Mayor Squelches Whistleblower Complaint

Ald. Rae Hahn of the Eureka Springs City Council received a whistle blower letter from a woman who had previously been employed by the City’s Public Works, and then quit. Hahn gave the letter to Mayor Dani Joy before reading it at Council, which the complainant had hoped for but did not see happen.

Mayor Joy refused to allow Hahn to read the letter.

We reprint it here. We include the very long list of the kinds of work the complainant was assigned to so you will get some idea of the range– from unskilled slop clean up, to operation of heavy-duty equipment. You may choose to skim that part of the complainant’s letter.

We would point out that, although the complainant does not speak of discrimination, many of the acts she details clearly do. She is harassed, she says, by the men on the grounds crew she works with, as a woman, for being a woman.

She reports her harassment, and the racial slurs she has heard, as she is to do under the City’s personnel policy handbook, and the law. More than once, a boss takes no action. The woman is then told to take a different kind of job, as a gardener– the traditionally female position at Public Works– and change from the job she has– the traditionally male crew member/mower.

She declines the gardener job four times, and then is told that if she doesn’t take it, the Mayor has told her boss to fire her, according to the complainant’s signed statement. The woman quits her job rather than continue in these circumstances.

There is more here than discrimination, though, and that is why we refer to the letter as a whistle blower letter. The woman points in to the fact that firearms are kept in City vehicles, for example, something that is prohibited. She points to irregular methods of handling water/sewer bills. And she speaks of a chain of command that not only allows for this kind of thing, but seems out to fire her if she doesn’t settle into their accommodation to the racism, sexism, and irregular business practices of one department of our City government.

We publish the letter here in the hope, as the complainant does, that some good will come of it.

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To The City Council of Eureka Springs

I was hired the first week of November 2007, by former Public Works Director Jay Wilson to fill an opening for a crew member/mower. This position became available when a former crew member quite and moved away in October 2007. I had previously held this position for then director Kirby Murray, 10 years ago. I knew Jay Wilson and he knew me and my work ethic as well as my knowledge and skill as a horticulturist. I needed a change in my life and the Public Works director needed someone who could do a professional job of turf maintenance and tree trimming of the green spaces of our town. The mowing position is full time from March thru October. Since I was hired after the season ended, I was assigned regular crew member duties. This is an anything and everything job. During the months of November thru February some of my duties were as follows in no particular order:

• Regular cleaning and mopping of break room and bathroom;
• Sweeping and trash removal of shop building;
• Painting break room and bathroom in shop;
• Painting interior of shop building;
• Repainting the Public Works sign at the gate entrance;
• Repainting the compost facility sign at the gate entrance;
• Repair and painting of assorted traffic signs;
• Cleaning-up the lower yard which consists of collecting recyclables and throwing away collected trash;
• Burning materials too big for the chipper;
• Cleaning out all of the outbuildings used for storage which involved using a scoop; shovel because the rodent droppings were so deep;
• Assisting with tree cuts when needed;
• Assisting with yard waste pick-up;
• Walking the streets and road edges picking up trash;
• Cleaning storm drains of leaves and debris;
• Christmas decorations up, Christmas decorations down;
• Collecting trash from the down town waste cans;
• Assisting with the removal of plant materials and under growth of brush and trees; along the main trunk line to the treatment plant as mandated by ADEQ;
• Washing and oiling the spreader trucks used for snow removal and gravel spreading after each use;
• Washing backhoes, bucket truck, sweeper truck, flatbed trucks;
• Clearing and pruning of brush and overgrown plant materials at the Public Works yard;
• Learning to operate the back hoe and the skidster;
• Running the chipper machine at the compost facility;
• Assisting the shop mechanic when 4 hands were needed over 2 hands;
• Patching the roof of the Public Works shop building with buckets of tar and caulk;
• Cleaning out the attic storage over the break room where the raccoons had been living;
• Running errands to Springdale and Harrison for parts.

Any task asked of me I did.

During my four months of employment I was exposed to hostility from some crew members who do not like women in the workplace. One crew member yelled in my face in a threatening manner on two separate occasions. No action was taken after I reported the incident to Jay Wilson.

Several crew members and [name snipped] in particular are racists. The racial slurs are spoken daily. {Name snipped] used the “N” word like it’s his personal property. His racist and sexist remarks concerning Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are particularly distasteful.

City vehicles and equipment are damaged constantly. No one is ever held accountable for damage to City property. Negligence is rampant.

There are firearms in vehicles on City property.

And it strikes me as rather odd at least from a business point of view that [names snipped] are able to decide who pays their waters bills and who does not. Who gets a reduced bill and who’s bill just gets deleted. Got a good hard luck story– get a pass on your bill. What an insult to the residents who pay their bills. And how much money does the City lose annually because {names snipped] are gullible for a good story. Could be hundreds of dollars are written off at their whims.

In late January 2008 Jay Wilson resigned as director. The mayor appointed Steve Gordon and Amy Williams as joint temps to manage the department.

On the first day of the temp directors’ jobs I reported hearing racial slurs about another crew member to [name snipped]. No action was taken.

On the second day of the temps Steve Gordon approached me to take the city gardener position. I declined. I explained my skills were more valuable to the City as a mower/trimmer. I also told him I had been offered that position 4 times in the last few years. I didn’t want it then and I don’t want it now.

The third week of the temp directors, a crew member came to me and told me Steve Gordon and Amy Williams had told him they were going to force me to take the gardener position or be fired. This is also when the minority crew member reported to Steve Gordon and Amy Williams the racial slurs directed at him by other crew members. No action was taken.

On Monday, February 24, week five of the temps, I again heard the racial slurs regarding a crew member. I went to report it to [name snipped]. I told them that if action wasn’t taken I would take it downtown. The offending crew member was given a “talking to.” The same week it was announced that a new director had been hired. We were all only “introduced.” Dwayne Allen [the new director] had nothing to say to us. His first day was February 28, a Thursday. On Friday, February 29, a memo was placed at the time clock stating that we would be interviewed individually the following Thursday and Friday. We were told in the memo that we could express our hopes and desires for Public Works and our jobs etc. We were assigned time slots beginning at 8:00 am Thursday March 6 through Friday March 7. We were in alphabetical order. My time was Thursday at 10:00 am. On Wednesday, after 3:00, my time was changed by Steve Gordon to first, at 8:00 am. No explanation was given.

I showed up for my appointment at 8:00 am. I had never spoken anything more than “hello” to Dwayne Allen in the week since he was hired. And he had not spoken to me. I had only seen him one other day since he started. After our hello’s to each other, he immediately launched into the Steve Gordon plan that I was to take the gardener’s position or I was out. He told me the Mayor told him to force me to take this position. I asked him if any other crew members had been offered the position and he said no.

As far as I knew he had never read my application. My “interview’ was over in 6 minutes.

I would like to mention here that there are plenty of competent gardeners in Carroll County. I am a college-educated, 4th generation, horticulturist with years of experience. My talents and knowledge were of much more value to the city as a mower. Trees and turf are the background of everything, the foundation. Even the nicest flower looks bad or even un-noticed if he surrounding is not properly cared for.

At this point I have to question when we went from a democracy to a dictatorship. the Mayor can order someone to take a job they don’t want and didn’t hire on to do?

And how is it that in our town of tolerance, we are paying racist, sexist, uneducated people like [names snipped]. These two people think they are superior to everyone because they are white and male. s tolerance of other people only something we trout ut for tourists????

The Public Works Department has always had gays and lesbians and people of color and women, so it never occurred to me the Klan had taken over. What “hole in the fabric of time” did these people step through Does the Mayor even care who she is paying to run the most vital departments of all City departments? And how do you suppose all this racism feels to the minority employees of the City… the few that remain???

In closing I want you all to know that I accepted this mowing position for many reasons and a pittance of what I receive from the private sector. I really wanted to fall in love with our town again, do some good, and get paid. I’ve lived here for 15 years and Eureka has lost her luster.

I don’t want my job back but in telling my story I hope to leave the Public Works Department better than I found it. I am not a disgruntled former employee…. I am quite simply an appalled human being.

[signature snipped]

In accordance with Page 23 of the employee hand book, I am informing the Mayor of my knowledge of harassment as well as possession of firearms on City property, Page 22, #10.