Despite the rocky history, Nickerson said Friday he has no ill-will toward any of the city’s employees.
“I have no vendetta,” he said. “The bottom line is, no one just pointed at me and said, ‘You’re the next mayor.’ I was voted in by the citizens and by the community that wants me to do something to help this town get better.”
Madden did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
During a Feb. 20 village council meeting, Nickerson announced the launch of an internal investigation into alleged misconduct, followed by a council vote placing Madden, Chief Financial Officer Phillip Hinson, Law Director Ronald Keener, Police Chief Curtis Hensley and Service Superintendent Scott Brock on paid leave. The Dayton Daily News’ requests for the personnel files of the suspended employees are still pending.
As of Friday, Nickerson said there was no update to the internal investigation into activities in the village’s administrative, financial and legal departments that is being led by special counsel McNamee Law Group. The staff on administrative leave will stay in that status pending the outcome of the investigation or until further notice.
Nickerson personnel records
Village personnel documents show Madden terminated Nickerson from his full-time, at-will job with the New Lebanon service department in December 2019. Madden’s letter said the reasons for his dismissal were: dishonesty, personal use of village equipment without permission, creation of hostility within work environment and animosity toward co-workers, creating tension and lack of trust, and being “no longer a good fit with others in the department.”
In correspondence to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations following his dismissal, Madden claimed Nickerson had used a village vehicle to drive his son, an action she asserted “put his son at risk and the village at a liability.”
Madden said Nickerson initially lied about the incident before ultimately admitting to the accusation.
“(Nickerson) did not choose to admit to the dishonesty until termination (of employment),” Madden wrote. “Dishonesty is not a corrective offense but a terminable one.”
Of that particular 2019 incident, Nickerson said Friday he had been on lunch break and, while in one of the village trucks, took his son, who was ill, home from school before returning to work.
Nickerson claims he was not asked about the incident until “two to three weeks” after it happened, at which time he said he did not clearly recall whether he used his personal vehicle or the city truck to pick his son up that day.
After being presented with video evidence of himself and his son entering the city truck and driving off, Nickerson said he relented and admitted to the action.
“There was never an issue prior to that of people using trucks to run home and get lunch, or to run down to McDonald’s,” Nickerson noted Friday. “It was never a problem until I did it.”
Nickerson’s file includes a disciplinary report for an issue of substandard work and insubordination in 2016, that included a shouting argument with Service Department Superintendent Scott Brock.
But his performance reviews issued each summer from 2015-18 graded him as proficient or excellent in every category, including marks of “excellent” the latter two years in “cooperation/interpersonal skills.” The records the village released did not include a performance review from summer 2019, just months before his termination.
In communications with the village after his firing, Nickerson said he felt we was terminated because of legitimate complaints he had made involving leadership responsibilities and safety concerns in the service department. He also accused Madden of an “abuse of power” in obtaining video of the 2019 case of Nickerson using a village truck to transport his son.
Nickerson did briefly appeal his termination in early 2020.
Documents show that a hearing was held with the New Lebanon Personnel Appeals Board, during which Madden requested dismissal of Nickerson’s appeal, claiming he had incorrectly filed the appeal documents.
Ultimately, the hearing ended with Nickerson withdrawing his appeal.
Although he dropped the appeal, Nickerson said he still believes his termination was, at least in part, fueled by his prior attempts to highlight safety issues he’d observed in the workplace.
“When I started working there, I began noticing that there were safety concerns within the service department, with people getting put into positions that I didn’t feel were safe,” Nickerson said, asserting that he’d reported such issues to Madden directly and within a safety survey presented to employees. “As time progressed, I started being ignored, I started being not looked at or talked to.”
Madden did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
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