BENTONVILLE -- Grievance hearings for two Benton County Sheriff's Office employees who claim they were demoted for reporting misconduct by Sheriff Kelley Cradduck have been set for next week.
Hearings for Robin Holt and Jeremy Guyll are set for 6 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building. County officials said both sides agreed to schedule the hearings for the same date because of overlapping information and the potential of shared witnesses.
Grievance Council
A pair of grievances fled against Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck will be heard by the Quorum Court’s Grievance Council made up of justices of the peace Michelle Chiocco, Shirley Sandlin, Susan Anglin, Joel Jones and Kurt Moore. Barb Ludwig, county human resources administrator, said the hearing process is for employees to show they were deprived of their rights by the actions of an elected official. The finding of the council is advisory and not binding on the elected official, Ludwig said.
Source: Staff report
George Spence, county attorney, said the hearings may be conducted jointly with the county's Grievance Council then rendering separate decisions, or the two grievances may be heard one after the other.
"I discussed that with the attorneys and it made sense," Spence said.
Holt, a former lieutenant in the jail, claims in her grievance Cradduck wrongfully demoted her after she refused to falsify payroll records and reported Cradduck's order to a superior. Holt said in her complaint she was twice interviewed by an Arkansas State Police investigator, and, when Cradduck learned of the investigation and her possible involvement, she was demoted to deputy and her pay reduced.
Holt seeks to have her rank and pay reinstated.
Holt's grievance also claims Cradduck ordered investigations into a 10-second video of Holt in which she reportedly was singing a popular song and made some reference to Benton County. The filing also claims Cradduck ordered an investigation into whether Holt used her county-issued vehicle on a vacation during the summer.
A second grievance was filed by Guyll, who was the jail captain. Guyll claims in his filing he was wrongly demoted because he reported to State Police Cradduck ordered Holt to falsify the time and pay records of Gabriel Cox, a newly hired employee at the jail. County employment records, obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act, show when Cox was hired he listed as his place of residence the same Rogers address listed for Cradduck.
Cradduck declined to comment on Guyll's claims.
He has said he demoted Holt, but said it was because of the video.
"There is a video of her, in uniform and at the jail, making light of rape victims," Cradduck said after Holt's grievance was filed. "That's not the kind of person we want in a position of authority at the jail. She's in uniform and at the jail. I can't overlook that. There was some discussion about whether to fire her or demote her, and I decided to let her keep her job."
Cradduck also said the question of Holt using a county vehicle on vacation was brought to him, and he made inquiries in light of the recent attention given to Chief Deputy Richie Connor's similar misuse of a county vehicle.
NW News on 11/10/2015