It’s Time for a Comprehensive Review of County Personnel Policies

Push for Worker Policy Review

By Jeff Proctor
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer

County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins is calling for a complete review of Bernalillo County’s personnel policies, such as those governing nepotism and employees’ arrest records.

Stebbins announced her push for the review on Thursday as the administration grapples with questions of whether Deputy County Manager John Dantis and other supervisors at the county’s drug detox facility covered up complaints of wrongdoing by Dantis’ son, who worked at the facility for nearly four years.

“I have directed the county manager and the county attorney to thoroughly review all policies, procedures and bargaining agreements to look at some of the things that have come up recently,” Stebbins said in an interview. “That will include things like familial relationships and criminal records and arrests of county employees. I think we need some comprehensive, uniform policies that cover all county employees.”

She said she has asked for a report and recommendation on personnel policies from County Manager Thaddeus Lucero and County Attorney Jeff Landers by Aug. 1.

Lucero could not be reached for comment on the review of policies, and a county spokeswoman had no response to Stebbins’ call for the review.

Recent Journal stories have documented 29-year-old Jamie Dantis’ employment at the Metropolitan Assessment and Treatment Services facility, known as MATS. John Dantis has supervisory authority over MATS.

Since he started working at MATS in September 2006, Jamie Dantis has been arrested at least four times, according to court records. In January 2009, he was arrested in Albuquerque and later pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. Five months later, in June 2009, he was arrested in Florida and later pleaded guilty to a fraud charge that led to 11 months of probation in that state. And he has twice been arrested this year in Albuquerque on shoplifting charges.

MATS employees have filed incident reports alleging that Jamie Dantis had rifled through a client’s backpack and wallet and, in a separate incident, was driven home because he was impaired on the job, according to copies of the reports obtained by the Journal.

Lucero has said he was told by John Dantis and two other MATS supervisors, Dwight Dias and Carl Broach, that Jamie Dantis had a “spotless” personnel record.

Lucero and a county spokeswoman have given mixed answers as to the county’s policy regarding drug tests for employees involved in automobile accidents.

Jamie Dantis crashed a county van into a co-worker’s car in the MATS parking lot in July 2009. He was not required to take a drug test.

Lucero said last week that he wasn’t aware of the crash, but that if it happened, Jamie Dantis should have been drug tested under county policy. On Wednesday, Lucero acknowledged that the crash occurred but said he didn’t know what the testing policy was.

Spokeswoman Liz Hamm provided a copy of the policy to the Journal on Thursday, but it is unclear how it would apply in the Dantis case. Hamm did not respond to an e-mail request for the county’s interpretation of the policy.

Lucero has hired Agnes Fuentevilla Padilla of the Butt, Thornton and Baehr law firm to investigate the MATS allegations.

Lucero has reassigned Jamie Dantis to the Parks and Recreation Department. John Dantis’ supervisory authority over MATS has been suspended until the law firm’s investigation is complete.