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The city has terminated Scott Campanaro, a former codes officer who made "inappropriate and insensitive" comments online last week that were "not indicative of who we are as a city," City Manager Chris McGuire said at a press conference Wednesday.
In response to a resident's Facebook post about the Altoona Area School District implementing a clear bag policy for sporting events at Mansion Park, Campanaro wrote, "...you could just prevent Negroes from going. Might seem racist -- but it is not wrong."
"Once we were made aware that the incident transpired, the city took immediate action," McGuire said, noting Campanaro was suspended, with access to his office, city computers and city vehicle taken away while officials conducted an internal investigation.
On Tuesday, officials held a Loudermill hearing for Campanaro as part of his collective bargaining rights, and after the hearing concluded, "we made the decision that Mr. Campanaro will no longer be an employee of the city of Altoona," McGuire said, noting officials cited four violations to current city policy and code of conduct in their investigation.
During the investigation, officials found "other posts" Campanaro made on his personal page, but they were not directly related to the inappropriate comments, McGuire said, adding he could not go into great detail regarding Campanaro's termination since it's protected under city policy as a personnel matter.
"We deeply regret the pain that it has caused within the community with the insensitive remarks," McGuire said. "It's not indicative of who we are as a city."
City officials believe in equal opportunity and supporting the entire community, McGuire said.
Prior to the investigation, the city scheduled sensitivity and harassment training for its staff, and following this incident, officials are going to "double down on our efforts to make sure that everybody goes through training and understands that their words matter and even though it might be your own personal belief or opinion, that you're not going to express that and impact the city in any way," McGuire said.
The training will be held at the director level with all of their employees to discuss and have frank conversations about their role as city officials, McGuire said, noting city employees are held to a "higher standard" as officials.
Although social media posts might be made on personal accounts, they have a direct impact on the city and, more importantly, the citizens of Altoona, McGuire said.
"On behalf of the city of Altoona, we deeply regret the pain that it has caused, and we will do better as an organization to make sure that city staff is held accountable and nothing like this ever transpires again," McGuire said.
Human Resources Director Christina Notarfrancesco said McGuire, Mayor Matt Pacifico and city council provided her department and Codes Director Rebecca Brown's department with approval and support, which allowed them to act quickly and efficiently during this situation.
"A lot of times, these things can take several days to handle, and they were all incredibly proactive, which made the process more efficient and effective," Notarfrancesco said.
McGuire said officials are in the process of backfilling Campanaro's position.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.