Though he will remain on paid administrative leave through December 31, Tom Fissell’s 20-year career as Cobleskill’s highway superintendent is effectively over.
“It was never, never about the racism,” Supervisor Tom Murray said Monday.
“It was about us expecting him to do his job.”
Mike West, town attorney, said he’d reached an agreement with Mr. Fissell “which results in his resignation effective December 31.”
Mr. Fissell, who has not been at work since August 12, will continue to be paid through the end of 2010—the reason Mr. Murray said he voted against the deal.
“I wanted to take legal action,” Mr. Murray said afterwards, but that could have taken as long as a year and as much as $50,000 in legal fees—plus Mr. Fissell’s $55,000 salary, he said.
“It’s as good as we’re going to get,” Mr. Murray added. “Closure will be good.”
Mr. Fissell’s problems with the town started quietly last January when, under newly-elected supervisor Mr. Murray, councilmen held off on reappointing him to his own two-year term because they didn’t have “standards” for the job.
Eventually, Mr. Fissell was reappointed, but said he planned to retire at the end of ’10.
Mr. Murray voted against that reappointment and said again Monday it should never have been done.
The dispute exploded in June when Mr. Fissell wrote an email accusing Mr. Murray and Cobleskill Mayor Mark Nadeau of being part of a “culture of racism at the highest levels of elected leadership” and of using the “n-word.”
When both denied those charges, Mr. Fissell released an audiotape of the conversations.
A three-month independent investigation by attorney Earl Redding of the Albany law firm Roemer Wallens Gould & Mineaux found there was not a culture of racism in Cobleskill and called Mr. Murray’s and Mr. Nadeau’s use of the “n-word” a single, isolated incident.
Mr. Nadeau resigned in the wake of outrage over the tapes; Mr. Murray issued an apology—of sorts—last month.
Meanwhile, the tapes themselves apparently no longer exist.
Though some accused Mr. Fissell of taping every conversation he’d ever had and others said there were 2,200 hours worth of tapes, Mr. West said the tapes no longer exist.
Mr. West said that though he’d asked Mr. Fissell’s attorney repeatedly for the tapes, he was told that they’d been “taped over” and no longer exist.
Mr. Murray said Mr. Fissell will be allowed back in his office to collect personal belongings, but that’s it.
“It’s gone on too long,” he said. “We’re past this man.”