Phil Ross Says He Expects to be Fired From Dormont Police

UDATE: The hearing has been postponed. No new date chosen.

Phil Ross said he expects to be fired from the Dormont police department.

"I know I’m losing my job probably," he said Thursday.

Ross said he was notified Thursday afternoon to appear Friday afternoon for a Loudermill hearing—essentially a due process hearing at which a public employee facing discipline can present his or her side.

“I anticipate the meeting will last 15 to 20 minutes. They can say what they want, then I’ll get up and leave,” Ross said.

Ross expects the hearing will be about his order, which he said he carried out at Mayor Thomas Lloyd’s direction, to other officers to disable GPS units installed earlier this year in the police cars.

Ross, the mayor and others contend the GPS units are so borough Manager Gino Rizza can spy on police.

Ross said Rizza and Ian McMeans, the assistant borough manager, have been logging on using passwords belonging to Ross and other sergeants.

Rizza has denied spying and said he does not log on using anyone else’s password. McMeans also said he does not log on with other people’s passwords to monitor the police.

Ross said he had a 28-year spotless record with the borough until his demotion in March. He has appealed the demotion to the borough’s civil service commission.

He said Friday’s hearing is an end-run around letting the commission decide his appeal.

“It is about time the borough manager, his assistant borough manager and borough council be answerable to somebody,” Ross said.

“They have chosen to go on a path of total decimation of this police department,” he said. “They are doing nothing but creating safety problems.”

Ross said he would challenge every council member to sit before a town hall meeting before residents so the truth can come out.

Rizza, McMeans and several council members will all be out of a job come January anyway, he said.

Three seats are open, but councilman Drew Lehman lost the primary and won't appear on the November ballot. President Kim Lusardi's and councilman John Maggio's seats are the other seats up.