BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio - Fire Chief Jeffrey Hajek - saying that Councilman Brian Dunlap threatened to beat him up immediately after a November council meeting - has demanded that City Council create a safe work environment for him and other municipal workers.
Hajek, in a prepared statement to council Jan. 26, said Dunlap threatened to "kick his (behind)" in council chambers moments after the Nov. 3 council meeting ended.
"I continue to express concerns for my personal safety and for the need to restore professionalism, respect and a safe work environment within the city government," Hajek said Jan. 26.
"This request is made to ensure accountability, transparency and the appropriate resolution of this matter for myself and all employees of the city of Broadview Heights," Hajek said.
The incident led to a Parma Municipal Court case in which Dunlap has been charged with disorderly conduct. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 9.
Dunlap has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorney, Joseph W. Diemert Jr., said it was Hajek who provoked Dunlap after the Nov. 3 council meeting and that Hajek called Dunlap a "fat old man."
Diemert said Hajek name-called Dunlap as the councilman was trying to walk away from the confrontation.
Both Dunlap and Diemert said that Hajek's accusations stem from political disagreements.
"I strongly believe that if council has any influence over the administration, they should encourage them to stop the waste of taxpayer dollars by continuing the fire chief's vendetta against a councilman (Dunlap) who failed to support the fire chief's full agenda," Diemert said in a Feb. 2 letter to council.
Council President Robert Boldt said he has been advised by city Law Director Vince Ruffa to let the case play out in court before deciding whether council should take any action on the matter.
Dunlap, a retired Broadview Heights firefighter, was originally hired by Hajek and worked under him for several years, according to Dunlap.
Councilman Glen Goodwin, speaking Jan. 26, said Hajek and Dunlap have known each other "for a very long time."
"I'm just kind of shocked that this thing would go this far and that it hasn't ended at some point," Goodwin said.
"This happened 3 feet in front of me, this whole incident, and it's quite bothersome that we have a political show going on about this," Goodwin said.
"Let's just hope this whole thing just ends up going away," Goodwin said.
Behind the scenes
Hajek, in a Nov. 5 police report, said that during the Nov. 3 council meeting, Goodwin asked him for a progress report on a proposed new fire station. Hajek said he had nothing new to report.
After the meeting, Mayor Sam Alai told Hajek that Dunlap "appeared to have umbrage with him." Alai said that while Hajek was responding to Goodwin during the meeting, Dunlap told the mayor that Hajek needed his behind kicked.
Hajek walked over to Dunlap and asked if there was a problem.
According to Hajek, Dunlap replied, "Yeah, you're a (blanking) condescending (ass). You didn't answer (Goodwin's) question."
Hajek told Dunlap that he did answer Goodwin’s question by saying that architects were still designing the new fire station.
Hajek and Dunlap started arguing. According to Hajek, the following exchange occurred:
"You're not going to do anything, fat old man," Hajek said.
As he walked away, Dunlap said, "I'm going to kick your (behind)."
Hajek said Dunlap was not emotional when he made the threat. He said the comments were "calculated and thought-out."
Once Hajek arrived home that night, Alai called and said that Dunlap had told him during the council meeting - while Hajek was responding to Goodwin about the fire station - that Hajek needed his behind kicked.
Dunlap told police that immediately after the Nov. 3 council meeting he turned to Alai and told him that he, the mayor, "needed to grab his fire chief by the short hairs and kick him in the (behind)" for the way he spoke to Goodwin during the meeting.
Dunlap said that when the meeting ended, he told Goodwin that he believed Hajek was "very condescending" toward Goodwin in his answer about the fire station progress. Then he told Hajek the same thing.
Dunlap said he felt as if Hajek was "gaslighting him" and told Hajek to stop. Dunlap believed Hajek was provoking him into a confrontation so he walked away, which is when Hajek called him a "fat old man."
Dunlap denied that he ever threatened Hajek directly. However, he told police that Hajek needed his behind kicked for the way he spoke to Goodwin during the meeting.
Police in their report said that in the interests of impartiality, they would seek an outside prosecutor's recommendation on whether to file charges against Dunlap.
The case in Parma court was filed Nov. 26. Dunlap was arraigned Dec. 17.
HR gets involved
In a Nov. 10 memo to Boldt, Vicki Brinkmann, the city's human resources consultant, said Hajek approached her Nov. 4 with a complaint of harassment and a hostile work environment stemming from the dispute with Dunlap.
Hajek for the most part repeated to Brinkmann the comments he made to police. He said he was concerned about his safety and that of his family.
Brinkmann said she interviewed everyone who was there and who might have witnessed the confrontation. She said there were discrepancies among the witness statements due to the fact that not everyone was focused the same on what happened between Hajek and Dunlap.
"That said, it appears that there were at least two, if not three times that Mr. Dunlap stated either that 'someone' or that he himself would kick the fire chief's (behind)," Brinkmann said in the memo.
Dunlap, like Hajek, repeated comments he made to police about the incident. He said he told Alai that he, the mayor, needed to kick Hajek’s butt, in a figurative way, for the manner in which he spoke to Goodwin but denied threatening the fire chief with violence.
Brinkmann said Dunlap provided more than one version of what happened, causing her to mostly corroborate Hajek’s statement to her.
"If both the chief and Mr. Dunlap were employees, I would feel confident that harassment had occurred and that Mr. Dunlap had created a hostile work environment for the chief," Brinkmann said. "In that case, I would be recommending disciplinary action toward Mr. Dunlap."
However, Brinkmann added that since Dunlap is an elected official, she cannot recommend disciplinary action against Dunlap.
"I do recommend that steps be taken to address Mr. Dunlap's behavior during and after the council meeting, since it seems clear that his language, tone of voice and volume were inappropriate for interactions with an employee and in the public eye," Brinkmann said in the memo.
Council in limbo
At the Jan. 26 council meeting, Hajek told council that he perceived Dunlap’s comments to him after the Nov. 3 council meeting to be “a credible threat of physical harm, and that (the comments) caused me to feel unsafe in my workplace, creating what I believe to be a hazardous and hostile work environment.”
Hajek said he had not attended council meetings for three months for that reason.
“Consequently, this city has incurred additional costs as Assistant Chief (Joseph) Fleming has been required to attend council meetings in my place, resulting in increased budgetary expenditures and (that) otherwise would not have been necessary,” Hajek told council.
Hajek asked council what actions it would take to address Brinkmann’s report and create a “safe, nonhazardous” work environment for him and all city workers.
“I would respectfully ask that this council give me an answer to these questions in two weeks at the next council meeting (on Feb. 9),” Hajek said.
Boldt told Hajek that Ruffa, the law director, advised him to do nothing for now because the case was in court.
“The police chief is sitting right there and he’s armed,” Goodwin then told Hajek. “If you feel unsafe, you might want to sit closer to him? I don’t know . . . I don’t understand that part, about feeling unsafe.”
“So if somebody threatens you, you’re just supposed to sit closer to somebody else?” Hajek said. “So we’re supposed to put up with bullying and intimidation? Is that what you’re saying?”
Goodwin said he didn’t want to discuss the matter that night. He said the incident between Hajek and Dunlap happened 3 feet in front of him and that he had a different take on it than Hajek.
Hajek then walked out of council chambers. Another firefighter, presumably Fleming, the assistant chief, took his seat.
Fearful or political?
In his Feb. 2 letter to council, Diemert, Dunlap’s attorney, said Hajek’s motivation is political and not connected to any fear for his safety.
Diemert said that after reading witness statements he determined that it was Hajek who provoked Dunlap “without any obvious fear” after the Nov. 3 council meeting.
Diemert said Hajek continued his harsh words against Dunlap even after Dunlap started walking away, calling Dunlap a “fat old man.”
“These are not the words of someone who was in fear,” Diemert said. “He did not go to the police chief; he did not complain to anyone else in the room; but only after overnight deliberation chose to file a complaint against the councilman.”
Diemert said he was confident that Dunlap would be found not guilty in court.
“After being found not guilty,” Diemert said,“he (Dunlap) will have legal options available to him against the city’s administration and the fire chief for such frivolous and malicious prosecution against him.”
On Tuesday (Feb. 3), Dunlap told cleveland.com that Hajek and the city administration want him off council because he opposed a $14 million plan to build a new fire station.
Council eventually compromised and agreed to spend no more than $11 million on the fire station.
Also, Dunlap voted against the 2025 municipal budget because, under a 2019 ordinance, the mayor must earn 5 percent more in salary than the police and fire chiefs.
In turn, code requires the police and fire chiefs to earn 14 percent more than police and fire lieutenants.
Since police and fire lieutenants were scheduled to receive raises in 2025 and 2026 under collective bargaining agreements, it means the chiefs and the mayor, who are not union employees, will also receive raises.
Dunlap believed it was wrong to tether the mayor’s salary to the chiefs and police and fire lieutenants.
"This is retaliation," Dunlap said of Hajek's accusations against him. "The big picture is they want me gone. I've done nothing wrong and the fire chief isn't afraid of me."