Paden City resident and local United Parcel Service (UPS) employee Jeff Christner was present at the Oct. 15 Sistersville Council meeting to demand a written apology from Recorder Julie Schleier. According to Christner, Recorder Schleier called in a complaint on Sept. 17 regarding his service to the city building. He had with him what he said was a copy of the complaint.

“For the record, I’m not here representing the parcel service in any capacity,” he said. “I’m here tonight about a complaint that was called into the customer service department (of UPS) by City Recorder Schleier. The complaint states that I shared information on Facebook with my friends about things I overheard in the city building. That is 100 percent not true. What I would like is for council to take action to assure that this does not happen again. I would also like an apology in the form of a letter on city letterhead, signed by city recorder and members of the council, being that you are responsible for her actions.”

When asked when this complaint occurred, Christner answered.

“It was called into customer service on Sept. 17 at twenty after two a.m. in the morning,” he said.

He went on to state that the call could have resulted in his termination, gone in his permanent record as an employee, or had further adverse results. Although he said those disciplinary actions were not taken, he explained that he was taken aside and spoken with about it.

Recorder Schleier responded.

“I had some concerns,” she said. “First place, I didn’t even know what your name was. All I knew was that you are the UPS driver. I knew nothing about you. I was on Facebook looking at some of the comments.

“We are in the middle of a lawsuit and a state trooper investigation. When I read some of the comments on Facebook, I went and checked to see who they were. When I saw you, I was shocked to see that you were one of the ones on there commenting.”

Schleier said his comments were made on the group Facebook page, “You know you’re from Sistersville when”.

“I called UPS and said, ‘Is it appropriate for a UPS driver to comment on things he might be overhearing in a business?’, which I knew it wasn’t,” she said.

“Might,” he said. “I did not ever comment on anything I overheard here. The information I posted I heard elsewhere, not even in this town. This was done on an assumption.”

“No, it’s not,” she said.

“Yes, it was,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I’m not up at two-twenty in the morning to make phone calls.”

“It’s right here,” he said, holding up his copy of the alleged complaint. “They do a time stamp on every call that comes in. When I walked into work at eight-thirty, my supervisor already knew about this, so it had to be a pretty early call.”

The form later shared with the Tyler Star News by Christner shows 02:20, which he stated was military time for 2:20 a.m. It also clearly states that the complaint came from Schleier.

“I get to work at usually about seven forty-five,” said Schleier.

“It could’ve very well been at two-twenty in the morning,” he said.

“I’ve known people that work for UPS,” said Recorder Schleier. “I know that there’s a confidentiality agreement. I know that you’re not supposed to go around making comments like you made on Facebook. All I did was call UPS and ask them if that was their policy, and they said, ‘Yes,’ and they said, ‘Why?’ I said I had some concerns, because of everything that we’re going through at the city, that you might overhear something and go comment on Facebook. That’s all I said.”

“It says right here what you stated,” he said.

He then read from his copy of the alleged complaint: “That her driver overheard information at the city building when he made deliveries and he shared this information with his friends on Facebook,” he said.

“I said that we had concerns that you might overhear something considering that we are going through a lawsuit and a state trooper investigation,” said Schleier.

“It doesn’t say that in here,” sad Christner. “They’re supposed to type it word for word. It’s their policy. They record their calls.”

“And they also have confidentiality agreements with your drivers, don’t they?” she asked.

“Yes they do,” he said, questioning if she could prove what information he might have overheard in the building.

“That’s all I have to say,” Schleier said.

“We will look into it,” Mayor Doig said.

“I would like a letter of apology signed by her and council, and this matter will be dropped,” he said.

Recorder Schleier returned to the subject.

“I also noticed someone liking your comments on Facebook,” she said.

“Is there a problem with that?” asked Christner.

“When it’s one of the people that’s in the lawsuit against the city,” she said.

“I have friends,” he said. “I can’t help if you’re in a lawsuit or not. What’s your interest in me anyway?”

“Like I said, I didn’t even know what your name was,” she said. “I didn’t know who you were.”

“Well you do now,” he said.

“I do now, that’s right.”