Dale EMA ‘agrees to resign’

The Dale County Emergency Management Agency Director job has been vacated after the commissioners gave the official approval at the meeting Jan. 26.

The Dale County Commission unanimously approved Dale County Attorney Henry Steagall’s recommendation that they accept the negotiated terms leading to Jonathan “Kurt” McDaniel’s resignation.

“Director McDaniel agreed to resign last week and it was accepted by the chairman (of the commission),” Steagall said, reading from a written statement. “McDaniel had an attorney and his attorney and the Dale County attorneys negotiated the terms leading to his resignation.”

Steagall said that the terms of McDaniel’s resignation include waiving “further collection of his debt to the commission in the approximate amount of $1,400” and giving McDaniel the county EMA cellphone at no charge.

In turn, McDaniel “agreed that this ends his employment with Dale County and it is final with no appeals or reconsideration,” Steagall said.

Under the agreement, McDaniel returned all county property and transferred control of the county web/Facebook page back to the county.

Dale County Commission Chairman Steve McKinnon said that McDaniel had returned the keys to his former office and had coordinated with the sheriff Jan. 25 to retrieve his personal property from the building.

“Basically we are just trying to have a clean break with Mr. McDaniel,” Steagall said.

A post on McDaniel’s personal Facebook page addressing the issue said, “After much thought and prayer and fighting unnecessary battles and disagreements, I have resigned as Dale County EMA Director. I consider it a privilege to have been able to serve others. Public service and helping people is definitely a passion of mine and hopefully the door will open to be able continuing such. Thank you to all who support me. Keep me in your prayers, thanks and God bless you all.”

After the commission agreed to post the vacated positon, McKinnon said that a committee will be formed to review applications received. “We are going to have a committee formed to review the applications. We’re going to get some people who are involved with the EMA on that selection committee,” he said.

McKinnon will serve as interim EMA Director and will work with the sheriff’s department until a new director is hired. The council has also received offers of assistance from other county EMAs, McKinnon said. “We’re going to try to get this moving forward as soon as we can.”

This is not the first time that McDaniel has been the subject of a Dale County Commission meeting. A second “last opportunity” was given to McDaniel at a Due Process Hearing before the commission held June 16, 2020.

After going into executive session immediately after the Due Process meeting, the commission unanimously agreed to suspend McDaniel without pay for 10 days and to fine him $1,000. After payment of the fine and after 10 days’ suspension, McDaniel was allowed to return to work, said Steagall at that time.

The June 16, 2020 proceeding came on the heels of a June 9, 2020 unanimous vote of the Dale County Commission to issue a notice of termination to McDaniel who had served as Dale County EMA since 2015. McDaniel was issued the notice of termination on the recommendation of Steagall and Dale County Administrator Cheryl Ganey.

At issue was McDaniel’s social media posts regarding national protests spurred by the death May 25, 2020 of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn.

A post on McDaniel’s Facebook page read: “I hope all of the looters are stealing condoms so we don’t have another generation of idiots.” Another post was a photo of a crop-duster airplane with the words: “Riot control. Fill these with pepper spray.” A third post said: “Bet they don’t burn down any welfare offices.”

McDaniel was suspended from his county EMA duties June 4, 2020 by Steagall and Ganey, pending a commission decision. Under the Dale County Organizational Chart, McDaniel reported, at that time, directly to the commission as a whole, instead of to the commission chairman.

“As you know, our EMA director Kurt McDaniel has an extensive history of warnings and reprimands regarding his job performance in the last few years,” Steagall said, reading from the written recommendation to the commission at the June 9, 2020 meeting. “In February 2019, Mr. McDaniel was suspended from his position on the E911 Board for unethical conduct as a board member and the county was without representation on that board for several months.

“Due to his history of discipline as EMA director and the E911 Board suspension, McDaniel was called before the commission in March 2019 and given ‘one last opportunity’ to correct his deficiencies. He was given a list of corrective actions which were expected of him in order to continue as the EMA director and he acknowledged his mistakes, signed his name in agreement and assured the commission there would be no further violations of the personnel rules or improper conduct,” Steagall said.

“Since McDaniel made those assurances to the commission last year, it has come to the attention of the county administration that McDaniel has continued to violate county personnel rules,” Steagall said. “Based upon McDaniel’s discipline history and the breach of his agreement from March 2019, the county administrator recommends that the commission consider dismissal of the EMA Director and I concur.”

Steagall and Ganey recommended that the commission provide McDaniel with notice of their intent to terminate him from county employment by the close of business June 9, 2020.

McDaniel has served as Dale County EMA Director since being selected by the commission to the position which was vacated upon the untimely death of longtime EMA Director Robert Marsh May 13, 2015.

The next meeting of the Dale County Commission is Feb. 9 in the Dale County Government Building in Ozark. A work session begins at 10 a.m. and is followed immediately by a voting meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.