FAIRHOPE, Alabama—Lorenzo Howard delivered his oral report about allegations of a hostile and potentially dangerous work environment at the Fairhope Police Department last Wednesday to an almost-empty room at an open meeting that neither Mayor Tim Kant nor Police Chief Bill Press attended.

Although he was prepared to deliver a written PowerPoint presentation to the City Council, Howard said he was never asked to do so. Throughout his oral report presentation, he wore a lanyard with a computer flash drive attached that held the written report.

“I made up a nice slide (about this),” he said during this presentation, referring to perceptions of a hostile work environment at the department. A few minutes later, he said: “I discussed that in the report,” referring to the department’s performance evaluation system.

His written report was never requested by the council, he said.

“I didn’t know he had a written report,” Councilman Rick Kingrea said last week. “I’m not sure getting a written report would be any more helpful than the way he did it, especially since we can call him back for additional questions.”

Howard, a retired human resources professional and personnel board member, was appointed by the City Council last month to look into allegations of a dangerous work environment first aired by Kant following a private meeting in July with several police officers.

During his presentation, Howard characterized his job as one to investigate claims of intimidation, harassment, a hostile work environment, and a potentially dangerous one.

He concluded that claims of a dangerous work environment were not made seriously, and that about 40 percent of those interviewed thought they worked in a hostile work environment but could not define what that meant. He said the group interviewed was divided into three groups of pro-chief (20 percent), middle-of-the-road (40 percent), and anti-chief (20 percent).

Howard conducted the month-long assessment without pay, which involved interviews with 39 of the department’s 58 full-time and 15 part-time employees. The interviews were not taped and were conducted off-site from the department, at a location Howard would not disclose.

After a brief closed meeting last Wednesday to discuss the nature of the report, the council met in open session, with Council President Lonnie Mixon explaining that because no staff employee names were disclosed in the report, a private session was not required.

“He did say he had a PowerPoint, but he wasn’t going to present it,” Mixon said last week of a discussion that took place during the closed meeting. “It looked like he was using the written materials during his presentation (in the open meeting).”

Last week, Howard explained, “I told them what I had, but that I couldn’t present it in executive session because they weren't set up to project it there.”

Both Mixon and Kingrea said they were more interested in the substance of Howard’s findings than in the form they were delivered.

“We can’t tell him to give a written report,” Mixon said. “It was strictly up to him as to what he was going to do.”

Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series on Lorenzo Howard’s report on the Fairhope Police Department.