After weeks of investigations and more than four hours of deliberation, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority board made a majority decision to terminate HART’s CEO David Armijo after allegations of internal conflicts regarding employees. Current interim Philip Hale will take over operations until a new CEO is appointed.
During the meeting, Armijo was questioned about employee hiring and pay structure. According to Armijo, the human resource department reviewed all hiring and salary structures. But Michael Stevens, HART's human resource director, stood up to defend his department by stating Armijo didn't follow procedure when hiring and that the HR department did not make recommendations. Stevens also stated that when HR suggested that the organization do a compensation analyisis, Armijo did not want to pursue it. "The last time the human resource department was involved in any reorganizations was December of 2009."
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2011.