ONY, ~ Yo, \@) DrKas County Chief Executive Officer VIAFACSIMILE (678) 354-4702 (404) 881-8040 Chief Terrell Bolton c/o William J. McKenney McKenney & Froelich ‘Two Midtown Plaza, Suite 1250 1349 West Peachtree Street Atlanta, Georgia 30309-2920 Re: Pre-termination notice Dear Chief Bolton: ‘This letter is a pre-termination notice of charges and opportunity to respond to those charges. Typically, when DeKalb County makes plans to terminate a merit status employee, the terminating official meets with that employee to explain the charges and give the employee a chance to respond, during the meeting, before the termination decision is made final. On February 18 and February 19, 2009, the DeKalb County Attorney called and wrote to your attorney, Mr. McKenney, in an effort to set up such a pre-termination meeting with you for today, February 20, 2009. Because your attorney has indicated that you are in Texas and not available to meet in person either today or in the near future, the purpose of this letter is to explain the charges against you and give you an opportunity to respond to them in writing. Based on facts obtained prior to and during your administrative leave, I have made a preliminary decision to terminate your employment with DeKalb County for the following three reasons, each of which is an independently sufficient cause for termination under the DeKalb County Code, Chapter 20, Article IX, Section 191: first, insubordination or willful failure to carry out an official supervisory directive or job assignment; second, improper use of county equipment or property; and third, conduct unbecoming a Chief of Police Services and breach of the public trust. 1. You have been insubordinate, On the evening of February 2, 2009, when you were on eave at your own request, I directed then Police Services Acting Chief Karen Anderson to terminate the employment of Police Services employee Keisha Williams the following morning. Acting Chief Anderson told you about my directive. You then ordered Acting Chief Anderson not to terminate Ms. Williams’ employment and instructed at least one other officer to Clark Harrison Building / 330 W. Ponce De Leon Avenue / Decatur, Georgia 30030 / 404-371-2881 | Fax 404-371-4751Chief Terrell Bolton February 20, 2009 Page 2 discourage Assistant Chief Anderson from complying with my directive. You further attempted to intimidate, coerce and prevent Acting Chief Anderson from carrying out my directive by informing her that she could be sued and held personally liable, that she should "think" about it before carrying out my directive, and that she should "pray" about it before carrying out my directive. You further suggested that she call in sick to avoid carrying out my directive. Your efforts to intimidate, coerce and stop Acting Chief Anderson from carrying out an express directive from me were insubordinate. On February 3, 2009, DeKalb Chief Operating Officer Keith Barker, on my behalf, directed you, by e-mail, to “refrain from conducting any county business" while you were on leave between that date and February 9, 2009. Mr. Barker's February 3, 2009 e-mail further stated that "[t]he CEO has asked me to direct you that your first action upon returning to work should be to contact me for purposes of setting up a meeting with the CEO.” You violated the quoted directions in Mr. Barker's e-mail by contacting subordinate officers on February 4, 2009, to schedule mandatory staff meetings at 8:00 a.m. and at 9:30 a.m. on the morning of February 9, 2009, your planned date of return to work. Your violation of those directions was insubordinate. 2. You have misused County property, You were placed on administrative leave beginning on February 9, 2009. You were asked to turn in your county vehicle along with other specified county property. During the property collection process, I learned that you had seven county vehicles set aside for your own use or the use of your drivers. | also learned that you had directed a subordinate officer not to place vehicles under your cost center in county records. During your administrative leave, I learned that during 2008, you kept two luxury seized drug vehicles, a Range Rover and a Mercedes, at your personal residence for several months. In the fall of 2008, you asked subordinate officers to come to your house, remove the two seized luxury vehicles from the premises, and store them elsewhere, away from County facilities. By keeping two seized luxury vehicles at your home for months and then asking subordinate officers for help in hiding them, and by keeping seven county vehicles at your personal disposal, you engaged in improper use of county equipment or property. 3. You have engaged in conduct unbecoming a Chief of Police Services and breached the public trust. In addition to the two grounds above, you have engaged in other conduct unbecoming a Chief of Police Services, such as: encouraging a subordinate employee to falsely call in sick; making remarks in conflict with the Chief Executive Officer's authority during the Police Graduation on January 30, 2009; permitting a civilian employee to be issued police equipment that only a swom officer could properly use; and failing to obtain clarification of my compensatory time policy before you took compensatory time off in 2009. If you would like to provide explanation or evidence in response to the charges above before the termination decision is made final, please provide that explanation and/or evidence inChief Terrell Bolton February 20, 2009 Page 3 writing no later than 10 a.m. on Monday, February 23, 2009, by facsimile to me at (404) 371- 6291 or by facsimile to Lisa Chang, County Attorney, at (404) 371-3024. As you know, the response opportunity described in the preceding sentence will not be your only chance to be heard regarding the charges that support your proposed termination. If the termination decision becomes final, you will have ten days after the effective date of termination to request a post- termination hearing through the DeKalb County Merit System. Sincerely, - 1 Chief Executive Office E. Chang, County Attorney