COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus and the city utilities board terminated the employment of utilities director Scott Dompke due to a “difference of management style and philosophy,” city attorney Alan Whitted said in a statement on Monday.
Dompke left employment with the city on Feb. 26, with the city saying there had been no disciplinary action that resulted in Dompke being suspended, demoted or discharged.
In a second open records request, The Republic requested the factual basis for his termination, which the city provided Monday.
Whitted also said in his statement that Indiana is an at-will employment state, meaning than an employee working in the state may be terminated for any or no reason.
Dompke joined the city’s utility department in July 2018, taking over leadership of a city operation functioning with aging infrastructure, from pipes to water plants, and a rate structure that had not been increased in more than 25 years.
He replaced Keith Reeves, who retired after a 38-year career with the city utilities department, which provides water and wastewater treatment for about 44,000 city customers.
Reeves has since stepped in as an interim utilities director as the city searches for a replacement to lead the department.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
