FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Less than three weeks after Capt. Steve Griffis was placed on paid administrative leave, he was back on the job.

“He’s at work today,” FPD executive secretary Tyron Hoskins said Monday about the second-highest-ranked Fairhope Police officer. “He’s out on patrol.”

Mayor Tim Kant said Friday that no decision had been reached about whether to return Griffis to work, but he did say he was discussing the issue with interim Police Chief Terry Sanders.

Sanders would not provide any further details Friday about Griffis’ personnel case beyond the statements he made recently confirming that he had suspended him.

Kant also would not comment Friday on why Griffis might be returned to work after he had been suspended and faced disciplinary proceedings. But, if returned to work, the disciplinary action would continue, he added.

Two sources, who are not city employees and spoke on condition of anonymity, said late last week that Kant had overruled Sanders’ suspension of Griffis and ordered him returned to work on June 8.

Neither Kant nor Sanders returned phone calls this week for comment for this story.

Police disciplinary actions are governed by the city personnel manual including special due process rules mandated by state law and implemented by a document called the Police General Orders.

After receiving notice of a disciplinary action, police officers can request a pre-disciplinary review hearing pursuant to PGO 3.400, which requires that “the hearing shall be scheduled promptly (generally within 10 days) by the Department Review Officer.”

Kant said Griffis had requested such a hearing, and that his attorney had asked for additional time before the hearing, which he believed was scheduled to occur on June 23 or later that week. However, subsequent press accounts indicated that no hearing may have yet been scheduled.

The city’s human resources director would not respond to a request for comment regarding the status of any scheduled hearing in the Griffis case.

In April, the City Council changed PGO rules for the appointment of the city’s department review officer, who “shall be an impartial law enforcement officer appointed by the general superintendent.” Prior to that rule change, the mayor appointed the DRO, who is charged with conducting the hearing and rendering a decision in the case.

That decision can be appealed to the city personnel board within three days of the DRO’s ruling, according to personnel rules.

The amended PGO rule also provides that the general superintendent, a position held by Gregg Mims, could also appoint a special review officer if the DRO is “a witness or otherwise involved in a proposed disciplinary action and therefore is not being impartial.”

Neither Mims nor Paul Myrick, the city’s personnel attorney, would respond for requests for comment regarding who had been appointed as the city’s DRO and if any SRO had been appointed in the Griffis case.

Griffis was hired by the city on March 3, 1984, and currently receives an annual salary of $73,400, according to city records.

According to newspaper accounts at the time, which cited city records, Griffis was suspended for five days without pay in December 2001 for refusal to obey the police chief’s orders regarding interference in a case involving Fred “Hollywood” Barkley. In 2002, the personnel board denied his appeal.

On May 22, the Fairhope Courier requested information regarding final actions and appeals in all disciplinary matters regarding Griffis while a city employee. City rules provide that such public record requests will normally be handled within seven days.

After first indicating that the request would be granted, the HR department informed the newspaper that the request would be denied.

A subsequent request by the paper to City Clerk Lisa Hanks, who handles public records requests, citing an Alabama Attorney General opinion stating such information regarding “disciplinary actions and memoranda of reprimand are documents reasonably necessary to conduct business, and thus subject to disclosure.”

Hanks said Friday that the information would be produced but also wrote by e-mail that day that “I have been advised by the City Attorney to release nothing from any personnel file until he has had a chance to review the file and redact any sensitive personnel information.”

Monday, City Attorney Tut Wynne said he had not yet received the Griffis disciplinary information for his review.

Regarding Griffis’ return to work this week, it is unclear in what capacity he is now working and what his specific duties are.