Henderson pulls firing policy for news media contact

The city of Henderson has revoked a policy that said employees could be fired for talking to the media.

City Manager Jacob Snow announced the change in an email to employees Thursday afternoon. It came after recent articles in the Review-Journal about the city’s media policy and dealings with reporters.

Media and civil-liberties advocates criticized the firing clause as an effort to intimidate employees and control what the media and public know about city government.

In an interview, Snow said the language was mistakenly included by a new assistant city attorney who had worked in the private sector. The threat of employees being fired for talking to the media is common in business, Snow said, but not “appropriate for a governmental entity that’s supposed to be open and transparent.”

He added: “That’s something that shouldn’t have happened.”

Thursday’s announcement was a sharp reversal. When first asked about the firing threat after a Feb. 3 City Council meeting, Snow said he knew nothing about it. But he also said the clause did not surprise or concern him because he wanted all media inquiries routed through spokespeople.

And in a later interview with Fox News, city spokesman Bud Cranor defended the discipline clause, saying, “If you violate a policy, there is a con­sequence.”

Snow signed off on the three-page policy in September, but said neither he nor his staff noticed the final section, which said employees could be disciplined or fired for speaking to a reporter without permission from the city communications office. The previous policy, adopted in 2002, had no discipline clause.

“I should have caught it, but I didn’t,” Snow said. “My staff should have caught it, but they didn’t.”

The new media policy also will include language reminding employees they have protection under state whistle­blower law and city ethics law if they speak up to expose wrongdoing.

“From our standpoint, I feel like the city of Henderson has always been open and we’ve always been cooperative,” Snow said. “We have nothing to hide. I didn’t feel like this was an appropriate or a necessary clause to have.”

Last year, according to emails recently released under a public-records request, Cranor sent out a photo of this reporter to staff. The same email linked to the new media policy and reminded employees not to talk to the press.

Snow had a different tone Thursday, saying employees should be able to talk to the media if they want to. He said the questions raised by the Review-Journal led to an internal debate and changes that will make the city’s approach to internal policies “more deliberative.”

Snow said he asked Assistant City Manager Bristol Ellington to review all city policies, and City Attorney Josh Reid will begin personally reviewing policies before they’re enacted. Reid did not review the media policy, Snow said.

City Councilman Sam Bateman said he told Snow he thought the firing clause was “heavy-handed and inflexible.” He also said other cities and Clark County have more sensible media policies, encouraging employees to answer routine questions if they know the answers. Neither Clark County nor any other city in it threatens to fire employees for speaking.

Snow said the city is determined to work with reporters to get them information “whatever way you want to get it.”

“If you want to talk to somebody at the city, you can talk to whoever you want,” he said.

Asked whether employees would still be required to get permission from spokespeople first, he said, “We’re going to recommend that they do that, and if they don’t, we’re not going to get them in trouble for that.”

Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley.