Former Polk County EMS Director Sandra Halford told the Bulletin this week that her firing was a campaign promise from the new board of commissioners.

Halford was fired last week with the county sending her two certified letters, one on June 4 and another more detailed letter on June 5. The second letter gave Halford specific reasons for her termination, including sexual harassment, lying to public officials and creating or causing a hostile or abusive work environment through means of verbal abuse, intimidation and retaliation, according to the June 5 letter sent to Halford and signed by interim county manager Marche Pittman and commissioner chair Michael Gage.

But Halford said the allegations are not true and she has turned information over to her attorney, Phillip Roth out of Asheville.

“The allegations are not true,” Halford said. “I was a campaign promise and here it is. It’s unbelievable, it really is.”

When asked for comment, Pittman issued a statement yesterday, June 12 saying that the county cannot comment on a personnel issue.

“It is our policy not to comment on personnel matters other than that which is releasable in the form of public records,” Pittman said, “in this case the documents that you requested speak for themselves.”

The letter specifically gave three reasons for Halford’s termination, including sexual harassment in violation of Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (both quid pro quo and sexual favoritism); impeding the course of an official investigation by lying to public officials, and creating or causing a hostile or abusive work environment through means of verbal abuse, intimidation and retaliation.