Allgood, David | Testimony transcript

Transcript of the Testimony of David Allgood

Date: November 14, 2013Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: November 27, 2013

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

David Allgood In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

SWORN STATEMENT OF

DAVID ALLGOOD

Taken on Thursday, November 14, 2013, from 2:33 p.m. to 2:58

p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626

S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of

Missouri, before

SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,

a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and

for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.


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APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


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S T I P U L A T I O N

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn

Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by

SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and

afterwards reduced into typewriting.

It is further stipulated that the signature of the

witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of

said witness shall be of the same force and effect as

though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.


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I N D E X

Page/Line

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4

E X H I B I T S

Exhibit #A. . . . . . . . 5-6

Advice of Rights

Exhibit #20 . . . . . . . 13-5

1/27/13 letter

Exhibit #21, #22, #24 . . . . . 13-5

Employee Performance Measurement

Exhibit #23 . . . . . . . 17-23

11/8/13 memo

Note: Exhibits in separate binder

(sic) - typed as spoken

(ph.) - phonetic


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1 DAVID ALLGOOD

2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,

3 testified as follows:

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

5 Q. Mr. Allgood, we've had a chance to meet in

6 the hall here. This is Exhibit #A. Have you

7 had a chance to read this form yet?

8 A. Not yet.

9 Q. All right. Let me let you read that and then

10 I'll read it to you because it says I need to

11 do that.

12 A. Okay.

13 Q. Have you had an opportunity to read what's

14 been marked as Exhibit #A?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And I will now read it and you can peruse it

17 again, if you want. "I wish to advise you

18 that you are being questioned as part of an

19 official investigation by the City of Joplin.

20 You will be asked questions related and

21 specifically directed to the performance of

22 your official duties of fitness for office.

23 You are entitled to all of the rights and

24 privileges guaranteed by the laws of the

25 Constitution of the State and the


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1 Constitution of the United States, including

2 the right not to be compelled to incriminate

3 yourself. I further wish to advise you that

4 if you refuse to testify or answer questions

5 relating to the performance of your official

6 duties, you will be subject to departmental

7 charges, which could result in your dismissal

8 from your official duties. If you do answer

9 these statements may be used against you in

10 relation to subsequent department charges,

11 but not in any subsequent criminal

12 proceedings. I have read and fully under the

13 Advice of Rights as it appears above, and

14 this information has also been read to me

15 prior to answering any questions." Sir, do

16 you understand what we've talked about?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. All right. Would you sign that and date it?

19 A. Okay. Right here (indicating), sir?

20 Q. Yes, print your name above that, if you can

21 there.

22 A. (Witness complies)

23 Q. Thank you, sir. Mr. Allgood, I'm witnessing

24 your signature and your date of 11/14 of this

25 Exhibit #A, is that correct, sir?


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1 A. Yes, sir.

2 Q. And how long have you been employed by the

3 City?

4 A. Approximately six months.

5 Q. Six months? That's all?

6 A. Yes, sir.

7 Q. Okay. Good to have you. Have you ever been

8 involved in a Garrity before?

9 A. No.

10 Q. Never heard of it, okay. What division do

11 you work under?

12 A. I work under the Human Resources, Risk

13 Management Department.

14 Q. That is your department?

15 A. Yes, sir, it is. I report directly to the

16 City Manager.

17 Q. So Mr. Rohr is your supervisor?

18 A. Yes.

19 Q. Now, Mr. Allgood, you're under oath here

20 today and do you understand that?

21 A. Yes, sir.

22 Q. You understand that this is an investigation

23 that's been authorized by the City?

24 A. Yes, sir.

25 Q. Did you know about this investigation prior


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1 to today?

2 A. Yes, sir.

3 Q. How did you learn about it?

4 A. Only through the Council and the meetings in

5 the Council.

6 Q. So you knew somebody was going to be hired to

7 do some kind of investigation?

8 A. Yes, sir, I did.

9 Q. And you knew that a couple of weeks ago?

10 A. Yes, probably. I don't remember exactly when

11 it was, I didn't know it was, or when that

12 person was going to be hired.

13 Q. And do you know what I'm doing here today?

14 Do you have an idea what I'm doing?

15 A. Other than I'm assuming you're the person

16 they hired to do the investigation, sir.

17 Q. I am, in fact, sir.

18 A. I'd never heard your name before until I was

19 told to come over here.

20 Q. Today?

21 A. Yesterday whenever he gave me the time and

22 date to come over.

23 Q. He being?

24 A. Brian.

25 Q. Brian Head?


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1 A. Brian Head, yes, sir.

2 Q. He's the City Attorney?

3 A. Yes, sir.

4 Q. Now have you discussed this meeting with me

5 today with anybody?

6 A. My City Manager Assistant, City Manager Sam

7 Anslem, he's the one I go through in most of

8 my dealings with the City Manager.

9 Q. Sam?

10 A. Sam Anslem. I'm not sure, A-N-S-L-E-M, I

11 believe. The Assistant City Manager.

12 Q. You talked to Sam about me and this

13 investigation?

14 A. We didn't talk about you other than the fact

15 that I was coming over here to talk to you.

16 Q. Okay. What did he ask you?

17 A. He only said okay. We didn't really get into

18 any discussion, I just told him I was coming

19 over. Brian had told me the day he talked to

20 me that you would probably want to talk to me

21 to confirm everything some time this week,

22 and I told Sam that I would be out this

23 afternoon coming over to talk to you.

24 Q. And he said okay?

25 A. Yes, sir.


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1 Q. Any other discussions with Sam?

2 A. No, sir.

3 Q. How about yesterday, any discussions with Sam

4 yesterday?

5 A. No, I talked to Sam on Monday.

6 Q. Okay. What about?

7 A. Just the information that Brian had

8 requested.

9 Q. Why did you do so?

10 A. Because being new to the City I wanted to

11 make sure I followed proper procedure. I

12 talked to Sam - I think Brian asked me for

13 the information on Thursday, I'm not sure

14 what that date was, around 4:30 p.m., wanted

15 a copy of Mr. Cotten's trial. I asked him

16 why. He said, well, the investigator was

17 wanting the information for his investigation

18 into Council members, which I couldn't tell

19 you who that - I mean I know who they are,

20 but I don't know what the information is.

21 And I said, well, I would like to have a

22 written request. He said on the way out I'll

23 get it to you tomorrow, I don't have it with

24 me now, and I said, well, I don't normally

25 like to give out information since I'm


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1 responsible for all of the files and he said,

2 well, I'll give it to you tomorrow. So in

3 good faith I gave it to him. And even though

4 he's not on the approved list of people that

5 can look at files I didn't want to do

6 anything that would impede the investigation,

7 I guess.

8 Q. Who created that list?

9 A. The list of rules and regulations of the City

10 of Joplin, I don't know when it was created,

11 sir.

12 Q. There's certain people that can see your

13 files according to that list?

14 A. It is.

15 Q. Who are they?

16 A. There's six of them, I believe. The City

17 Manager, the H.R. Director, Assistant H.R.

18 Director, department supervisor, and the

19 department head, I believe, sir.

20 Q. Department head?

21 A. For the employees.

22 Q. You don't know who created that list?

23 A. No, sir.

24 Q. Has general counsel told you that he should

25 be on that list?


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1 A. He didn't tell me he should, no. He sent me

2 a letter back saying that as City Council he

3 has the right to see any of it, which, okay,

4 I'm not going to argue with him.

5 Q. And he wouldn't be telling you that unless he

6 --

7 A. I wouldn't think so.

8 Q. So you probably ought to add him to your

9 list?

10 A. I probably should, but I have to go through a

11 process. I can't just add that to my list.

12 I'm not in charge of that.

13 Q. Who is in charge of that?

14 A. I would assume the City Council would be the

15 one that actually would be in charge of the

16 rules and regulations.

17 Q. All right. Let's talk a little bit about

18 what goes on in here or what we talk about is

19 supposed to be confidential. Do you

20 understand that?

21 A. Yes, sir.

22 Q. Who told you that?

23 A. He did.

24 Q. Did anybody else ever tell you that?

25 A. No, sir, I've not talked to anybody else


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1 about that.

2 Q. I'm going to show you what's been marked -

3 I'd like that marked separately, please. I'm

4 going to show you what's been marked as

5 Exhibit #21, #22, and there's two other pages

6 that I guess are part of #21. Let's hand you

7 #21 and ask you, have you seen those three

8 pages before?

9 A. I have seen these on the day that Brian asked

10 for them.

11 Q. And there's three pages.

12 A. I've seen two pages here. Hold on, there it

13 is, there's three pages.

14 Q. All right. So Exhibit #21 is three pages.

15 Is that the full document?

16 A. No, sir, I think there's more. Here's 5A so

17 there's got to be something in front of it.

18 Maybe 1, 1A. The complete would be all of

19 what you've got here in front of me.

20 Q. All of these documents?

21 A. Yes, sir, this would be the Employee

22 Performance document as I understand it.

23 Q. Page 1, 2, and 3 you have?

24 A. Yes, sir.

25 Q. I have two page 1's in my hand.


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1 A. That's possible, sir. I mean I didn't

2 develop this form, I'm just learning it

3 myself.

4 Q. I'm going to hand you now what's been marked

5 as #22, page 1 of #22. Have you seen that

6 before today?

7 A. Other than the day I gave it to Brian and I

8 just did a quick scan on it and saw what it

9 was, sir.

10 Q. All right. I'm handing you what's been

11 marked as #24.

12 A. And that would be the final page of the

13 evaluation. I saw it also on the day that

14 Brian came in and I scanned it as well, sir.

15 Q. These are the five pages that you handed Mr.

16 Head?

17 A. Yes, sir, it is. That would be the

18 Performance Management document review.

19 Q. Now as far as you understand it what person

20 is this file part of?

21 A. This is Mr. Christopher Cotten, sir.

22 Q. Mr. Head asked you to provide Mr. Cotten's

23 personnel file?

24 A. Yes, sir.

25 Q. What else is contained in that personnel


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1 file?

2 A. Application, any reference checks, things of

3 that nature, if there's been reprimands or

4 counseling sessions, I think more than

5 anything like that would be in there, too.

6 Q. Did you see any other counseling sessions or

7 any other forms other than these pages?

8 A. There were these documents, sir, and I laid

9 it out and showed it to Brian. He asked for

10 this document and then he also asked for the

11 counseling session from Mr. Rohr to Chris,

12 which I don't know the date on it, but I know

13 both of these preceded my date of employment

14 so I wasn't part of it so there's one other

15 document I don't see here.

16 Q. I'm going to hand you what's now been marked

17 Exhibit #20 and ask you if that's the

18 additional page?

19 A. Yes, sir, this appears to be the document.

20 Q. Suffice it to say that we've got them

21 numbered strange, it seems to me, but in any

22 case you've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 pieces of

23 paper and that was the entire file that you

24 provided to Mr. Head?

25 A. That was the document that Mr. Head


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1 requested. There was more information in the

2 file, but he didn't request any of it, sir.

3 Q. Thank you. I would like to direct your

4 attention specifically to Exhibit #20. This

5 is signed by Chris Cotten and Mark Rohr. Do

6 you see those signatures?

7 A. I see those signatures, sir.

8 Q. Do you recognize either signature?

9 A. I recognize Mr. Rohr's because I deal with

10 him. Chris Cotten, I would have to compare

11 that against something in the file and I

12 haven't done that, sir.

13 Q. But in any case this came from the Chris

14 Cotten file?

15 A. Yes, sir, it did.

16 Q. Do you believe this to all be legitimately

17 part of your record on Chris Cotten?

18 A. Yes, sir, I do. I have no reason to believe

19 otherwise.

20 Q. All right, sir. I appreciate that. Now

21 you've only been here six months as I

22 understand?

23 A. Yes, sir.

24 Q. You don't have any idea why this file is here

25 as I understand it?


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1 A. No, sir, I don't.

2 Q. Okay. You don't know Mr. Cotten probably, do

3 you?

4 A. I know Mr. Cotten, sir, he is a department

5 head so we meet not personally, but we meet

6 as a group of department heads twice a month

7 and I see him then and I'll see him in the

8 hallway.

9 Q. You haven't talked about this matter?

10 A. No, sir.

11 Q. And I assume you will not?

12 A. No, sir, I will not.

13 Q. I assume you will not talk about what we've

14 talked about to the City Manager Assist and

15 the City Manager?

16 A. No, sir, I will not.

17 Q. Because I've instructed you not to?

18 A. You've instructed me not to and I understand

19 now better why.

20 Q. One other item I'd like to show you. There

21 is something that has been marked as - I hope

22 we don't have this numbered yet - yes, Number

23 #23. Do you recognize that document?

24 A. Yes, sir, it's a memorandum that Brian sent

25 to me and my request authorizing him, me to


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1 give this information to him after the fact.

2 Q. Why was this memorandum written, if you know?

3 A. Beg your pardon, sir?

4 Q. Why was this memorandum written, if you know?

5 A. Well, I would assume because I asked for it,

6 sir.

7 Q. You asked for something in writing from Mr.

8 Head?

9 A. Yes, sir, I am the keeper of the files so I

10 wanted to have a paper trail. I thought that

11 was good for me to have so if somebody would

12 ask down the road why did you give this

13 information, the City Attorney asked for it.

14 Q. And there's three documents attached together

15 here. What is the last page there?

16 A. That is an email that I sent to Brian

17 requesting that information, sir.

18 Q. And the response to that was the two blue

19 pages?

20 A. The two pages, that's correct.

21 Q. All right. Did Assistant City Manager talk

22 anymore about what you were doing here as of

23 the date that all this went on or a

24 subsequent date other than what you've

25 related to me?


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1 A. I talked to the City Manager, Assistant City

2 Manager on the day of course that Brian was

3 there because I told him I wasn't sure if I

4 thought it was proper protocol, which Brian

5 wasn't on the approved list, and he said no

6 problem, thanks for telling me. Then on

7 Monday when I got this from Brian I confirmed

8 that I had gotten the written documentation

9 and of course I think Brian had also copied

10 him anyway so he had already seen it.

11 Q. That's Mr. --

12 A. Mr. Sam.

13 Q. -- Anslem?

14 A. Yes.

15 Q. And you also copied Mr. Rohr?

16 A. Yes, I have not talked to Mr. Rohr at all

17 about any of this, sir.

18 Q. Fine. If you talk to anyone else, if any of

19 your supervisors want to talk to you I am

20 instructing you now that you must call me.

21 A. Yes, sir, I will.

22 Q. And that is by authority of the City Council.

23 A. Yes, sir, I understand that perfectly.

24 Q. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it very much.

25 Now just a couple of follow-up questions. Do


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1 you normally deal with Mark Rohr or do you

2 normally deal with the Assistant?

3 A. Primarily the Assistant. I deal with Mark

4 occasionally. Probably 80, 90 percent of the

5 time it's with Sam.

6 Q. And what is your relationship with Sam?

7 A. I see him as my supervisor.

8 Q. Instead of Mark?

9 A. Mark is my supervisor, but I guess the

10 authority sort of goes through him. If I

11 have issues or questions about the procedures

12 with City business or City policies - I guess

13 municipalities since I've been on the private

14 side for thirty years the government side

15 operates differently, sir, so I go to Sam a

16 lot of times and say is this appropriate or

17 what would you suggest.

18 Q. If there's a legal matter you wouldn't

19 normally go to the general counsel then?

20 That's not in your normal chain of command as

21 you see it?

22 A. I don't report to him, but if it's to deal

23 with a legal claim that falls under Risk

24 Management I deal with Brian.

25 Q. Direct?


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1 A. Yes.

2 Q. So when there is a matter that is with Brian

3 you deal directly with Brian?

4 A. Like on an automobile claim, a liability

5 claim, a work comp claim or something that

6 has the potential to become legal like on an

7 employee or something I will go get Brian

8 involved.

9 Q. For example, a retaliation charge or

10 something of that nature, would you deal

11 directly with Brian or would you deal with

12 Mark Rohr?

13 A. I would go to legal counsel.

14 Q. And that is your understanding essentially of

15 the role, is that right?

16 A. Yes, sir, to deal with the daily business of

17 the City I would deal with Mr. Rohr, you

18 know. And assuming, once again, sir, I'm not

19 familiar with the City work the way it

20 operates a lot of times, a lot of times on a

21 legal matter if it's not directly with the

22 City Manager I would assume the City Manager

23 would be informed probably by Brian.

24 Q. Let me suggest to you that for your future it

25 would appear to me that you need to find out


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1 what role the general counsel has for you.

2 If any. When I deal with a city and it's a

3 legal matter I deal with the lawyer. That

4 would seem like --

5 A. Yeah.

6 Q. But it does not appear from the sequence of

7 events and documents that we've just talked

8 about that you're aware of that resource so I

9 would think you would want to straighten that

10 out a little bit.

11 A. I appreciate that very much. Because there

12 does appear to be some gray in there for me.

13 Q. It does, and I think you have now a City

14 opinion signed by Head that I think you may

15 rely on, it appears to me, and if there is

16 more need for clarification that perhaps you

17 should --

18 A. Yes, sir.

19 Q. Fair enough.

20 A. I wouldn't want to do anything that impedes

21 the investigation, which is why I went out on

22 the trust of what Brian was telling me and

23 providing him with the information without

24 any documentation, which is what normally

25 would have been my requirement because again


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1 I go back to the policy of the rules and

2 regs. I would think the City Attorney could

3 see what he wants to see when he wants to see

4 it.

5 Q. I think so. And the reason I guess I have

6 talked about these issues and I see that Mr.

7 Head also has consulted with you about this,

8 is that if I wanted to talk with Mr. Anslem I

9 would have done that. And I will now.

10 A. Okay.

11 Q. But my point is did you impede it? I don't

12 know. I don't know. But I would suggest to

13 you that because of areas that are gray in

14 your mind that you might want to get that

15 totally lined out because from my standpoint

16 as an outsider it seems to be a little bit

17 foggy to you and I think it should not be.

18 If there's something wrong with the lawyer's

19 abilities or something that should be

20 reported to the Council, I would think, but

21 in any case otherwise I would think that

22 general counsel would be one of the main

23 resources you would have. And if I would be

24 here on retaliation or hostile work

25 environment I'd be dealing with the lawyer


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1 unless he was part of the hostile work

2 environment.

3 A. Yeah, I just wanted to be sure I followed

4 proper procedure and Sam is usually my person

5 I go to so that's why I did that.

6 Q. I will want to talk to counsel about that

7 because I --

8 A. Maybe I didn't understand what Brian was

9 asking or needed. There wasn't a lot of

10 explanation going on. I didn't know you had

11 been hired, I didn't know you had been

12 approved by Council, I didn't know your name,

13 and I sort of felt like I went out on good

14 faith with Brian to provide him the

15 information.

16 Q. I appreciate that.

17 A. And maybe I - I don't know, I just felt like

18 that was necessary for me to get

19 clarification that I'd acted appropriately.

20 Q. And I still think you need to get that

21 clarified.

22 A. I agree and I will do that.

23 Q. I appreciate that. One other thing I want to

24 talk about a little bit is what observations

25 have you made with Manager Rohr's style of


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1 operations?

2 A. I think he does a fine job.

3 Q. What about the Assistant?

4 A. I think they do a fine job.

5 Q. What about the lawyer?

6 A. I think he does good. And I've very few

7 dealings with the lawyer. When I have it's

8 always been good.

9 Q. The same thing would be true of your

10 observations on Mr. Rohr?

11 A. Yes, sir.

12 Q. The same thing on the Assistant?

13 A. Yes, sir, I've had no issues at all since

14 I've been here.

15 Q. And you're the new guy?

16 A. I'm the new guy.

17 Q. Well, it's a rough way to get in on this.

18 A. Yeah, it definitely is.

19 Q. And you have a couple of issues bouncing

20 around on the Council, I guess you're vaguely

21 aware of those issues?

22 A. Vaguely. I try to avoid it, sir. It's none

23 of my business what went on with him or how

24 it went on or anything to do with the

25 Council. Even the Council and the City


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1 Manager I try to avoid. Not my business.

2 I'm hired to be H.R. and I'm trying to do

3 that.

4 Q. Sometimes you're stuck in the middle.

5 A. That is an understatement.

6 Q. I appreciate you coming in here today, Mr.

7 Allgood, and you have identified these

8 records for me and I needed the records

9 identified and I appreciate you coming in,

10 and once again I'm admonishing you that until

11 this investigation is over I would not

12 discuss this with anybody, and if anybody

13 attempts to discuss it with you I want to

14 know about it.

15 A. Okay.

16 Q. Do you promise me that?

17 A. I promise you, sir, I won't say anything to

18 anybody, and as far as I'm concerned --

19 Q. Right now I'm your boss for awhile just for a

20 very short period of time.

21 A. Okay. This thing is going to continue

22 forward now and you're going to continue your

23 investigation and I'm going to stay out of

24 it.

25 Q. I hope you do. It's my hope that you do.


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1 Okay?

2 A. Okay.

3 Q. Thank you, sir, for coming in here. I

4 appreciate it very much. I am going to give

5 you one of my cards, and the reason I'm

6 giving you my card is if anybody wants to

7 know what we talked about or anything else

8 then I want you to tell them please just tell

9 them that's the guy that you'd like to have

10 them talk to and then we can invite them over

11 here, okay?

12 A. Okay.

13 Q. Thank you very much for coming in.

14

15 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

16

17

18


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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

STATE OF MISSOURI

ss.

COUNTY OF JASPER

I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the

State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the

foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the

14th day of November, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was

examined. That examination was then taken by me by

steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn

Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set

out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith

returned.

I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or

relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of

either party or of the attorney of either party, or

otherwise interested in the event of this suit.

__________________________

SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

Documents

Allgood, David | Testimony transcript