley’s letter to his wife and she gave it to her attorney who used it to get the case against her dismissed. Moye said the result was that Dinley “got caught up” in the matter.
“It delved into a criminal investigation which is against the law,” she said. “It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t something he planned or set out to do, but it ended up being that way and I took an oath to uphold laws. It’s very unfortunate. It’s the city’s loss.”
Council members Louis Hamm and Steve Brandon both said they fired Dinley based on his inconsistent statements to the GBI and Egeland.
Hamm said any past actions he has taken to fire Dinley had no bearing on his decision following the public hearing.
“It was the paper where he changed his statement and that’s about it,” he said. “This is not a fun thing to do.”
Brandon also criticized Dinley’s involvement.
“There was extortion involved and she got out of it because he wrote a second letter,” he said.
Councilman Harold Silcox said he changed his mind after voting to fire Dinley in a preliminary resolution March 12 because he had more time to think about the material.
He said he knew nothing about the matter until the day the council introduced a preliminary resolution to fire Dinley and that he had wanted to postpone voting. He said he voted in favor of firing him because he knew the decision wasn’t final.
Silcox said that after studying the matter over the next two weeks, he “decided that had nothing to do with (Dinley’s) work performance.”
“Jim Dinley was probably one of the better city managers Fort Oglethorpe has had,” he said.
Mayor Judd Burkhart said he believes the council made the right decision. While he said he would “hate to call it a lie,” he said Dinley’s statements were clearly not consistent with one another and that the documents “speak for themselves.”
“It’s not so much that I favored it; I think it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Egeland said Dinley was a victim of personal and political interests because he didn’t agree with Burkhart’s and City Attorney Ron Goulart’s opinions that his wife actually intended to extort the mayor.
“I think he was doing a good job and I just hate that they fired him for a personal reason,” Egeland said.
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Joined: 10/09/2006
And, as far as Brandon and Hamm are concerned, they need to stop lying to their congregations. A true Christian would have taken office with forgiveness in his heart and trying to keep peace on the City Council instead of keeping turmoil stirred up.
Jane Moye just tries to sound like she is sympathetic while she is only doing everything she can to please Napoleon. I wonder when she will get mad and finally report sexual advances made toward her? Or, does she really enjoy them?
If the City "Leaders" had half a brain to work with, they would offer Dinley his severance package to avoid yet another costly lawsuit. However, by their previous actions, they show no signs of forethought.
I wonder who will pick up the bill if the city can find an insurance carrier to underwrite their liability insurance after June 30? Why of course, the taxpayers will foot the bill that will most likely triple or quadruple.
It is sad to see such a prosperous and growing city be governed by a group of self-seeking sycophants.