Opinion ID: 219199
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Nebulizer Incident

Text: In January 2005, the Council appointed Meeks as Pleasant Hill's Fire Chief. In March 2008, Meeks discovered the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) had placed Preston's basic emergency medical technical certification (EMT-B license) on probationary status in November 2007. The IDPH had determined that, in June 2007, Preston illegally administered an Albuterol nebulizer to a two-month-old infant. The IDPH's order placing Preston on probation required Preston to inform Meeks of IDPH's decision, but Preston failed to do so. Preston testified he initially tried to call Meeks, but after that point, frankly, [he] had just forgotten about it. Meeks suspended Preston from all firefighting duties for one month and relieved him of his fire investigation and inspection responsibilities. On April 7, 2008, Meeks and Preston met to discuss Preston's suspension. Preston cautioned Meeks she lacked authority to remove him from his position absent just cause. Meeks told Preston violation of the scope of his EMT-B certification and his failure to meet the terms of probation provided just cause for his suspension. On April 25, 2008, at the conclusion of Preston's suspension, Meeks insisted Preston be placed on two years of probation, attend 75% of VFD training sessions, and respond to a minimum of 20% of fire calls. Preston thought these attendance conditions were unfair and refused to agree to them. After months of unsuccessful negotiations, Preston filed this lawsuit.