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Palatka Mayor denies calling city employee racial slur, other investigation findings

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The city of Palatka hired a Tallahassee firm to investigate after a city employee claimed Mayor Terrill Hill called him a racial slur.

The investigation by The Krizner Group found the accuser a “credible and trustworthy person.”

Mayor Hill vehemently denied using the slur in an interview with Action News Jax Thursday.

“More than anything else I’ve been a mentor,” said Hill, “so I was really flabbergasted that an allegation would come out of this magnitude.”

Action News Jax tried reaching out to the accuser. As of Monday night, we hadn’t heard back.

The findings in an investigative report obtained by Action News Jax also say Mayor Hill “operated outside the authority provided to him in the City Charter.”

The report mentions an example of Hill reportedly meeting with a contractor about lighting on city baseball fields, rather than going through proper procurement procedures.

Mayor Hill says he wasn’t involved in the RFP process for that project at all.

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“The report itself is filled with errors,” he said. It’s filled with a lack of understanding of what the process is.”

The report recommends that Mayor Hill undergo “specific training to ensure he clearly understands the limitations of his authority.”

Also, training related to actions toward employees that can create the perception of “discrimination, retaliation or intimidation.”

Documents show that former city manager Zeriah Folston contacted The Krizner Group about conducting an investigation in June, after the city employee complained about the encounter with Hill.

A month later, Folston would be fired by city commissioners for not meeting performance expectations. He had been on the job just over five months.

When we asked Mayor Hill whether Folston’s firing was related to the investigation, Hill said, “I have no knowledge, I can’t make any inferences to what Folston’s thoughts were.”

Action News Jax asked the city about what actions it could be taking as a result of the report’s findings. A city employee told us over the phone the interim city manager would call us back. As of late Monday evening, we had not received a call.