Live Oak — The chairman of the Suwannee County Commission said Tuesday night he had lost confidence in the county public safety director, citing the director’s handling of employees.

“I’ve had a number of employees call me and express their concerns and asked to be anonymous because they were afraid of the repercussions,” Wesley Wainwright said at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.

Wainwright wouldn’t discuss specific allegations against Public Safety Director and Fire Chief Charlie Conner, but said they were severe enough to cost Conner his support.

“I am in complete disagreement as how he is handling his employees,” said Wainwright. “I’m not willing to continue to support Mr. Conner as public safety director.”

Conner, who wasn’t at Tuesday nights meeting due to a death in his family, said Wednesday afternoon that he hadn’t been contacted by Wainwright or anyone else on the board regarding the allegations.

“I don’t know how I can defend myself against unidentified complainants,” Conner said by phone Wednesday. “I would like to see something in writing.”

Conner said he has nothing against Wainwright and would like to know what allegations he refers to.

“I think Wesley has come in and done a really good job,” Conner said. “Could I have made mistakes along the way? Yes, but to lose the chairman’s support, I think that’s a little over the top. If he wants to talk to me, go ahead, I’ll sit down with him.”

For his part, Wainwright said Fire/Rescue has made considerable progress in recent years. However, he said he rejects Conner’s management style.

“I’m not out to boot him out of here,” Wainwright said Thursday by phone. “If he’ll change and do a better job with his employees, I’m all for keeping him. If he doesn’t change, I’m all for booting him out.”

While facts in the matter are scarce. However, public records gathered by the Democrat turned up a grievance by one former employee of Conner, and an email to county offices from another expressing her dissatisfaction with Conner’s management style.

The grievance was filed in county offices by Paul Haas on April 6. Haas, who worked as a lieutenant and fire inspector under Conner, stated in his grievance that he was demoted “in response and retaliation for my resignation from conducting fire inspections and or fire and life safety evaluations that were and currently are directed and influenced by local ordinance that directly conflicts with state statute and the Florida Fire Prevention Code.”

Haas resigned as a fire inspector on Jan. 30. According to an investigative report conducted by an attorney for the county dated July 15, Haas felt that he was being subjected to a “hostile work environment and retaliated against” for being a “whistleblower.”

The report said that Haas believed he could be held liable “if he continued to perform inspection and investigation services,” if the county’s ordinance continues to provide less protection than state statutes warrants.

On June 1, county commissioners repealed the county ordinance so as to resolve potential conflict.

The investigative report by Robert Larkin found that “Conner has not created a hostile work environment and has not violated the federal and/or state civil rights laws.”

Haas’ employment was terminated on July 28.

Former Fire/Rescue employee Candy McCallister wrote in an Aug. 1 email to county officials that she wanted to “officially press charges against Chief Charlie Conner for harassment in the workplace and hostile work environment.”

McCallister wrote that when she returned to work from a lunch break on July 7, “Chief Conner was waiting for me and started yelling at me that I had no respect for my fellow employees and took an hour and one half lunch. I tried to explain that this was not the case, and he repeated to yell at me.”

McCallister wrote that she might have been 10 minutes late, but did not feel she should have been treated that way in front of other employees on her first day back since Feb. 9. McCallister was on leave due to the death of her husband in February.

Any other complaints have yet to be made public.