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Must be nice to have a government job where it will take 6 months to fire you!!!! And of course you will be on paid leave the entire time before you get fired.
OK, I know David Ludwig has only been on paid leave for 5 months waiting to be fired, but I suspect it will take at least another month of paid leave to fire him, maybe even a few more months - or years. Maricopa County health official faces dismissal By Michelle Ye Hee Lee The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:27 PM Maricopa County administrators intend to dismiss David Ludwig, who until last year oversaw restaurant inspections Valley-wide, for failing to address inspection backlogs dating to 2008. The county kept Ludwig on paid administrative leave for nearly five months as it looked into the matter. As of Monday, it had paid him $27,092 while on leave. In a letter hand-delivered last Friday, Deputy County Manager Joy Rich told Ludwig she intended to dismiss him from his merit-protected position managing the environmental-health division. She cited violations of merit-system rules regarding incompetency, inefficiency and neglect of duty. Ludwig has until Thursday to fight his dismissal with Rich. The decision follows changes last fall for other high-ranking employees in the county Environmental Services Department. Administrators approved a 15.3 percent salary increase for the department’s director to match the salary of the department’s new deputy director, Steven Goode. County officials considered Goode an ideal candidate for the position because “he has hands-on experience in every division with Environmental Services,” particularly in the area affecting the inspection backlogs. Officials also hoped he could address “attention from the media and stakeholder concerns” about the backlogs, county records show. Goode was hired at a salary of $117,000 — about $1,000 more than the salary at his previous job, records show. His county predecessor, fired last year, earned $89,398. Though county merit-based salaries remain frozen for the fifth year, officials raised department director John Kolman’s salary to $126,855, from $109,990, so that his deputy was not making more than he. County spokeswoman Cari Gerchick called it “entirely inappropriate” for a subordinate to be paid more than his boss. The change is in line with the county’s compensation policy, she said. In the department’s 2011-12 employee-satisfaction surveys, employees complained of low morale and frustration over the freeze on merit-based raises. Asked if he was worried about how his raise would be perceived by department employees, Kolman would only say he is pleased with his staff for proving to be professional, capable and taking food safety seriously. County Manager Tom Manos placed Ludwig on paid administrative leave in September, two months after The Republic published an analysis that found Maricopa County far behind in its 2011 inspections of the highest-risk restaurants. The department’s own projections also showed inspections would not be completed in 2012 or 2013. Rich wrote in Friday’s letter to Ludwig that the county has had a 20 to 30 percent inspection backlog since 2008, and that Ludwig “did not present a viable solution to correcting the backlog or solving the inspection deficiencies on a long-term basis” after The Republic’s report. She said an assessment by Daren Frank, county Stadium District director and longtime manager of county regulatory services, showed Ludwig failed to make immediate improvements to correct inspection backlogs. Frank had been temporarily named to review the inspection problems when Ludwig was placed on leave. Frank found ways to decrease the backlog and catch up on 2012 inspections. The Republic began inquiring about Ludwig’s paid-leave status in early January. By that point, he had exhausted his accrued leave hours. Reach the reporter at michelle.lee@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8290. |