Judged unfit: Shires fired from Civic Center
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Kelly Shires was given written notice of his termination Thursday for “failure to satisfactorily complete new hire period” and was given an unsatisfactory review by Parks and Recreation Director Carlene Brown just days before his 90-day probationary period would have expired.
Brown gave Shires a score of 37 overall out of 100 on a performance evaluation, well below the level of what is considered satisfactory.
While city officials have touted record attendance at the weight room after new equipment was installed late last year and looked forward to hiring Shires Jan. 10, Brown said generally the reasons for his firing were poor work performance during the probationary period.
Shires, who was stunned at the move, says he has worked overtime — as much as 68 hours a week — and was looking forward to the challenge of overseeing both wellness and aquatics programs.
“I took on both departments and felt like I managed them very well with the responsibility that I had,” said Shires. “And the feedback we’re getting from the public, everybody was real excited and I just feel like it’s going to be a shock to a lot of the community that I was terminated.”
Brown said little about Shires’ firing Friday, citing respect for him as one reason not to further explain his firing and noting it was a “personnel issue.”
Shires called some aspects of his evaluation “ridiculous,” saying he did not have enough time to do his work because he was dealing with large weight room crowds which demanded much of his time. He said allegations of poor performance are unjustified.