Civil Service Returns Calkins as Public Safety Director

The City of Pacific Civil Service Commission restored John Calkins to the position of Public Safety Director this evening. The move came after the Commission met in executive session for a final review of the written ruling before its release. The decision was published in a 15-page document that was made public after the session.

Calkins was hired as the Public Safety Director by Mayor Howard Erickson on September 1, 2000. Mayor Cy Sun placed Calkins on administrative leave on January 18 after hearing an allegation that Calkins had yelled at the Finance Director during a city council meeting. Calkins remained on admin leave four months until Sun fired him.

Calkins appealed his termination to the Civil Service Commission. The Commission held hearings and heard testimony about the event. Testimony concluded on August 24^th. We've been waiting since then for the Commission's decision to be announced.

The Commission concluded that Calkins was guilty of misconduct but the offense did not warrant termination. He was issued a 30-day suspension without pay. Since that penalty has already been served, it is expected that Calkins will immediately return to the job with back pay to about June 18^th.

The complete document released by the Commission will be uploaded here as soon as possible.

It's worth noting here that in yet another of Mayor Sun's blunders, he will have paid his Public Safety Director a total of nearly 8 months salary for 18 days of work.

Word is that the accountants are still tallying the cost to the city for the lawyers who represented the city and the lawyer who represented the civil service commission. No doubt, in light of this decision, the city will be paying the fees for Calkins' lawyer as well.

In another side note about this decision, on page 11, the Commission goes into 8 separate concerns regarding Mayor Sun's credibility. They seem to stop just short of calling him a liar.

The copy of the decision that will be posted soon is not yet signed. But it is the final version of the decision. It came straight from the hands of the civil service secretary. We'll replace the reference copy with the signed one as soon as it is available.