By KAREN DILLON

The Star 

Three top Missouri Department of Natural Resources administrators were dismissed in what some believe was continuing fallout over the E. coli controversy, officials said Thursday.

The three were in the inner circle of DNR Director Mark Templeton. Templeton was suspended for more than two weeks this month after providing Gov. Jay Nixon with incorrect information about when Lake of the Ozarks beaches were closed because of high bacterial levels.

Laverne Brondel, director of administrative services, said Templeton and Bill Bryan, DNR’s deputy director, told her on Wednesday “my services were no longer needed.”

Brondel said she believed the dismissals were related to the E. coli controversy. She oversaw human resources and carried out disciplinary actions ordered by the governor and Templeton.

Brondel, whose salary was $100,000, had worked for the state about 30 years and had been with the DNR since 1987.

The other two who were dismissed:

•Alice Geller, director of the Field Services Division, who worked for the DNR for 26 years. She made about $90,000 a year.

Earlier this year, Geller had been fired by Nixon when he took office, but she was rehired after protests, said Ken Midkiff, a Missouri water quality expert.

•Dan Schuette, director of the Division of Environmental Quality. Schuette, who worked for the DNR for more than 29 years, made about $103,000 a year.

Neither Geller nor Schuette could be reached for comment.

The three were told their employment would end Saturday, Brondel said. All are eligible for retirement.

Meanwhile, Templeton announced Thursday to department staff that he was consolidating the Field Services Division with the Division of Environmental Quality and appointing Leanne Tippett-Mosby as acting director of the new program, according to an internal memo obtained by The Star.

In addition, Templeton said he was appointing Lori Gordon acting director of the Division of Administrative Support.

Those appointments effectively eliminated the positions of Brondel, Geller and Schuette.

Templeton did not mention the three directors in the announcement. Instead, he wrote: “With these changes, I believe our department is well positioned to fulfill our mission to protect Missouri’s natural resources and do our part to make our state better for our citizens.”

Travis Ford, DNR spokesman, would not discuss the employees’ dismissal.

“As of right now, they are still employed here,” was all Ford would say about them.

Ford added that he did not know whether the reorganization was related to the E. coli controversy.

“I haven’t heard that this is a product of the investigation,” he said. “The governor and Director Templeton have talked about the needs for improvement in the department. It’s no secret the director has been tasked with finding places the department can do better.”

In July, information surfaced that DNR officials had failed for almost four weeks to release test results regarding dangerously high levels of E. coli at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Initially, Nixon and his staff said they did not know about the reports for those nearly four weeks. But later, at least two Nixon aides said they did know about the reports almost as soon as DNR officials.

In September, when Nixon realized he had received incorrect information about beach closings, he ordered an internal investigation.

Since then, he has fired DNR’s deputy director, Joe Bindbeutel. Bindbeutel had taken responsibility for not releasing the E. coli data in May.

Jim Yancey, chief of environmental services for the state parks division, also was released. Yancey had been on vacation when E. coli data showing that beaches needed to be closed had been e-mailed to him. When Yancey was terminated, he took retirement.

Earl Pabst, another top DNR official, also took retirement.

Several other DNR officials have been suspended.