The Alabama Environmental Management Commission is seeking written comments from the public on the job performance of Alabama Department of Environmental Management Director Lance LeFleur.
ADEM is the agency that enforces federal and state environmental laws in Alabama, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and various state regulations. The AEMC is a civilian board that oversees ADEM and conducts annual performance reviews of the director.
“The Personnel Committee, on behalf of the AEMC, wishes to solicit input from the general public that will aid the Committee in this job performance evaluation,” AEMC Personnel Committee Thomas Walters said in a public notification posted Monday.
LeFleur has come under criticism in recent weeks after a massive fish kill on the Mulberry Fork and ongoing water pollution issues related to a 3M manufacturing facility on the Tennessee River in Decatur.
People wishing to submit comments on LeFleur’s job performance should submit them by email to aemc@adem.alabama.gov, or by mail to: Alabama Environmental Management Commission, Attention: Personnel Committee, P.O. Box 301463, Montgomery, AL 36130-1463.
Comments must be received by 5 p.m. on July 31, and emails should include the subject line “ADEM Director Job Performance Evaluation.” The Commission is seeking comments relating to LeFleur’s job performance between Oct. 20, 2018 and July 31, 2019.
The annual reviews are usually conducted during the commission’s October meeting, which this year would be Friday, Oct. 18. LeFleur received a raise from the commission in 2017, increasing his salary to $164,419.20, the highest allowed under the director’s pay grade scale.
During the October 2018 meeting of the AEMC personnel committee, Dr. Samuel Miller, now chair of the AEMC, said he was “really impressed” with LeFleur’s “openness and his collaborative demeanor,” despite negative public comments criticizing ADEM’s handling of the 35th Ave Superfund site in north Birmingham, some of which called for his firing.
“I would note that Lance, I guess, has joined a club because almost all -- maybe all the previous directors have been called upon to resign over various squabbles that have occurred,” Miller said. “So I just think that, you know, he should be commended for weathering the storm.”