Clarksville, TN – Three employees of the Clarksville Building and Codes Department have filed grievances against the director of the department, Les Crocker. According to documents obtained by Clarksville Online, through a public records request, the grievances accuse Crocker of wrongful termination, harassment, unfair treatment, and allege that he did favors for friends and family.
Randall Mathews, Jenifer Rougemont and Brigitte Papastathis submitted their grievances to the Human Resources director, Will Wyatt who then sent them on to Clarksville City Attorney Lance Baker.
Due to a conflict of interest, Baker has recused himself from the investigation. In a closed door meeting last week, the Clarksville City Council voted to hire a Nashville Law firm, Costangy Brooks & Smith, a Labor & Employment Law Firm specializing in employee relations, to investigate the claims.
Lawyers have been interviewing Building and Codes employees all week.
Mathews, who was fired by Crocker last year and subsequently was reinstated by Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan, alleges wrongful termination. He claims that Crocker told him to “Bring in a doctors note for medication I was taking, and required me to bring a copy of the pill bottle to him.” Mathews also claims in his grievance that he has tape recordings of conversations with Crocker where he accuses another employee of having a drug problem.
Rougemont says she was lied to about a pay raise, and was harassed about a doctor’s appointment and called a “liar.” Her grievance claims to have other situations of “harassment” and says there’s “just too many to list.”
Papastathis submitted the most extensive grievance which included photographs taken by her husband, Joe Papastathis, a retired police officer, that claim “It was suspected that proper procedures were not being followed for the abatement of this property.” The photos were of property allegedly owned by Harry Crocker, who is Les Crocker’s father.
City attorney Lance Baker would not comment on this story, and referred all inquiries to Jennifer Rawls, the city’s communications director.
Once the investigation has been completed, then Costangy Brooks & Smith will submit their report to the Mayor and the City Council.  It’s possible that their report will include opinions as to the facts of the case, and recommendations on solving the dispute.
This is an ongoing story, and Clarksville Online will report as developments warrant.