FARGO, N.D. - Dismissed Fargo Public Works Director Al Weigel is appealing to the City Commission after a lower city panel upheld his March 26 firing last month.
The appeal is Weigel's last chance to have his termination overturned through city procedures. After that, his only option would be to take the city to court.
"That's something I haven't even thought about yet," he said on Tuesday. "Obviously, right now I'm just looking to get my job back."
City ordinance doesn't spell out how the City Commission is supposed to handle employee appeals that have already been denied by the Civil Service Commission, as Weigel's appeal was on April 23.
In a notice of appeal filed Friday, Weigel's attorney asked Mayor Dennis Walaker and the other city commissioners for instructions on how to facilitate the appeal.
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Walaker said Tuesday the City Commission will likely hold a special hearing to consider Weigel's appeal. The panel is expected to set the hearing date during its regular meeting on Monday.
The last employee to appeal his termination to the City Commission was former police Officer Kyle Olson, who was fired for buying off-sale beer while on duty and giving a bar patron a Breathalyzer test while off duty.
A special City Commission hearing for Olson was held May 8, 2006. A court reporter was present to record the proceedings, which were very similar to the Civil Service Commission hearing, and the panel upheld Olson's firing.
City officials say Weigel was fired for ignoring the city's purchasing policy by steering $214,000 in city business to Epic Solutions of Fargo without getting quotes from competing firms. Epic's president and vice president are partners with Weigel in Quad Investments, a company that leases space to Epic.
Weigel has said Epic was the only company he could find to do the job required, and that all purchases were for less than $10,000, so quotes weren't needed.
Weigel said Tuesday that he believes the whole situation could have been cleared up if city officials had sat down with him initially and allowed him to explain everything instead of launching an investigation without asking him questions.
"But I think now everybody's realizing that it wasn't exactly how it was brought out to be initially, and now (there is) a lot more work to do to clean things up," he said.
Mike Nowatzki is a reporter at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which, like the Herald, is owned by Forum Communications Co.
