City Manager Bonaparte previous issues in Topeka...
http://m.cjonline.com/news/2011-04-08/topeka-no-stroll-park-bonaparte
Alcala wanted Bonaparte fired for cause and thinks the votes to do that may be available when three new council members are seated at the council's meeting Tuesday. The city manager's contract says he receives nothing if fired for cause but $103,125 if fired without cause.
The brouhaha stems from how Bonaparte dealt with the theft of scrap metal from a job site by city employees. Bonaparte handled it as a personnel matter and meted out punishment to the employees rather turn the case over to law enforcement authorities. He didn't inform council members of the case or the details until they demanded information.
Giles, who had moved to Topeka in December 2004 from Georgia after being appointed fire chief by former Mayor James McClinton, announced his retirement in July 2009.
<snip>
For 21 months following the vote of "no confidence" in Giles, members of the firefighters union had attended each council meeting in protest. Bonaparte had repeatedly rejected calls for him to fire the chief, and the council rejected suggestions they fire Bonaparte because he wouldn't fire Giles.
McClinton said he had decided the fire department's hiring and promotion practices were embedded in friendships, bloodlines, and seniority and that he hired Giles from outside the department to implement policies based on firefighting science, managerial skills and merit.