Ogden Community Action board says no to reinstatement of chief

An appeal by H.C. Massey, seeking his reinstatement as executive director of the Ogden Area Community Action Agency, was rejected by the agency's board of directors Wednesday night.

The board voted 14-4 to uphold its Nov. 26 decision to terminate Massey. The November decision came after it received the findings of a probe into accusations that Massey had harassed employees.The board met in a two-hour executive session Wednesday to discuss the firing. Massey, who had been with the agency for 28 years, and his attorney, John Preston Creer, left the meeting after a half hour, apparently without addressing the board. Both declined to comment.

Creer had asked a federal judge to delay Massey's appeal hearing, arguing that the board was biased, but the judge rejected that request earlier this week.

Board Chairman Don Carpenter still declined, at the recommendation of the board's attorney, to release the findings of the investigation conducted by Salt Lake City attorney Lorrie Lima into the allegations against Massey.

Carpenter said the report was being kept confidential to protect those who had made the accusations.

He did say the initial vote to terminate Massey was 15-5 and summarized a letter the board wrote to Massey outlining the reasons for his dismissal.

The five reasons the letter gave were that Massey had treated employees unfairly, he had created a negative work environment, the agency had performed poorly and lost several state and federal grants during his tenure, he had contributed to a poor public image and a majority of board members had lost confidence in him.

The agency had lost numerous grants during Massey's turbulent tenure as the agency's chief and was in jeopardy of losing a $1.46 million federal Head Start grant because of what federal Head Start officials deemed mismanagement.