But Myers, who in September filed a federal lawsuit against the city over his termination, told the Dayton Daily News Monday the decision ignored key information.
“I feel that the arbitrator failed to take into account a lot of very valid arguments that were presented by my attorney,” he said.
“It also failed to take into account the significant backstory that led up to my termination and some of the disparate treatment and acts of retaliation that occurred along the way,” the 44-year-old Myers added.
He said the 23-page ruling issued Friday by Sherrie J. Passmore is “fraught with error.”
The ruling comes after an appeal of a five-day 2019 suspension of Myers to the Centerville Personnel Board was denied earlier this year.
Myers served the suspension after he wrote a letter disparaging the city and criticizing its decision to terminate a public works employee in February 2019, according to the city.
Myers was fired on March 16 for eight violations of the police department’s rules of conduct and five violations of the city’s personnel manual, the city said earlier this year.
“We are not surprised by the decision the arbitrator reached in finding that the city took the proper action in terminating Myers,” Centerville City Manager Wayne Davis said in a released statement.
The arbitrator’s ruling said Myers “lied during a subsequent internal investigation about how he obtained CPD records for his appeal of a five-day suspension he had been given.
“His dishonesty on each occasion, standing alone, warrants his termination,” the ruling states. “He also misused his supervisory authority to get the records and failed to follow public records procedures. These are very serious offenses for a law enforcement officer.”
Myers’ federal lawsuit claims his firing is linked to concerns he raised about sexually explicit photos of minors on an unnamed supervisor’s phone during a “sexting” investigation at Centerville High School, according to the suit.
The suit names the city of Centerville, Davis and Police Chief Matthew Brown as defendants. It claims a violation of Myers’ First Amendment rights and seeks his reinstatement, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
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