(La Porte County, IN) - The La Porte County Highway Department superintendent has been officially terminated.

 

The La Porte County Commissioners voted 2-to-1 last night to remove Allen Stevens from that position, with Stevens having been on paid suspension for the past week.

 

However, Commissioner Joe Haney said he was under the impression he was already let go from what Stevens told him several days ago. 

 

Haney said he also heard the same thing from Commissioner Rich Mrozinski while listening to him last week in a news report on radio station 96.7 The Eagle and seeing his quotes in an article on hometownnewsnow.com.

 

“It’s in print and on the radio by you,” Haney said.

 

In response, Mrozinski said “I haven’t been on the radio.”

 

In a written statement, Stevens said he was let go because he refused to do political favors like hire and promote family members of Mrozinski and Gramarossa, adding that he also did not comply with their requests to fix roads near the homes of their family members and friends ahead of their original schedules.

 

Mrozinski said he could not give specific reasons for Stevens’ dismissal because it was a personnel matter. However, he said the termination was over Stevens repeatedly not following work related orders and not political in nature.

 

Stevens is chairman of the La Porte County Republican Party, which voted last year to remove Mrozinski as a member over his continued support of Shaw Friedman as county government attorney. 

 

Stevens left his position at the Indiana Department of Transportation to become county highway superintendent at the start of the year. His appointment was approved by Gramarossa and Haney when the two officials represented a majority on the three-member commission. A few months later, Gramarossa threw her support behind Mrozinski, which returned Haney to the minority on the governing body.