Bar is raised for Waconia to fire public utilities chief

Fifteen minutes in July might determine the fate of Drew Anderson, Waconia's embattled public utilities director. That became clear at Monday night's City Council meeting, where Anderson's fate was considered once again with no resolution.

The 15 minutes in question are in a recording that Anderson made July 24 of a Waconia city employee talking to a newspaper reporter for the Waconia Patriot. Last month, that same reporter wrote a front-page expose on Anderson, who was convicted in 1995 of raping a 14-year-old.

What the council -- which will meet again Wednesday night to continue to discuss whether to fire Anderson -- must wrestle with now is whether making such a recording is sufficient misconduct to warrant firing, which Anderson is facing during a prolonged and highly publicized job review being conducted by the city in light of the revelation about the rape conviction.

The conviction came two years after Anderson was hired as a wastewater operator. During the past 16 years he has risen to the post of utilities director.

Two weeks ago the council began a job review of Anderson because city officials worried that he may no longer be effective in his job after hundreds of residents sought his dismissal or stated that they will not allow him onto their property because of his criminal record.

During the first review hearing, officials unveiled a list of allegations against Anderson. Then, on Monday, the council learned that firing him might be harder to do that it had anticipated because, as a military veteran, he can only be fired for incompetence or misconduct. "He is not an at-will employee," City Attorney Kelly Dohm said.

"There's a whole lot of stress in this city right now," Mayor Roger Lehrke said as he opened Monday's meeting.

Marshall Tanick, Anderson's attorney, said that the threshold for proving misconduct is high if it is to lead to dismissal and that the allegations don't meet that standard. Among them is that Anderson used city equipment for personal use, that he had work done on his curbs and gutters that the city paid for and that he created a hostile work environment.

The most damaging allegation is that on July 24, Anderson had a copy made of a security camera video of the public works director talking to a Patriot reporter in front of the Water Department building.

Anderson admitted that he asked a subordinate to make him a copy of the meeting, which has video but no audio. But he refuted assertions by the subordinate that he was the one who manipulated the recording to zoom in on the reporter and the city worker.

Anderson said he had no good explanation as to why he wanted the recording, apart from the fact that he knew an uncomplimentary article was going to be printed about him.

He said the DVD was made but that he did not take it or even look at it. "I was not thinking too clearly at the time," he said. "I didn't have any intent to take it or do anything with it."