DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis is standing by his public safety director in the face of allegations by former fire chief David Foster.

In a letter sent to county commissioners last week, Foster claimed that DeKalb County Public Safety Director William Miller tried to undermine his authority. Foster also claimed that e-mails that showed proof were erased from his computer at work.

“Chief Foster was never targeted, mistreated or retaliated against in any way under my administration,” Ellis said at a press conference last week. “Neither I nor director Miller has sought to disparage Chief Foster.”

Ellis would not comment on specifics regarding Foster’s complaints because the issue is a “pending legal matter.”

Foster is not commenting and has obtained Atlanta attorney A. Lee Parks to represent him. No lawsuit had been filed by Foster’s attorney against the county as of March 16. Repeated calls to Parks were not returned.

Foster resigned on March 1 in the wake of a fire in Dunwoody that killed a 74-year-old woman and led to the firing of five firefighters. Foster has claimed he was forced to resign, but Ellis said the resignation was a mutual agreement.

Ellis and Foster met several times to discuss issues regarding the fire department, including the handling of the Dunwoody fire. Ellis recalled the meeting with Foster that led to the former chief’s resignation.

“I told him we had made the decision to terminate him, and he offered to resign,” Ellis said. “I agreed to his request and chief Foster was given a complete opportunity to confer with his attorney that day as he negotiated a severance package.”

Foster later rescinded his resignation and requested last month to have his severance package amended.

Ellis denied there was any tension between himself and Foster, and said Miller did not target Foster in any way.

“In my first year in office, I made the decision to reinstate the position of director of public safety and I appointed William Miller to this position,” Ellis said. “Once I made that decision, my expectation was that chief Foster and everyone else involved in public safety would work constructively within this new framework. For whatever reasons, this seemed to be a problem for Chief Foster. Chief Foster has made numerous allegations of wrongdoing against director Miller, which I believe are unfounded.”

According to county spokeswoman Sheila Edwards, Foster expressed to Miller that he suspected some fire rescue employees had improper contact with a vendor regarding a contract. Miller authorized an investigation, and about 12,000 e-mails were reviewed by a Fire Rescue Department investigator.

After finding that “no employees had engaged in improper conduct,” the investigator asked Miller if he could have an IS employee remove the e-mails from Foster’s computer, Edwards said.

Miller asked Foster if he had any additional use for the e-mails and Foster said no, according to Edwards Miller then asked Foster if the e-mails could be removed from his computer and the former chief answered “yes,” Edwards said.

When asked at the press conference if there were evidence of harassment on the e-mails, Miller said, “I never threatened Chief Foster. The e-mails have not been destroyed. They’re on these disks right here. I haven’t even looked at them.”