Mediation unsucessfull in waterworks dispute
An attempt to mediate a dispute between the City of Marion and a former employee who claims she was fired for reporting improper procedures at the city water plant has failed, both the city attorney and the city administrator said Tuesday.
Anticipating litigation, they have turned the matter over to the city's liability insurance carrier.
At issue is Linda Johnson's claim that she was transferred from her job at the water plant to a job on the city's trash truck detail, then terminated after being injured on her first day on the new job.
She alleges that her termination was payback for having reported what she said were irregularities at the Marion water plant, to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment late in 2001.
In an interview Monday, Johnson claimed that the water plant had used chlorine improperly, that it lacked proper equipment, and that its records had been falsified.
According to her account, she had been working as a senior water operator with a Level II certification but was transferred first to another job in the water distribution department then was put on the trash truck detail, where she was injured on her first day on the job.
She claims that while she still was drawing Worker's Compensation for that injury, she was terminated by the city.
"They told me they had no place for me," she said in an interview.
Johnson now works at the Marion County Transfer Station, loading trash trucks.
She alleges that a fellow city employee improperly fed chlorine into the city's water system and instructed other workers to change the plant's water treatment records to reflect that chlorine had been added when, according to her, it had not.
"We were putting out dirty water, and he was making us change our numbers," she said Monday.
City officials declined to comment on these allegations. Nor would Johnson's own attorney, Terry Unruh of Grace Unruh and Pratt in Wichita, comment.
"We're trying to resolve this through the legal process," he said. "It would not be appropriate for me to comment."
Johnson alleges that she reported the irregularity to two high-level city supervisors before contacting the state.
According to her, another waterworks problem, this one involving cross-contamination of treated and untreated water, was verified afterward by the state.
She further alleged in the interview Monday that the city had revoked the certification of the employee who (she claimed) had erred in attempting to inject chlorine.
Bert Zerr, an official with KDHE in Salina, confirmed Tuesday that the employee's certification had been revoked — by the state, not the city — but that the employee still was certified for wastewater treatment.
Zerr declined to offer a reason for the revocation of the employee's waterworks certification.
The employee in question now works in the city's sewer distribution department and reads utility meters for the city, City Administrator David Mayfield said Tuesday.
The mediation of Johnson's case occurred Sept. 12 under the supervision of Midland Mediation of Wichita.
City Attorney Dan Baldwin represented the city along with another attorney, Jeff Hurt of Wichita. Mayfield also attended the meeting.
Mayfield said litigation papers had not been served, but Baldwin said the complaint that was brought to mediation constituted a suit.
Both said the mediation effort was unsuccessful.
