LeRoy Keller claims he was unexpectedly terminated from the City of Gillette for following his heart and speaking out against a policy he disagreed with.  Despite being released from his employer of just over four years, Keller says looking back he wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Exactly one week before he was terminated, Keller attended a December 5 city council meeting to publicly express his opposition to a resolution that was before the Gillette City Council. Specifically, Keller attempted to persuade city council members that requiring the city’s snow plows to clear residential streets after every snowstorm was not the best use of taxpayer dollars.  The council apparently disagreed, however, as they went on to unanimously approve a resolution requiring just that.

In the past, snow plows only cleared residential streets after a single storm dropped four or more inches of snow.

Keller maintains that he attended the meeting last December as a concerned citizen, even though at the time he was a Public Works Crew Supervisor in the Streets Division—a position which made his responsible for clearing the snow from Gillette’s roads.

“Exactly a week to the day [of the December 5 council meeting] I was released from duty by the HR Director and the Public Works Director,” Keller explains.

According to Keller, his termination notice stated that he had violated the employer’s policies and procedures.

“The paperwork I have makes me sound like I was the worst employee the city ever had,” he says.

This, Keller emphasizes, is in spite of the fact that every year he was employed by the city he received yearly performance reports recommending him for merit pay increases.

“I’ve been in the supervisor’s position there for 3 ½ years prior to this, and every year we have annual performance reports, and based off those reports and the scores you make is to whether you’re eligible for merit pay increases and such,” Keller describes.

Even still, Keller concedes he wasn’t a perfect employee.  He says his personal file has one blemish from a year earlier.

“I had a previous incident, or a write-up, the year before [in 2010] concerning right-or-way mowing, and it was because things weren’t getting done in a timely manner,” he admits.

Still, his termination papers never referenced any prior disciplinary action Keller says.

“In the verbiage from the termination papers there was no reference made to anything during my previous employment,” Keller says. “It was specific to this one incident.”

In the end, Keller asserts he is not a bitter, disgruntled employee.  Instead, he simply wants the public to know the truth.  After all, Keller says he has since found fulltime employment with a local company.

Despite everything, Keller says he wouldn’t take anything back.

“My parents always taught me to stand up for what you believe in,” Keller concludes.  “As an employee I regret what may have happened, but as a citizen and in my heart I know I did the right thing.”

The City of Gillette would not comment on Keller’s termination.

“The City of Gillette does not comment on personnel matters,” wrote Joe Lunne, public information officer for the City of Gillette, in an emailed response.