Fired Chief to Get Hearing but Not Job : It’s Only to Make Record Clear, San Clemente City Manager Says

San Clemente officials will give former Police Chief Kelson McDaniel a public hearing on his removal but will not reinstate him, City Manager James B. Hendrickson said Friday.

The hearing, before an independent arbitrator, will “make the record clear” on why McDaniel was asked to resign, Hendrickson said. But even if the arbitrator rules in McDaniel’s favor, Hendrickson said he would not reinstate the former chief.

“No, no,” Hendrickson said. “The ultimate authority still rests with myself.” Told of those comments, McDaniel’s attorney, Fred T. Ashley of Laguna Niguel, responded that such a hearing would be “a sham.”

“Obviously, if the city reserves the right to refuse to reinstate Mr. McDaniel, there is little point to even going through the process,” Ashley said in a letter Friday to City Atty. Jeffrey Oderman.

McDaniel, San Clemente’s police chief for 18 months, was asked to resign on May 28 after police officers complained of what they called his punitive management style. The ouster came about two weeks after McDaniel received a glowing written review from Hendrickson, who called the chief’s performance “superior” and “outstanding.” Citing employees’ privacy rights, Hendrickson has declined to say why McDaniel was dismissed other than that the issue was his management style.

In a June 24 letter to Hendrickson, McDaniel asked for a public hearing on his ouster, demanded his job back and asked for back pay and benefits.

In his letter to the city attorney Friday, Ashley demanded a written explanation for McDaniel’s removal

and copies of all related materials by 5 p.m. Monday. Ashley also asked that he be allowed to participate in selecting a hearing officer, that he be able to subpoena and examine public officials who played a role in McDaniel’s removal and that the arbitrator’s decision be binding on the city.

Ashley argued that McDaniel had been “stripped” of his rights to due process twice--first when he was forced to resign and again at a council meeting Wednesday, when Hendrickson declined to explain the reasons for his removal. McDaniel’s reputation has been “greatly damaged,” Ashley said.

At Wednesday night’s council meeting, a McDaniel support group gave Hendrickson a petition signed by 1,240 residents demanding that the former police chief be reinstated immediately.