By Mike Allen
The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
Copyright 2006 The Roanoke Times
All Rights Reserved
A career Roanoke firefighter has filed a grievance against the city, saying he was transferred from his old job as retaliation for his refusal to take down a controversial Internet site.
Roanoke Fire-EMS Capt. Michael Banks hosts , a Web site where some Roanoke firefighters anonymously air their complaints about management. People post on the site “because they’re afraid to say something personally,” Banks said. “It’s just an outlet for people.”
City officials assert that Banks’ transfer had nothing to do with the Web site. “Absolutely not,” said acting Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback.
On June 2, Banks was reassigned from the airport fire station, where he had served for more than seven years, to the station on Riverland Road. Banks, 54, has worked for Roanoke Fire-EMS for more than 30 years, attaining the rank of captain in 1992.
In his grievance filed June 20, Banks wrote that he had training specific to airport emergencies, and that no other captain has been moved from the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting battalion without requesting the transfer. “This move was in direct retaliation to my unwillingness to remove the web site,” he wrote.
Banks founded the site in March 2004. He purchased the domain name and created the front page, which links to a bulletin board where anonymous participants with handles like “FOURTHHORSEMAN” and “Beanspiller” often post criticisms of the department.
Anyone can post anonymously on the bulletin board, not just firefighters, Banks said. However, Hoback said Roanoke firefighters are definitely posting on the board, because the posters display inside knowledge of the department.
Banks is demanding to be returned to his previous position. On June 26, City Manager Darlene Burcham ruled that Banks had no legal grounds for a grievance. Banks appealed to Roanoke Circuit Court.
Banks’ attorney, Mark Cathey, said that Burcham did not consult the fire department before making her decision.
Banks testified in a Roanoke Circuit Court hearing Monday that at a department meeting in December, Hoback ordered that the site should be shut down.
Banks has not taken the site down. In court, he said he was exercising his right to free speech.
Hoback testified that he did not order Banks to shut the site down. He said that during the December meeting he responded to complaints from firefighters about negative comments posted on the bulletin board, telling them the department had no control over the site.
“We brought it up because we had issues from personnel expecting management to do something about it,” Hoback said. “We don’t have the right or the ability to shut it down.”
Hoback testified that Banks’ transfer was one of about 11 transfers done to reorganize shifts within the department.
Banks has received high marks on his annual evaluations over the past three years, said Assistant City Attorney Tim Spencer. He noted that Banks’ salary and benefits were not affected by the transfer.
Banks said he earns about $56,000.
Judge Charlie Dorsey listened to evidence Monday but did not make any rulings. Attorneys on both sides said they will file written arguments within the next few weeks.
Dorsey said in the hearing that the city has no right to order Banks to take down the Web site, but also noted that rights of free speech and rights of the workplace “are not always completely separate.”
Banks said after the hearing that he’s not expecting to win the grievance procedure, but he’s going through with it “to let them know that somebody’s got some backbone.”