Council fires Public Works Superintendent in 3-2 vote

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, March 19, 2019

ST. MARTINVILLE — The city of St. Martinville is once again looking for a superintendent for its Public Works Department after the city council voted 3-2 to fire its current super, Charlie Rader.

The contentious exchange that led to Rader’s termination started with District 5 Councilman Edmond Joseph saying he had been “observing and taking notes for two weeks” on Rader’s performance.

“I was not very pleased,” Joseph said.

Rader’s attorney William Goode was the first to speak at the lectern, saying that after last week’s meeting, a two-day suspension and a meeting between Rader, employee Michael Martin and city officials, Goode thought the issues had been settled. 

Goode began to say that the problem was not with Rader’s job performance, but instead was a problem because members of the council wanted another person, former superintendent Nolan “Boo” Champagne in the job. Goode pointed to a part-time contract earning Champagne $35 an hour, or $39,000 a year, as a consultant.

“The mayor pro tem wants Boo Champagne in this job, and Mayor Mitchell wants Mr. Rader.” Goode said. “This is wrong. The whole purpose of this meeting is to fire Mr. Rader.”

Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper attacked Rader, saying that his management style was suspect. 

“You don’t walk up to employees and tell them they’re stealing unless you have the proof,” Prosper said, referring to Rader’s claims that there was rampant abuse of the overtime system in the department.

“I never said that,” Rader replied. “That is an untrue statement that I accused them of stealing.”

Prosper than asked Rader how many times he had come in on call after hours to supervise crews working overtime.

“I have not done that,” Rader said. “I was not redirecting the crews.”

Prosper also dismissed Rader’s claim that the city did not have a personnel policy or procedures manual was not right — even though the very next thing on the council agenda was to talk with the city’s insurer about putting together an employee manual.

“We have all of those things in our code of ordinances,” Prosper said.

Prosper than asked Rader how many times he had clocked in during his tenure. 

“You’ve been here 60 days, and you have only clocked in four times,” Prosper said. “The rest of the time you have written in your time.”

Rader disagreed.

“That does not sound right,” Rader said.

Prosper then started asking Rader about daily reports, which he said he had not seen from Rader. 

“Show me where it is written that I have to provide daily reports,” Rader said.

District 1 Councilman Mike Fusilier then said he had never seen a daily report from any Public Works superintendent ever.

“Should be, should be, should be,” Rader said. “I keep hearing what should be, but you have only ever sat down with me twice.”

“More than twice,” Prosper said. “Another lie.”

“We aren’t supposed to go to the barn every day either, are we Mr. Joseph?” Fuselier asked, referring to allegations that Joseph had regularly met with employees at the Public Works barn.

“I make a motion to go ahead and let Mr. Rader go,” Joseph said.

“On what grounds?” Fuselier asked.

“On the grounds of poor job performance,” Joseph said.

“Have you sat down with him and talked to him about it?” Fuselier asked.

“No,” Joseph replied.

Rader spoke up, claiming that the accusations against him were false.

“This is a set up,” Rader said. “These things are not true. When they say I was not at the Public Works barn, it’s not true. Many, many times I have seen Mr. Joseph visiting, conferring with employees. That’s inappropriate. It’s wrong for you to have those meetings.”

Under his breath, Joseph again accused Rader of lying.

Rader also told council members about the Monday morning department head meeting, where another department head confirmed that Public Works employees were padding their overtime hours.

“Mayor, you were there,” Rader said. “The head of another department said Public Works employees were not doing their jobs during the work day, instead waiting until after hours to get called in. Even other department heads see what is going on!”

Fuselier again raised the issue of terminating Rader without having gone through a formal process.

“I have never in 25 years fired someone from this city without having that conversation not once, not twice but three times,” Fuselier said. 

The council voted 3-2 for termination, with Prosper, District 3 Councilman Dennis Paul Williams and Joseph in favor.. Only Fuselier and District 4 Councilman Juma Johnson voted against the motion.