TERMINA nON APPEAL: Ms, Kuderer stated that Mr, Fridell should come to the podium. He stated he
was present as representative for Don Ho]brook who was out of state pursuing
employment possibilities, Mr. FrideU gave lengthy discussion beginning with
the letter President Tracey sent to Mr, Holbrook dated February 20th 1998 where
a motion was passed by the Commission that Mr. Holbrook's employment be
immediately terminated with reasons set forth, Mr, FrideU stated that Mr,
Holbrook is grieving this action of termination. He stated that the termination
was not based on the charges and aUegations presented by the "Notice of Intent
to Terminate" dated February 18th, 1998,
Mr, FrideU went on to re-emphasize
his client does have a dual BA degree with dual majors in geography and
environmental studies. Mr. Holbrook's special area of study was urban
economic geography. Mr. FrideU stated that Mr. Holbrook had reason to believe
as his resume states, that he had a Master's degree and Ph.D. from La Salle
University and at the time he applied he had completed his coursework. Mr.
FrideU stated his client informed him that La SaUe University told him he could
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state that he did have a Masters degree and Ph.D. from La Salle University. He
stated, however, that Mr. Holbrook did not get conferred with these degrees,
because of various problems, He stated that Mr. Holbrook contacted the
University and resubmitted his coursework, He read from a letter submitted by
the Dean of Students at La Salle stating that Mr. Holbrook should not be
responsible for issues beyond his control and called him a victim stating he was
led to believe he had completed the necessary requirements but was informed
later that the documents were never received or lost. Mr. Fridell went on to state
that Mr. Holbrook as e~!y as April 1997 discussed the problems with his
education regarding La Salle University with Mr. Harley and also with other
members of the Port Authority. He stated Mr. Holbrook is now referring to
himself as a doctoral candidate. Mr. Fridell then went back to discuss the
minimum qualifications of the Executive Director position and went on to state
that his client was qualified having a degree in urban. economic geography and
listed courses taken to obtain the degree.
He then went on to discuss the allegation of misleading the Port Board with
travel requests to attend the CUED conference in Washington on March I ". He
stated that Mr, Holbrook never mislead the Board regarding this request and
quoted from previous minutes where Mr. Holbrook stated that if he was asked to
be a speaker at this conference, it was possible they would waive their fee. Mr.
Fridell stated that his client was not a speaker as he called CUED and told them
that he was not allowed to travel because of the moratorium and they replaced
him as a speaker, but they did appoint him as a moderate with a discount on
travel.
Thirdly Mr. Fridell stated that Mr. Holbrook wished to point out that no one has
the power to issue a notice of paid administrative leave stating it was neither in
the employment or personnel policy. However, he states that Mr. Holbrook on
two occasions ran into Ms. Finney and exchanged pleasantries and on February
17" he ran into Myron White at a meeting and talked about returning to work
the next day,
Mr, Fridell, in answer to the termination agreement stated
Mr, Holbrook stated
that there is no direct authority to dismiss the Executive Director and under the
policy only the Executive Director has the right to dismiss employees for just
cause, but if there is dismissal it has to be for just cause, He stated that the Port
Authority has seen fit to terminate Don Holbrook on other reasons and the facts
do not show just cause.
He stated that there is a six month severance package if
there is a desire to split and if that is the Board's desire then they should follow
the Employment Agreement and should not ignore this and in essence, pay the
severance package under the employment contract. He then asked if there were
any questions.
President Tracey asked for clarification on a couple of issues asking Mr. Fridell
if it is Mr. Holbrook's testimony that he was not appointed to be moderator at
the CUED until after the meeting on February 2"'. Mr, Fridelllooked up Mr.
Holbrook's affidavit and stated that from what Mr. Holbrook told him was that
he no longer had a speaking engagement after the travel moratorium and after
the board approved his request February 2"' he then contacted CUED and was
told by Mr. Finkle that he was a moderator with the understanding that he would
have a discount because of his membership on the CUED board.
Commissioner Gorman noted that on page 7 that it states specifically that on
February 2"' Don Holbrook was not a scheduled speaker at the conference.
Patricia Kuderer stated you should then go to paragraph 12 I where Don
Holbrook stated that subsequent to February 2"', 1998 he arranged with CUED
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to waive part of his registration fee on the basis that Mr. Holbrook would be a
panel moderator, so this was clearly post February 2"d President Tracey read
briefly from Jeff Finkle's letter to him dated February 19th in the third paragraph
"After you February conference, Don contacted us and told us of his ability to
participate in our Washington Summit. He asked if it was possible for us to
defer his registration costs ifhe could be reinstated as a speaker. We told him we
could not defer the cost of the registration on such short notice and that he had
already been replaced. He was reinstated as the course moderator. We then
offered Don the early registration discount for members as an offer of gratitude
from us, thus saving the Pprt Authority some money". He then asked Mr.
Fridell if that is how it happened and is consistent with Mr. Holbrook's
testimony. Mr. Fridell stated this was correct.
President Tracey stated the other question he had was with Mr. Holbrook's
knowledge of not having his Ph.D. for some time ana it was also stated in his
deposition that he has not used that title for some time, correct? He is no longer
telling people that he has a Ph.D. in anything? Mr. Fridell stated that he had no
direct knowledge of that but he did read the deposition that clearly said that.
President Tracey distributed a fax cover sheet from CUED written January 28th,
1998 addressed to Mr. Don Holbrook from Kate Fullerton. The next page is a
memo from Kate Fullerton to the speakers and moderators of the conference on
the Washington briefmg and Economic Summit basically confIrming and
thanking them for agreeing to participate in the summit and goes on to say they
are still looking for other speakers. The next page of the hand out is a copy of
the attachment of the agenda for Sunday March 2"' in a section from II a,m. to
5 p.m. where Don Holbrook is listed as the moderator for this section which has
to do with internet marketing. This is all dated January 28th, fIve days before the
board met and approved his travel request. President Tracey asked for an
explanation of this and
Commissioner Gorman noted that he was still using the
Ph.D, Mr, Fridell stated he couldn't answer this question, he does not know.
President Tracey stated that it clearly tells him that the letter Jeff Finkle wrote to
the board explaining the situation with the scheduling of the conference is not
accurate and that Mr, Holbrook's testimony regarding that issue is also
inaccurate because this fax is clearly confIrming his participation as a moderator
fIve days prior to us meeting and approving his travel request. President Tracey
also pointed out to Mr. Fridell that in regards to the letter from La Salle
University that he read most of it to the board and members of the audience but
did leave out an important sentence which goes on to say...
because of that
information Mr. Holbrook says he believed his diplomas would reflect a
completion date of 1991 for the MEA and 1994 for the Ph.D. Present university
policy would prohibit this. His degrees would reflect the actual dates of
completion (my attempts to check with Ms. Flynn and verify this information
were unsuccessful). Mr. Tracey stated that again, much of this information was
based on hearsay and is not factual.
It is clear he did not have the degrees and it
certainly would not be current university policy for someone to use those
degrees until they have "completed their coursework",
Commissioner Kiecker stated that the minutes of February 2"' may have been
abbreviated but the board was very apprehensive regarding this trip and only
after much consideration was the travel request granted. He also stated that if
Mr. Holbrook had not insisted that he need to attend this conference to get
another one million dollars for the Port Authority, he would not have made the
motion to grant travel.
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Ms. Patricia Kuderer was asked to review and comment on the packet of
information that Mr. Holbrook provided to the board. Passed out was a brief
overview of all of the evidence that has been given to the board. She affirmed
that in the appeal process you are permitted to look at new evidence that comes
to light. Ms. Kuderer started with the degree issues - what was said, who said it
and when did they say it.
With respect to the BA I looked at Mr. Clinton's
report and representations that were made by Mr. Holbrook to Crookston and
then to the Port Authority, what was said in his deposition and then what was
verified by Wright State University. Also added was Mr. Fridell's letter and Mr.
Holbrook's affidavit. III J 982 he claimed to have a BA in urban and economic
planning -that is the degree, it is called urban and economic planning. At the
Port Authority he claimed to have a dual BA degree in City Planning and
Economics. Those are two separate degrees, with a minor in environmental
science and geology - again from Wright State University, same year. In the
deposition he claimed to have a dual BA degree in U~ban Planning and
Environmental Science - again from Wright State University in 1982, he did not
state any minor in his deposition. Wright State University confirmed he had a
dual BA in geography and environmental studies in 1982 and no minor. What
was interesting about the student status obtained is the minor as it shows up in
the representation to the Port Authority and Wright State confirmed that Mr.
Holbrook does not have a minor in anything from Wright State.
In Mr. Fridell's letter he indicates that
Mr. Holbrook has a BA degree in
geography and environmental studies, which is exactly what Wright State
University verified. But he also claimed that he had a minor in geology.
Original claim to the Port was that he had a minor in environmental science and
geology and now it is just geology. In Mr, Holbrook's affidavit he claimed a
dual BA degree in geography and environmental studies from Wright State
University in 1982 and no minor. If you look at the evidence you see changing
degrees. In talking to Wright State this morning that economics degree is a
separate degree and clearly Mr. Holbrook did not have a degree in economics,
he had a degree in geography and environmental studies, that's it. The courses
that he took would qualify him for a planning concentration in urban affairs. A
concentration is much different from having graduated with this degree. You
should also take note that there is no evidence that Mr, Dustin was ever given a
copy of your minimum qualifications, therefore he is not telling you that Mr.
Holbrook is indeed qualified to be your executive director based on your
minimum qualifications.
The same kind of format was used for the Masters and Doctorate degrees, going
over them in chronological order, At Crookston he claimed to have MA in
international marketing from La Salle University and did not state that he had a
Ph,D.
To us he said that he had an MBA in 1991 and a Ph.D. in business in
1994 from La Salle. Those two right there are completely different. In his
deposition he did not say that he had an MBA, but stated he was a Ph.D.
candidate at La Salle University. La Salle has confirmed that there were no
degrees awarded either Masters or Ph.D. Mr. Fridell's letter states that he
completed his coursework and papers for his Master's and Doctorate in 1993.
According to Mr. Holbrook, in the representation that he made to you, he
completed it for the Master's in 1991 so again there are different dates from his
attorney and what he is telling you and we can assume what his attorney is
telling you, he is getting from him. In the affidavit Mr, Holbrook confirms and
indeed admits that on or about July 1" 1996 he did not have a Master's or
Doctorate degree. He stated however, that he had completed his coursework
and paperwork for his Master's degree and Doctorate from La Salle in ] 991 and
1994, again different from what his lawyer claimed but consistent with what he
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