BRIER — The city’s clerk and treasurer, Paula Swisher, was fired by Brier’s mayor Gary Starks on Monday morning, May 16.
Current and former employees, along with some City Council members say they are stunned Starks let go another of the city’s most valuable players.
“This is an unacceptable situation, the firing of Paula and the other employees in general,” said Council member Catie Corpron Smith. “How is our city supposed to function properly if this keeps happening?” she said. “We can’t keep asking those who remain to cover the enormous holes that have been created by Gary Starks.”
Swisher is the 12th person to be fired or quit from the city of Brier since Starks was appointed mayor by the City Council in October 2003, after former Mayor Wayne Kaske resigned.
Numbers 10 and 11 occurred in the past three weeks when Raymond Kendall, the city’s then-new building inspector, and Oneta Griffin, co-owner of a custodial business contracted to clean city offices, left.
Swisher said that while she would like to discuss the details of her firing, she can’t say anything at this time because she is contemplating legal action.
Starks didn’t return several phone calls from the Enterprise.
While Paula Swisher couldn’t describe what happened to her Monday morning, her husband, Cameron Swisher, did.
According to Cameron Swisher and others who were at City Hall when his wife was fired, the reason given was she had given too many copies of a key to staff from the Emergency Services Coordinating Agency (ESCA). The agency is a tenant in Brier’s new City Hall and officials asked for keys to access their area of the building.
Cameron Swisher said his wife was berated by Starks, something that has happened before.
“(Starks) treats people with abusive language and behavior and all sorts of nonsense. This is a daily thing for Paula and others there,” Cameron Swisher said.
Cameron Swisher said his wife put up with the situation because she’s professional and loves the other people at the city.
“In reality, (Starks is) probably not going to be mayor in November, so we, along with others, were basically just holding our breath until then for him to be gone,” he said.
Cameron Swisher said he can’t say why others decline to speak out.
“So many have gone off in a ball of fire, I don’t get why they don’t speak up about this guy,” he said. “It’s just bad for the city. Starks keeps getting rid of good people who care about Brier.”
Cameron Swisher said his wife would love her job back, “But with Starks there, that won’t happen.”
Former mayor Kaske said he knows Paula Swisher was doing a good job. She took over from 20-year Brier employee Norma Wilds. “Paula stepped in and did the job even under those circumstances with Starks,” he said.
Kaske said he can’t understand what’s going on at City Hall.
“I can’t for the life of me figure out what this guy is thinking, why he would do all this,” Kaske said. “The city of Brier just doesn’t have the resources of people to fall back on. You’ve got to work with the people doing the job for you and he’s not doing that. I don’t know whether to get mad or laugh, because I still care for my community.
“I know a lot of people are just waiting until November when they can get someone else in there, but I don’t know how many people we’ll lose before then.”
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