Board of Fire Commissioners terminate suspended chief’s investigation
The Fort Myers Beach Board of Fire Commissioners terminated the investigation and administrative leave of suspended Chief Mike Becker, putting him back on duty pending the outcome of a ‘fitness for duty’ letter from a health professional or the department’s employee assistance program.
Becker, who was placed on leave with pay Oct. 20 after being placed under an immediate informal investigation, will have to meet imposed conditions for continued employment due to a prescription drug abuse report filed by ex-employee Margaret Banyan. The investigation, conducted by Attorney Roger Benson, revealed the fire chief had been on prescription drugs from August 2008 until February 2009 due to back surgery.
“Personally, if Mr. Benson has put in 40 hours or thereabouts into this, and we’ve already spent $11,000 of taxpayers money on this investigation, I think we should terminate the investigation,” said FMB Fire Chairman John Scanlon, who later made the motion to get the chief back on duty. The motion passed unanimously.
Benson, who has been a lawyer for 36 years, explained the basis of the investigation to the fire board.
“I found that one of the most important challenges that I faced was to make sure that I did part out those things that were your responsibility in your annual evaluation of his job performance and what was alleged to be the basis for firing the guy,” he said. “That’s what I understood my responsibility was. Are these allegations a violation of rules and regulations and immoral, unethical conduct or illegal activities sufficiently supported to justify you making a decision to fire this guy? The problem is if you read both the union’s letter and (Margaret) Banyan’s letter quickly, you would say to yourself ‘Oh, my God.’ That’s why I take motive, perspective and relationships between these people to be important in making that decision.”
Like always, Becker just wants to get back to his career and focus.
“I’m very pleased to get back to work,” he said. “There are fiscal matters that need attention as well as proficiencies and accomplishing the mission. I’m glad this distraction is finally over.”