‘Whistle blower' alleges wrongdoing; chief points to nepotism (with DOCUMENT)

Days after her son Alex Metz was fired from the Destin Fire Control District, financial administrator Bobbie Metz has raised questions about possible wrongdoing in the department.

Bobbie sought protection as a “whistle blower” under Chapter 112 of the Florida Statutes at a meeting of the district’s board of commissioners last week. In a document she handed out at the meeting, Bobbie alleges Fire Chief Kevin Sasser has been involved in Sunshine Law violations and lied to the press about the reasons why her son was also laid off last year.

While declining to comment further on any of the allegations, Bobbie wrote “the lying, the manipulation needs to stop. Be truthful…it is time to do things the right way.”

To read the letter from financial administrator Bobbie Metz, click here.

Bobbie also asked for help and protection in the letter, saying the work environment at the department has become hostile. She said firefighters are responsible for “nasty” blogging about her and often turn their backs to her as she walks down the hall.

“This is nothing more than a disgruntled employee,” Sasser responded. “I terminated her son’s employment with the department, and four days later she turned around and wrote this letter. It is what it is, and it is without a doubt an issue of nepotism.”

Bobbie’s husband, Phil, also works for the department as the Medical Division Chief.

Before Alex was terminated, he worked as the coordinator for the district’s junior lifeguard program. On Feb. 2, Alex was arrested and charged with DUI. He has yet to be arraigned or found guilty, but he was terminated on March 5.

“It’s been my position not to discuss specific employees,” Sasser said when asked why Alex was terminated.

The Destin Fire Control District currently has no policy in place regarding nepotism or criminal misconduct.

This wasn’t the first time Alex was let go.

In September of last year, Alex was laid off to save the department money, according to Sasser. But Bobbie alleges in the document that Sasser lied when he told the Log he let Alex go to save the department $6,000 to $7,000. As the financial administrator, she said she knows the department had plenty of money, enough to keep his position.

In the letter, Bobbie claims Alex had recently been given health benefits by the department. She said a deal was formed between the union president at the time, which was Mark Baugh, and a commissioner not to give Alex his benefits if the firefighters didn’t get their annual raise.

Jimmy Neilson, who later identified himself as the commissioner in question, said that allegation is untrue. He said he met with Baugh, but it was to discuss the union’s annual step raise, and Sasser authorized the meeting. He said he didn’t even know Alex, and his only goal in the meeting was to explain the difficulty in granting the usual raises during these trying economic times.

“This is a mother, father, son situation rather than an employee situation,” Neilson said.

Mark Baugh could not be reached for comment before press time.

Alex was given back his job on Oct. 13. Bobbie states in the letter that the department’s attorney, Mary Kraemer, told Sasser to “do the right thing, give Alex his job.”

Sasser said there was no deal made regarding Alex. He also stated that there have been no Sunshine Law violations at the department.

But Bobbie stated in the letter that she had discussed the alleged violations with Barbara Peterson from the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee.

“There are very strict limitations on labor negotiations,” Peterson said. “It looked to me like there may be a Sunshine Law violation based on the information she provided me.”

However, the Fire Control District’s labor attorney Robert Norton said Bobbie has not detailed any specific incident.

“It is quite obvious to me that this letter was written in response to her son having been terminated,” Norton said. “She’s just striking out because she’s mad about her son.”

But Bobbie said she is the one others have been striking out at online. She said vicious blogging about her went on for months, and Sasser refused to help. She said she had to threaten the chief with a court order to get the blogging to stop.

“I am a dedicated employee, and I am writing this letter out of desperation,” she wrote. “I love my job, but things have been very hostile.”

The board decided to table their discussion of the allegations until the next meeting so that they may have time to review the document.

“I encourage the board to investigate and verify my accusations,” Bobbie said at the meeting.

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THE COVERAGE CONTINUES

To read about a commissioner's outrage over the promotions process, click here.

To read about the fire department's financial worries, click here.