the gannett/town talk reports:
excerpt:Prior to terminating Von Jennings, the city of Alexandria hired a private investigator to follow the mayoral assistant who specialized in economic development.
[...]
One particular report noted Jennings arrived at work at 9:07 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2007, and departed at 12:12 p.m. After some detours, she arrived at CiCi's Pizza (12:36 p.m.) then a mechanic shop (1:33 p.m.), finally returning back to City Hall at 1:54. Surveillance ended at 2:30 p.m.
The investigations were conducted by Mark Gravel of Gravel Investigation and spans various days in 2007 and 2008. Gravel is a second cousin to Mayor Jacques Roy, but his service to the city predates Roy's election.
An Alexandria employee also was involved with keeping tabs on Jennings.
Julie Campbell, a secretary for the Utility Department, logged Jennings' trips in-and-out of her office at City Hall. On Oct. 22, 2008, Campbell noted that Jennings was "not in her office, at 1:15 p.m. door locked." That following day a notation read "didn't come in."
Roy said he had no knowledge of the investigation. Rather, it was a step taken by his personnel committee, which is comprised of his four senior staff members. "It's done, again, everywhere across the state and nation, everyday in the public realm. But, apparently, only the city of Alexandria gets asked to justify it by the media," Roy said. ~ read more
"... von jennings was an at-will employee on my appointed staff. personnel of that nature work closely with me, and they serve at the mayor's pleasure."so if ms. jennings was an at-will employee and could be terminated at any time, why spend the public's money in hiring a private investigator to tail her around?
