Council Votes 3-1 To Reinstate Paramedic

A special called council meeting was held on Monday to hear the appeal of Wills Point paramedic Mike Madden.

Madden’s employment was terminated following his arrest by the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s office on June 27 following an incident involving fellow EMS employee Melissa Pipes. Madden was charged with a Class C misdemeanor assault.

After procedural instructions by mayor Scott McGriff, Councilman Herbert Dunn recused himself, and the council heard from city attorney Shaina Primeaux.

Primeaux said Madden was placed on administrative leave with pay on June 30 while the incident was investigated.

The investigation, Primeaux said, included a review of the statement given to the sheriff’s office by Pipes, along with the arrest report and written narrative by the arresting officer.

"The city did determine that Mr. Madden did commit a Class C misdemeanor assault on Ms. Pipes and thereby violated the personnel policies dated 1999 and signed by Mr. Madden," Primeaux said.

Primeaux then went on to describe the pertinent articles of the personnel manual that "forbids a person from being discourteous, or offensive conduct toward fellow employees or the public;" and "also forbids employees from endangering the safety of employees and or other persons through negligent or willful conduct."

"The city determined that he did in fact violate the provisions," Primeaux said.

Primeaux also cited the Texas penal code, saying Madden was "charged with, and even admitted to committing a Class C assault. That’s where a person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another when the person knows or reasonably believes the other person would regard the contact as offensive."

"All of the evidence that the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office took at the time of the arrest, as well as the additional information we’ve gathered, it was determined that Mr. Madden had violated the personnel policy and the State law penal code."

Primeaux ended by saying during Madden’s appeal to the city manager on July 7, "Mr. Madden specifically admitted to assaulting Melissa Pipes," and referred to a transcript of the appeal.

"That is the basis for the city’s decision, the fact that he admits to, was charged with and arrested for a Class C assault and that type of behavior is not tolerated by our personnel policies," Primeaux said. "I think the evidence speaks for itself and I would ask you to uphold this termination."

Madden opened his statement by saying, "First of all, it is a Class C simple assault, you can go out here and run a red light or a stop sign, and that is a Class C misdemeanor. Has anybody here ever gotten a traffic ticket? Maybe (anyone who has received a traffic ticket) should be fired, because that is a Class C misdemeanor."

"I’m not a violent person," Madden continued. "I’ve never hurt anyone or intended to hurt anyone. It was a heat of the moment deal. I reached up to grab a cell phone from her – I didn’t know she had 911 on the phone – and when I did, I admit she got a couple of superficial scratches behind her neck.

"This was all just a mistake," Madden continued. "I’ve spent 15 years with this city and I don’t have a scratch on my record, or a letter in my file."

Madden added that his actions weren’t intentional, knowing or reckless.

He also expressed concern regarding who was in charge of the investigation, and about the quality of the investigation that was done. He cited conflicting information he had received that (fire chief) Chuck Allen had been appointed as the lead investigator, and also being told by city manager Jim Stephens that he (Stephens) was in charge.

Madden also stated that no one had spoken with him as part of the investigation, and didn’t think a thorough or fair investigation had been done.

"I talked to Chuck Allen at 4:20, on Monday (June 30), and he said that everything had been sent to TML (Texas Municipal League) already," Madden said. "Well, this is not even 24 hours. What kind of investigation is that?

"I want to find out if TML even knows about it. I think I’m being misled on this.

"I also want to point out that this did not happen on city property or on city time.

"I want to find out if TML was even notified about the deal, because I’ve never been asked about a statement or my side of the story or nothing. How can they do that and it be a proper investigation?"

Madden continued by stating that he was informed at 9:41 a.m. on Tuesday, that TML had made a recommendation that Madden resign "because it causes a hostile working environment, and the city needed me to resign by 5 p.m., or I would be terminated.

"I thought, how can they do that? It hadn’t even been a day, and they still hadn’t gotten a statement from me."

Madden authored a letter stating that he had no intention of resigning, and upon delivering the letter was told he had until the weekend.

Madden declined the extra time and delivered his letter refusing to resign. He was then informed that he was terminated.

Primeaux offered rebuttal by stating that Allen was never appointed as an investigative authority, and that there was a letter of reprimand in Madden’s file, dated March 8, 2002, for "derogatory name-calling."

Primeaux also addressed the investigation by saying, "He (Madden) may not have been aware of everything that was going on behind the scenes regarding the investigation, but people were working non-stop from June 27 when the event occurred.

"Information was being gathered and documents were being reviewed, both by myself and by the TML lawyer who gave the same type of advice."

Following an executive session, councilperson Deby Frye made a motion to uphold the termination. The motion failed for lack of a second.

Councilman Jimmy Blasingame made a motion to reverse the decision with council members Scott Stevens. and Oscar Rogers supporting the motion.

In a statement following the meeting, Frye said, "I cannot express my dismay as regards the actions of the council and Mr. Madden.

"Mr. Madden, in open meeting, called the city manager, Jim Stephens, a liar. He said perhaps Mr. Stephens should be fired. He diminished the fact that he had been arrested for an assault and likened the Class C offense to that of a traffic violation stating that every city employee who’s ever had a traffic ticket should be fired. In my opinion, not the words of a man pleading for his job in front of the city council.

On the other hand, the actions of the other council members clearly, and again in my opinion, showed absolute disregard for the efforts and decisions of our city manager and city attorney who were hired by these very council members to advise them," she continued.

"While I am extremely disappointed in the outcome of this meeting, I will continue to represent all of the citizens of Wills Point, regardless of affiliation or gender," Frye added

Messages left for the other council members were not returned.

City manager Stephens said, "The appeals process worked."