Poll: What should Ogden do about the Ogden case?
OGDEN -- No decision has yet been made by city officials regarding the status of Police Chief Jon Greiner, according to Mayor Matthew Godfrey.
Greiner remains on the job despite a U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board ruling that the city must fire him by the end of the month or forfeit $215,000 in federal grants because of a Hatch Act violation.
"Jon hasn't offered to resign, and we haven't asked," Godfrey said.
Godfrey, who will leave office when his term expires in January, said he met Thursday with Mayor-elect Mike Caldwell and discussed the Merit Systems Protection Board ruling. The matter is important and remains under review, he said.
Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams has had discussions with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which prosecutes Hatch Act cases, Caldwell said.
"We need to make sure we look at all the options, so we make the best decision for the community," he said.
Greiner did not respond to an email from the Standard-Examiner seeking comment.
The Merit Systems Protection Board last week reaffirmed Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke's 2010 decision that Greiner violated the Hatch Act because he signed off on a half-dozen federal grants worth more than $1 million and already in place during his successful 2006 campaign for the state Senate.
The city appealed Parke's decision and Greiner, a Republican, didn't run for re-election to the Senate in 2010.
The appeal contested the merits of the Hatch Act complaint against Greiner, saying his job as police chief was not sufficiently connected with federal grants.
It also claimed that Parke conducted a 2009 hearing in Salt Lake City in a biased manner that prevented Greiner from fully presenting his case.
The majority of the three-member Merit Systems Protection Board disagreed with the city's claims and upheld Parke's decision.
The ruling means the city can either remove Greiner from his job or give up future federal grants totaling about $215,000, which equals two years of Greiner's salary.
The city faces a Dec. 30 deadline to comply with the ruling or file an appeal in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
Created in 1939 to protect federal employees from undue political pressure at the hands of those seeking federal office, the Hatch Act has expanded over the years to cover state and local elections.
It limits the involvement of certain government employees in partisan political races if they play a role in administering federal funds.
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