WHITE CLOUD, Mich. — The former police chief for the city of White Cloud has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and its manager, alleging he was fired in retaliation for filing complaints about potential safety concerns.
Dan Evans was appointed as police chief at the end of 2016, starting with the agency in 2006.
In a federal lawsuit filed on Dec. 30, Evans alleged he was fired from the position without prior notice on Oct. 1.
“There was no notice of his termination, no reasons given for his termination, no pre-termination hearing, nor any allowance for Plaintiff to defend himself. He had not been suspended pending investigation and, in fact, there was no investigation,” the suit alleges.
“He was escorted out of the building by the County Sheriff and had to call his wife to pick him up from work.”
Evans believes the decision to let him go was made without any input from the White Cloud City Council, nor without any sort of hearing.
“On August 12, the city manager submitted an excellent annual review of Chief Evans as the head of the police department. He was overall rating 'superior,' as it had been for the last several years of his tenure,” Evans’s attorney, Katherine Smith Kennedy, told FOX 17 Tuesday.
“Nothing appeared in his evaluation or even noted in the comments that was stated in the alleged reasons for termination a month later.”
The former chief argues in the lawsuit that alleged actions taken by White Cloud City Manager April Storms have “destroyed” his ability to secure work.
“Plaintiff is unemployed and now virtually unemployable in his field,” the suit reads.
“This is due to Defendant Storms’ and the City’s actions and untrue words and information publicized to others, and his reputation has been destroyed.”
Evans explains in the suit that he believes he was fired in retaliation for filing complaints regarding potential safety issues within the city: one on Sept. 26 and one on Sept. 27.
He says he notified City Manager April Storms and Public Works Supervisor Donald Barnhard about the potentially hazardous condition of the city’s water pump, and the lack of public safety features near the city’s dam.
Evans alleges he was concerned that somebody would end up hurting themselves at the dam, either intentionally or accidentally.
“Chief Evans only tried to protect the community from tragedy if teenagers or others tried to access the dam or water lift, and from liability when inevitably someone would have gotten hurt or worse,” Kennedy explained.
Despite bringing these issues to the attention of the city, he claims they were largely ignored.
Within days of Evans being let go, he claims the “hazardous conditions” surrounding the water pump were “magically” fixed, and the road over the dam was closed for repairs.
Evans also refers to a letter allegedly distributed by the city manager, claiming he “had a practice of humiliating members of the public as well as breaching professional confidentiality rules, created a hostile and intimidating environment, fostered an environment of distrust, and that his ‘nit picking’ had severely affected department morale.”
He says the letter was also sent to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES).
Evans explains that he was offered a job as a detective/officer with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office after he was fired from White Cloud, only for the offer to be rescinded weeks later.
“Plaintiff is unemployed and now virtually unemployable in his field. This is due to Defendant Storms’ and the City’s actions and untrue words and information publicized to others, and his reputation has been destroyed,” the suit claims.
FOX 17 was able to reach an attorney for the city of White Cloud Tuesday, who provided a brief statement in response to the lawsuit.
“The City of White Cloud will vigorously defend the allegations that have been made by its former police chief; however, the City will address this matter through the legal process and not in the media,” attorney Mark C. Miller said in a written statement.
“My client will have no further comment regarding this pending litigation.”
Evans’s attorney tells FOX 17 that he deserves to be reinstated as police chief.
“Chief Evans did everything he could to try to fix this situation without a lawsuit, despite the fact that — from my perspective — there were serious violations of law when Chief Evans was terminated. But the city manager and their lawyer just stopped responding to his attorneys, even when the parties had an agreement for a joint letter to be provided to MCOLES,” Kennedy explained.
“We even communicated with a letter on Dec. 18 to the council’s attorney giving them a final chance to try to resolve the matter prior to us filing suit — and again we were ignored. We were up against the deadline for the whistleblower claim, so we had no other choice but to move forward when there was zero effort to speak to us.”
The city of White Cloud has a city council meeting scheduled for Tuesday night at 6 p.m. Several items relating to the police department are on the agenda.
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