A complaint made in February against Mayor Keith Gaskin for creating a “hostile work environment” publicly surfaced on Wednesday.
In it, Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett claims Gaskin’s “actions, behavior and communication style” created significant challenges for performing her duties. She also wrote she was fearful of her job and asked the council and human resources director to speak with the mayor and “implore him to act in an acceptable manner when supervising me.”
Garrett directed the signed complaint, dated Feb. 13 and typed on city letterhead, to Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell. The Dispatch obtained a copy after Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens brought up the complaint in a Wednesday interview about another issue.
“We kept it under cover,” Mickens said. “… She was thinking about suing, but we talked her out of it.”
Garrett denied Mickens or anyone else had to talk her out of filing a lawsuit.
“That is not true,” she said Wednesday. “No one has had to beg me not to sue the city. I’ve never wanted to sue the city. I never would sue the city.”
The complaint centers on a special meeting the council held Feb. 6 to discuss the job performance of Grant Administrator Susan Wilder. At Gaskin’s direction, the city applied for a grant after the council voted not to apply.
Though two councilmen called for the special meeting, Garrett claims Gaskin sent her multiple text messages alleging she acted outside the chain of command when issuing public notice for the meeting.
On Feb. 6, the council directed Garrett and Mitchell to develop a disciplinary recommendation for Wilder. Garrett claims Gaskin was “increasingly nasty” toward her that day. After the council vote, she met with Gaskin and Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham. She wrote in her complaint the mayor was hostile and took an intimidating tone, insisting Wilder would face no discipline. She left the meeting after telling Gaskin he was bullying her and creating a hostile work environment.
In a later meeting that day, she wrote Gaskin was a “revisionist historian,” denying what he had said previously. Then he directed Mitchell to identify someone who could come in and explain the concepts of a hostile work environment and workplace bullying.
The complaint was placed on the agenda for discussion at an ensuing city council meeting. It was pulled from the agenda before the meeting and was never formally discussed, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said.
Since Gaskin is an elected official, the council can neither discipline nor fire him.
“I guess she was wanting to make the council aware of what she was going through,” Jones said, adding he was aware of the issue and had seen the written complaint.
Gaskin, speaking with The Dispatch on Wednesday, acknowledged the complaint but denied the allegations. He admitted he brought in an attorney after the complaint to lead classes for City Hall staff on what actually constitutes a hostile work environment.
“There’s no hostile work environment here,” Gaskin said. “She knows it, and (Mickens) knows it.”
He refused to discuss the matter further on the record.
Garrett said she and Gaskin have worked through their issues, and she never intended for her complaint to be made public or be politicized. She believes it is being politicized, which she said shows “no thought toward me or my career.”
“Any issues that me and the mayor had have been resolved,” she told The Dispatch. “We work fine together. I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot over the last three years I’ve been working here. I’m still a part of his administration, so when people discuss his administration, I feel like they are discussing me as well. … I wouldn’t want the work that we’ve done to be overshadowed by this.”
Reporter Emma McRae contributed to this report.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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