By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - No one is saying what six Butler County Probation Department employees, including Middletown Mayor David Schiavone, were doing during visits to a co-worker's home on work days, which led to an investigation of possible abuse of leave time.

Schiavone

But speculation about their activities fueled rumors of drug use among Probation Department employees, said Gary Yates, chief probation officer. So Yates ordered mandatory drug tests for all 50 or so probation employees and support staff.

"Some of the employees requested to be tested, because of the cloud that was over the Probation Department from the rumor that was going around," Yates said. "I did not require the employees to take the drug tests as a result of anything that I learned in the investigation, or because of any allegations that were made."

Test results should be ready early next week, Yates said Friday.

Three employees - Rick Baker, William Gray and Ron Wells - resigned during a departmental investigation into their work habits. Gray cited health reasons; Baker and Wells did not say why they resigned.

All six employees who were under investigation allegedly visited Gray's Hamilton home during work hours, department documents show. Yates said the employees' activities inside the residence weren't the focus of the investigation.

"We were looking at it as an absentee problem more than anything else," he said. "I wasn't there inside the house; the investigator wasn't there inside the house."

So far, no departmental accusations have been brought against the other two employees, though Schiavone, a department manager, faces a predisciplinary hearing next Friday on 12 departmental allegations.

On 10 occasions in February and March, Schiavone allegedly was inappropriately absent from his job, including giving a mayoral speech while on sick leave and drinking at a Colerain Township tavern on St. Patrick's Day, department records say. The other two departmental charges allege that Schiavone inappropriately approved time sheets for Baker, Gray and Wells, and failed to properly supervise Gray's job performance.

Tom Nowel, human relations director for the county's Children Services Board, will serve as hearing officer for Schiavone.

Yates normally would conduct such a hearing, but Nowel was chosen because Yates was involved in the investigation of Schiavone and will be testifying.

Three hours have been set aside for the hearing, at which Schiavone may be represented by an attorney if he wants one. Doug Duckett, the county's personnel director, will serve as attorney for the county.

Duckett said a couple of weeks could pass before a decision is made about whether Schiavone, whose mayorship may also be on the line, will be disciplined. First, Nowel will write a report and make recommendations to the county Common Pleas Court, which oversees the Probation Department. The court then will decide what to do, Duckett said.

Possibilities include: no action, written and/or verbal reprimands, suspension, work restrictions and termination, Yates said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com