The Forest Park mayor and city council upheld the city manager's recommendation to terminate Gary Walker as director of Code Compliance following a special called meeting Nov. 24 that reviewed an HR investigation and heard testimony from multiple employees.

Interim City Manager (name not stated in the transcript) told the council the HR investigation began after an employee complaint on Oct. 14 and that an investigative summary was completed Oct. 23. The interim manager said the HR findings documented "inconsistent application of positive discipline," "racially insensitive remarks," "body shaming," "threatening and intimidating behavior," and concerns about the integrity of the investigation. The interim manager said the recommendation to terminate "was not made lightly."

Several Code Compliance employees described the workplace atmosphere in testimony to the council. Yamina Jacobs said she was "scared to work" after an Oct. 7 incident and alleged Walker used insulting language about female staff and made derogatory comments about Hispanic and white people. "I have heard director Walker call the ladies out their names," Jacobs said. Jacqueline, who spoke on behalf of her team, said she encouraged coworkers to report concerns to HR and described Walker's conduct as "very unprofessional." Mia Rodriguez described repeated "hovering" and unwanted physical contact and said comments about reporting staff to ICE and racial slurs made Hispanic employees uncomfortable.

Walker denied the allegations in his statements to the council. "I have never been reprimanded, disciplined, or given a written notice for any behavior mentioned," he said, later calling the complaints a "witch hunt" and saying he had "never touched anybody unprofessional." Walker also described programmatic achievements in Code Compliance and urged the council to "see fit to bring me back."

After both sides presented and the council questioned witnesses, a motion to uphold the city manager's termination recommendation was made and seconded. Several council members thanked Walker for past service but said the staff interviews and HR findings demonstrated conduct inconsistent with the expectations of a department director. The presiding official called a roll-call vote; multiple council members verbally registered "yes" votes in favor of upholding the termination and the motion carried. The transcript does not contain a clear, complete numerical tally of the votes.

The council then moved to enter executive session to deliberate further on personnel and legal matters. The city code does not require the council to issue an immediate written decision at the close of the hearing; the transcript shows the council followed the hearing procedure it announced at the start, including plans for executive session deliberation.