THE DEEDS revealed and alleged in on-leave Human Resources Manager Jane Miller’s letter to the Mayor and City Council, dated October 23, 2008, and legal complaint filed June 17, 2009 and Miller, Jane Kingsley v. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, et al. (M99513) court file are enough to make every Carmelite ashamed of the conduct of City Administrator Rich Guillen, Mayor Sue McCloud and Council Members Paula Hazdovac, Gerard Rose, Ken Talmage and Karen Sharp.
It’s horrible to contemplate what Jane Miller endured for years and years at City Hall. She “watched City Administrator Richard Guillen make professional decisions based upon favoritism, gender, age and inappropriate relationships. Guillen is a manipulative boss who needs attention from and cultivates relationships with women at work into something which can turn them into “work spouses.” When those women respond to his behavior, Guillen rewards them financially and professionally. On the other hand, Guillen gets rid of women employees if they don’t respond to his needs.” In April 2008, City Administrator Rich Guillen told her that he wanted to eliminate her position of Human Resources Manager, although he had no legitimate justifiable budgetary or organizational reason. “In a very poisonous way, Guillen combined work and his version of sexual attraction – frequently calling himself “the boss” as he referred to me as a “hottie” or his “blond worker bee.”” Additionally, “Guillen has made bad decisions regarding salaries and work responsibility based on favoritism that has not only created a discriminatory working environment but also has drained away City funds. The unprecedented raises, benefits and higher “Job Titles” he gave to Christie Miller (between 2003 and 2008, Guillen increased Christie Miller’s salary by about 83%) and Heidi Burch (between 2005 and 2008 Guillen increased Heidi Burch’s salary by about 70%) were decisions that were not supported in the budget or by their qualifications.”
As discouraging as the deeds themselves is the knowledge that City Administrator Rich Guillen has seemingly gotten away with it. He was never placed on administrative leave or terminated and remains city administrator. Moreover, the Mayor and City Council failed to respond to Jane Miller’s letter even in the face of Jane Miller’s plea of “what you cannot do is ignore the conditions that allowed Guillen to do what he has been doing. My career, my health, and the City’s well-being are at stake” and failed to expeditiously conduct a full, objective and independent investigation of her complaints. And so the Mayor and City Council have also seemingly gotten away with it as they have not been held accountable for their unethical, uncaring and incompetent conduct.
The fear that motivated Jane Miller to keep silent over the years, unfortunately, was not unfounded. While she now believes it was “a mistake” to not challenge Guillen “for his inappropriate actions,” her fear appears in retrospect to be well founded given the circle the wagons mentality of the Mayor and City Council and the dismissive “it’s nothing” attitude of Mayor Sue McCloud regarding Jane Miller’s complaint.
So for Jane Miller, her years of silence are understandable. Even now, she surely did not want to file a lawsuit against the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea and revisit what happened to her at City Hall in a forthcoming jury trial on September 20, 2010.
And for former city employee Stephanie Pearce, her recent letters to the editor about Carmel lacking “integrity” describe a city government which is “badly broken.” She recounted “hostile punitive actions” carried out by City Administrator Rich Guillen against long time dedicated city employees (and approved by Mayor Sue McCloud), “personal vendettas” against individual employees and a mayor working “hand in glove” with the city administrator “whose inappropriate and unprofessional relationships have created a city workplace imbued with an atmosphere of stress, hostility and fear.” Moreover, Stephanie Pearce wrote that “the open scandal that has pervaded city hall and demoralized city staff is not just “negativity” that must be kept confidential pending legal resolution. It is an egregious betrayal of the public trust to allow creation and continuance of a hostile workplace environment, showing profound lack of respect for city workers.”
And so for Stephanie Pearce, there was plenty of motivation to let the whole thing stay in the past.
Yet there they were, Jane Miller and Stephanie Pearce, one filing a public lawsuit and the other writing letters to the editor, informing the public of Carmel’s lack of integrity.
For this, Jane Miller and Stephanie Pearce deserve the community’s deepest thanks. They are risking a lot, and they are doing it for everyone else’s honor and integrity.
5 comments:
These two women are very brave. Jane Miller especially. It is an open secret that Rich Guillen, who has been rejected when he has applied to other cities for a city manager's job was hired because he would be completly subservient to Sue McCloud. His incompetancy has never been a problem for her and he is paid far more than other city managers most of whom have far greater responsibilities and are much more competent. McCloud will fully back him no matter what he does because she would have difficulty finding another candidate for the job who would allow her to micromanage the city so badly and make the decisions herself that Guillen is being over paid to make.
Hurrah for Miller and Pearce for bringing to the attention of the public what city government watchers have long been aware of.
Wow, city government watchers have been long aware of the flagrant and outrageous behavior of the city manager and council and did nothing about it. Chilling.
Excellent commentary. I get it!!!
Columnist Peggy Noonan writes in the WSJ Saturday about the Catholic Church.
“In a way, the Vatican lives outside time and space. The verities it speaks of and stands for are timeless and transcendent. For those who work there, bishops and cardinals, it can become its own reality. And when those inside fight for what they think is the life of the institution, they feel fully justified in fighting any way they please. They can do this because, as they rationalize it, they are not fighting only for themselves—it's not selfish, their fight—but to protect the greatest institution in the history of the world.”
“But in the past few decades, they not only fought persons—"If you were loyal you'd be silent"—they fought information.”
“What they don't fully understand right now—what they can't fully wrap their heads around—is that the information won.”
“The information came in through the cracks, it came in waves, in newspaper front pages, in books, in news beamed to every satellite dish in Europe and America. The information could not be controlled or stopped. The information was that something very sick was going on in the heart of the church.”
“Once, leaders of the Vatican felt that silence would protect the church. But now anyone who cares about it must come to understand that only speaking, revealing, admitting and changing will save the church.”
She concludes with the thought that if “the victims don't keep the pressure on, the old ways will continue.” And so it is with Carmel-by-the-Sea. Minus most of the local media, information about the McCloud team leaked out to the public. And with these two women speaking out, the information about how sick city hall really is will continue to get to the public. Anyone who cares about Carmel must also come to “understand that only speaking, revealing, admitting and changing” will restore integrity to Carmel government and residents.
Stephanie Pearce: “the open scandal that has pervaded city hall and demoralized city staff is not just “negativity” that must be kept confidential pending legal resolution. It is an egregious betrayal of the public trust to allow creation and continuance of a hostile workplace environment, showing profound lack of respect for city workers.”
Ms. Pearce is right. The mayor's and Carmel Pine Cone's spin for a betrayal of public trust is negative campaigning. They change the focus from there own malfeasance to blaming other people for telling the truth. Sue McCloud and Paul Miller work hand-in-glove to spin, spin, spin, it should make all our heads spin. And the mayor has the gall to tell the public her critics spin and she tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, all the time. Now that should insult the intelligence of every person.
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