ARIZONA – In a unanimous vote, the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) Board of Trustees terminated the employment of the system’s administrator, Jared Smout, who had been on paid administrative leave since April 16, 2019, pending an independent review of a personnel matter.
PSPRS Board Chairman William T. Buividas called Smout’s termination “a decision we could not in good conscience avoid.”
“To be blunt, the behavior described in the Arizona Department of Administration investigation is in no way acceptable from any employee of PSPRS, let alone the system’s top executive. Let me be as clear as I know how to be: We will not tolerate inappropriate workplace behavior. And, as we did with this complaint, all such allegations will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.
“The Board and PSPRS leadership already have begun to work on a thorough revamp of policies and training procedures meant to prevent and address inappropriate behavior and workplace harassment.
Earlier in the week, the Arizona Department of Administration, recommended the immediate termination of Smout’s employment and not given any other job in state government.
A heavily redacted four-page letter to Buividas revealed that Smout admitted he was attracted to an employee and sent an inappropriate text message. He also admitted to often hugging the worker inappropriately. Smout admitted to looking at an employee’s body inappropriately and explained his behavior by saying he “was a man.”
Smout did nothing when he discovered that computer staff spied on two employees that he didn’t like.
A 2014 investigation found that Smout spent hours watching workers he was attracted to on live video from the building’s surveillance cameras. He did not disclose the findings to the PSPRS board of directors before he was promoted to the top job.