Three Pinal County employees, including Assistant County Manager Greg Stanley and Public Works Director A.J. Blaha, were placed on paid administrative leave by County Manager Fritz Behring on Wednesday. On Friday, however, Stanley was reinstated.
As of Friday afternoon, Behring said Blaha had tendered his retirement. Another employee’s status — a merit-protected employee in the public works department — was unclear.
After an allegation of misconduct against the public works employee, Behring requested a third-party investigation of public works, which is part of the county’s development services department. The results of the investigation and subsequent interviews with the employees led to Behring placing the three on administrative leave Wednesday.
Stanley began working for Pinal County when he was appointed county engineer in August 2004, and he became public works director in 2005. He was appointed to assistant county manager of development services in February 2012, which facilitated Blaha’s move into the role of public works director. Prior to working for Pinal County, Stanley was also public works director in Casa Grande.
Stanley graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1976 and had a 26-year military career as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officer.
Blaha was appointed to the role of deputy public works director in June 2006 and was named public works director in February 2012. He previously worked for the city of Flagstaff (1987-94) and the city of Casa Grande (1994-2006) and served four years in the U.S. Army.
The Casa Grande Dispatch has requested the report of the investigation into the development services and public works departments. More details are expected early next week.
Information from the Casa Grande Dispatch
