Dale removed as director of Cape County disabilities board

When Bob Dale was given the choice Tuesday morning to resign or be fired, he asked if he could have the night to think about it.

"Take as long as you need," he said he was told. "As long as you give us your answer in the next 15 minutes."

Dale, just six months on the job, is out as executive director of the Cape County Board for Developmental Disabilities. Dale confirmed Tuesday that he was made aware of the decision by four board members -- including the above exchange he attributes to treasurer Jeff Baer -- following the board's 7 a.m. closed-session meeting.

After refusing to pick resignation or dismissal, Dale said he was escorted from the Jackson's targeted case management office at 902 E. Jackson Blvd.

"I'm pretty crushed," Dale said from the porch of his Cape Girardeau home Tuesday afternoon. "This, to me, was just a golden opportunity to do something meaningful for people with disabilities in Cape Girardeau County."

While board members were mum about the circumstances surrounding Dale's dismissal, the topic was touched on during the board's monthly meeting, which came just 12 hours after the early-morning closed session. Board chairwoman Dory Johnson made only a brief announcement that Dale had been removed.

Earlier in the day, Dale, the first-ever executive director in the board's 42-year-history, painted a picture of a board in disarray that was not accustomed to having someone other than its members trying to implement change. Dale said his initiatives were quashed at every turn, including a call for a strategic plan and a new transportation program to offer residents with disabilities rides to work.

"I think the board would tell you they weren't getting what they expected," Dale said, "but I was giving all that they would let me give."

In a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon, board member Bryan Noack said the board is not certain what it can reveal about a personnel matter, only confirming that the board's decision was not based on any illegal activity on Dale's part.

"We're really trying to figure out what we can or can't say," said Noack, who lives in Cape Girardeau but works as executive director of another disabilities board in Perry County. "But we're a public board, so I assume we will at some point."

The Missouri Sunshine Law requires that any vote to fire an employee must be made available to the public within 72 hours of the closed meeting. Noack said the board was aware of that fact.

Such secrecy surrounding the firing of a taxpayer-funded position is sure to raise more questions, and Noack said he understands that. Under state law, public boards are allowed to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters.

"Everybody's going to have a different perspective," Noack said. "There will be people who don't agree with the fact that he was let go. Mr. Dale's perspective is going to be quite different from ours. That's just the way a board is. It's a fact of life."

But the board will now try to move forward with its mission, Noack said.

"We're committed to making sure targeted case management is successful and runs well," he said. "We are going to make sure this population gets what it needs."

If Tuesday night's meeting was an indicator, the board has an uphill climb. The meeting was highlighted by tears, accusations and shouting from members of the public.

"I don't support half of them," one woman yelled during the meeting. "It's like a slap in the face!"

Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Jay Purcell, who attended the meeting, said he was not there to talk about Dale but to say that the board needs to act appropriately and has struggled to do so without proper organization.

"You don't have clearly defined rules and you don't have clearly defined policies," Purcell said. "I've been in government 15 years and I've attended 1,000 meetings and it would never have occurred to me that a vice chair would call a meeting."

Johnson has been portrayed as "the bad guy," Purcell said, for questioning the legality of the first meeting. Purcell said if that meeting had happened, he had no doubt it would have been illegal.

"Dory was right to do what she did," Purcell said. "You owe her an apology."

Purcell is investigating other county disabilities boards in Missouri to get information about their polices and procedures. He said he would get that information to the board in hopes that would consider them.

"The bigger issue is to have processes in place to get the public to trust you," Purcell said. "That's what's lacking here."

Members of the board announced its intentions to hold a closed meeting last week. Johnson, the board's chair, took issue with the meeting that was called by board vice chair Larry Tidd and treasurer Jeff Baer. She said it did not follow 24-hour notice requirements and the meeting was rescheduled to Tuesday.

Johnson did not return calls, but she did respond with a brief email.

"I did object as to how this meeting was handled and that is all I can state at this time," Johnson wrote.

Dale, who lost a daughter to a disability, was hired in January with a salary of about $65,000. Dale oversaw the opening of the board's case management office, where caseworkers helped connect 158 people with disabilities with services. Requirements for the service call for a person to meet the state's definition of being developmentally delayed. That means they must have been diagnosed before age 17 with anything that interferes with walking, learning, talking, vision or various other forms of self-care.

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