Ken Hunt, human resources manager for the city of Iola, was fired Tuesday, apparently from fallout with the city’s ongoing health insurance controversy.
Mayor Bill Shirley announced the firing following a private meeting with Hunt at City Hall.
Shirley said the firing was “with cause,” but declined to elaborate further, citing employee privacy rights.
Hunt’s firing came about two weeks after he was accused by City Councilman Ken Rowe of making unauthorized changes to the city’s personnel policy affecting health insurance plans for retirees, and one day after Councilman Kendall Callahan spoke about other issues with the city’s insurance coverage.
Shirley cited his mayoral powers in announcing Hunt’s firing.
“This was my decision,” Shirley said.
Hunt, 58, was hired as human resources manager in April 2010.
As mayor in Iola’s new city council form of government, Shirley has the right to hire and fire employees.
WHILE neither Shirley nor Callahan would speak publicly about Hunt’s firing, the issue apparently stems from changes enacted in September 2010 to the employee handbook related to insurance rates for retirees.
Prior to Sept. 28, 2010 — when former commissioners took their final action on health insurance policies before leaving office the following April — the policy stated retirees were required to pay 110 percent of the monthly premiums set for current employees.
A subsequent revision in the handbook put dollar figures to the retirees’ rates — $302.50 for singles and $552.50 for families — while removing any references to the 110 percent rate.
Had the city adhered to the 110 percent rate, retirees would be paying $460.98 and $1,021.45 for single and family plans, respectively, Callahan alleged.
Subsequent searches of city commission minutes, newspaper reports and notes from employee task force meetings did not uncover any references to those dollar figures, Callahan said. Instead, all that could be found was a report on minor wording changes to the policy.
“You would think a change that monumental would have been noted by somebody,” Callahan said.
Callahan stopped short Monday of accusing Hunt of malfeasance, calling the changes “bad management” and a “debacle.”
However, Rowe did just that two weeks earlier.
