Twin Transit Executive Director Joe Clark received an “oral warning” that will stay in his personnel file for six months for “inappropriate use” of a vehicle after he drank at a local restaurant before driving away in an exempted vehicle.
“I want people to know I accept responsibility for the mistake. It was a mistake I made,” Clark told The Chronicle Tuesday. “I think it’s unfortunate, but we’re going to move on and do some great things at Twin Transit and keep moving forward.”
Following Tuesday’s Twin Transit Authority Board meeting, Clark said he was off the clock and had consumed one alcoholic beverage before leaving the restaurant on Sept. 1. A video of the incident was posted to Facebook on Sept. 2. In the following days, the video was also posted to the Twin Transit Twitter and Instagram pages before being removed.
Clark said he uses the vehicle from the video “pretty much 24/7 because we always have to respond to floods, snow, accidents any time of day.”
“Mr. Clark has accepted responsibility for his actions and has been advised that a future violation will not be tolerated,” Twin Transit Authority Board chair Tony Ketchum said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
Following the meeting, Ketchum declined to make additional comments.
“The board would like to reiterate that Mr. Clark is able to perform the duties of this position and has a vote of confidence from the board to continue in his position as executive director of Twin Transit,” Ketchum said.
During the brief statement, Ketchum said the board would not accept “oral public comment on HR matters” at the meeting but would accept written remarks. Ketchum also invited the public to submit records requests “for documents related to this matter.”
The board declined Clark’s resignation earlier this month while it investigated the incident.
