Fired Atlanta arborist investigation complete

Tom Coffin, the dedicated Atlanta arborist who was fired by the city in late July for what seems to be simply doing his job, has not given up on his fight to uncover why he was dropped off the city payroll. (To get the background about Coffin’s firing, click here.)

The real-life Lorax sent word this morning that the city’s investigation into his termination is now complete:

I received word from HR investigator Al Elder that his investigation is complete and is now undergoing executive review.  I assume that “executive review” means that the report is now on the mayor’s desk, though Mr. Elder declined to clarify who is doing the review.  I have been given no time frame for a decision and don’t know if the review will take days or weeks or months.

Meanwhile I made an Open Records request for the July and August “Inspections Completed By” reports produced in the Arborist Division to supplement the January through June data that I have circulated.  The chart below indicates that in the short run at least the only change in the enforcement pattern of the field arborists is to finally bring me in line with my former subordinates, by default.

The big blue and red bars represent Coffin’s average monthly inspections from January to June and July, respectively. The other three sets of initials are his former colleagues’ monthly inspections during the same time periods.