Ex-chief coming back as No. 2 cop

By PHIL DAVIS
Published June 10, 2005

PORT RICHEY - Former police Chief Bill Downs might have crossed the line and strayed into the city's well-known political turmoil, but city leaders were not justified in firing him, an independent arbitrator ruled.

In the decision released Thursday, arbitrator Frank S. Cantrell ordered the city to rehire the 59-year-old Downs at the lower rank of second in command of the 10-person Police Department. Downs, who took over the department in 1997, also is entitled to back pay and benefits dating back to his firing on Oct. 31, 2003, the report said.

The city will be allowed to place a warning in Down's personnel file for some of the violations it alleged in its complaint. Both Downs and the city are bound by Cantrell's decision.

"I feel all right," Downs said Thursday. "I accept the arbitrator's ruling."

He added: "I'm looking forward to going back to work."

City Council member Phyllis Grae, who accused Downs of "Gestapo" policing tactics and supported his dismissal, said late Thursday she had not had a chance to read the arbitrator's report. When asked how she felt about Downs again working for the city, Grae said: "My feelings about Mr. Downs are widely known and have not changed."

City Manager Jerry Calhoun said the department kept the No. 2 position open during the arbitration so an officer would not be demoted if Downs prevailed.

"I don't have any problem with it," Calhoun said of Downs' return. "It's a decision that's binding and we will work with it and move on."

Downs had asked to be reinstated as chief, but the arbitrator found enough evidence in the city's complaint to justify a demotion. Downs will now report to his former second in command, Bill Sager.

"I have no difficulty with awarding the Grievant (Downs) back pay and benefits at the rate of the second-in-command of the city's police department," Cantrell wrote. "Reinstatement is more difficult, though. While I understand the Grievant did not cause the city to be politicized, the Grievant seems to have added to, or at least fallen into, that turmoil. He was not without fault in his troubles. ..."

Former City Manager Vince Lupo fired Downs in 2003 after months of agitation between the Police Department and its critics, including a few City Council members and some residents. Lupo accused Downs of disrupting the budget process in an effort to save the department's dispatch service.

The complaint accuses Downs of dabbling in city politics by showing a resident Grae's property tax records. Downs said he got the records out of a public database only to illustrate how little residents paid to have their own Police Department.

Lupo also complained of "odd incidents," including parking tickets being handed out to people parked at then-City Council member Dale Massad's house. Massad and Grae said residents complained of overpolicing.

Lupo was fired in May 2004 when a new majority took over the City Council.

In the end, Cantrell said the city missed a few opportunities to reprimand Downs and begin "progressive discipline" that could have justified his firing. But without that justification, the city is bound by Downs' employment agreement to demote him to the position he held prior to accepting the job as chief of police.

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:11:19]