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Board of Trustees Meeting April 22, 2008 |
Agenda Item: New Business – Item #7
Discussion of April 14, 2008 Desert Sun Article.
Background:
On April 14, 2008, Trustee Lock expressed the desire to have a discussion regarding an article that had appeared in the Desert Sun that morning. Because the item was not on the agenda, and could not be added to the agenda because it was a special meeting, the Board requested that the item be scheduled for discussion at the Special meeting of April 22, 2008.
The article is quoted in full below, and the fax that Ms. Copeland sent to the Desert Sun is also attached for the Board’s reference.
It is important to note that in any discussion of the article, the Board Members not disclose any information that was discussed in any closed session of the Board or any of its committees. Ms. Poturica will provide further explanation of the limitations on what may be discussed publicly.
The article was as follows:
Bug
board knew of allegations
District
officials aware of charges, but did not act
Some officials with the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector
Control District apparently knew as far back as August of a district employee's
claims that he was ordered by the general manager to create forged passes to
the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament and other non-agency work.
District attorney
The results of that investigation were given to the
district's full board of trustees and "the board determined that no
disciplinary action was warranted," Copeland said.
But those same allegations, investigated last month by Indio
Police, prompted police on Thursday to request that the Riverside County
District Attorney's Office file felony forgery and conspiracy charges against
Gomsi and Mann, related to the fake tennis pass-making. The district attorney's
office is still considering the report.
Mann left the vector control district on a work-related
stress leave in June, and soon began a worker's compensation claim. Mann's
attorney in his worker's compensation case, D. Michael Carruthers, on July 24
sent district board president Mike Duran a letter outlining Mann's claims of a
"hostile work environment, libel, slander and retaliation against him by
Donald Gomsi and (assistant general manager) Diane Glanz." The letter,
which was later sent to all board trustees, did not offer further details.
Two investigations commenced in late August or early
September, one by the district's worker's compensation insurer. The other probe
was at the recommendation of Copeland and at the direction of the board's
executive and personnel committees, she said. The latter was led by Debra
Reilly of Reilly & Associates of
Fired former administrator Brian Passaro said that on Sept.
11 he was interviewed by Reilly for about three hours related to the Mann
investigation. He said he backed Mann's account about Gomsi directing Mann to
forge tennis passes on district equipment and using district materials during
work hours. Passaro said he told Reilly his own allegations of misconduct by
Gomsi.
Two weeks later, Passaro said he gave similar testimony to
the worker's compensation insurance investigator looking into Mann's claim.
Less than a week later, on Oct. 4, Passaro was placed on
paid administrative leave. On Feb. 29 he was fired as an at-will employee
without explanation.
"You can't say they didn't do anything (about the Gomsi
allegations)," Passaro said. "They did do something. They fired
me."
Mann said he gave a sworn deposition in September to the
worker's compensation insurance investigator, at which he outlined the tennis
tournament pass-making and other non-district-related activities Gomsi directed
him to do during agency work hours. Copeland sat in on the deposition, Mann
said.
Mann said he was never contacted by the other investigator,
Reilly.
Mann, through his attorney, said on Nov. 21 he received a
letter from board president Duran, stating the findings of the district's
investigation did not support Mann's claims.
Duran and Reilly did not return messages left by The Desert
Sun on Friday.
In her statement to The Desert Sun, Copeland said she is not
privy to the information Mann and Passaro provided Indio Police. She added she
does not know why police reached a different conclusion than district
officials.
"It sounds to me as though Mr. Mann and Mr. Passaro
gave a different account of events to the Indio Police than that given to the
district's investigator," she said. "The district assumed that these
witnesses were truthful with its investigator and can only act on the basis of
the information provided."
Passaro called Copeland's comments "ridiculous."
"As far as the tennis passes go, exactly the same
information was provided to the (district's) investigator as was provided to
the Indio Police Department, at least from my standpoint," he said, adding
that his interviews with the investigator were tape-recorded and could be
checked by district trustees.
Mann's attorney, Carruthers, said his client "has told
the same facts from beginning to end. He's always cooperated with the district;
he's always tried to tell the district the truth and what the facts are. From
the very beginning - at the very least last summer - he has maintained the same
facts."
'Filtered information'
Copeland said the results of Reilly's investigation were
shared with the full, 11-member board. Gomsi also presented his side to
trustees, she said, not specifying when that occurred.
"Mr. Gomsi addressed the board of trustees in closed
session concerning the tennis pass allegations and the board determined that no
disciplinary action was warranted at that time," she said.
Passaro questioned why Gomsi got an opportunity to speak
with trustees, but he and Mann did not.
"I think that goes to show exactly how Lisa handled
things all along," he said. "She only allowed the board of trustees to
hear filtered information, her and Mr. Gomsi both.
"I guess I would wonder why members of the board
wouldn't ask to hear the other side of the issue."
Two district trustees told The Desert Sun on Friday that
they never got the full story on Mann's allegations.
"The report we got, at least the one I heard, said that
it was allegations and nothing was proven," said trustee Sharon Lock, who
is appointed by the city of
Lock added that she never heard Mann's allegation of being
tasked by Gomsi with doing non-agency work on agency time. Lock would have
called for a different response had she known the full extent of the
allegations, she said.
"At that point, quite honestly, we should have put
(Gomsi) on administrative leave," she said.
Trustee Karl Baker, appointed by Desert Hot Springs, said
the report came only after he and Lock pressed for months on the status of Mann
and his allegations. The report to the full board came earlier this year, Baker
said, at least two months after Duran had informed Mann of its findings.
"The board was basically told by
Nothing was reported to the full board detailing allegations
that Gomsi directed Mann to create fake tennis tournament passes, or to do
other non-agency work on agency time and with agency equipment and materials,
Baker said.
"It should have been a headline of the report," he
said. "It should have been fully reported to us, and to what extent it was
documented as to its truth or falsehood. That was never, ever, reported to us
in that regard."
Passaro got the full board's full attention on March 11,
their first meeting after Passaro's firing.
Passaro, in the public comment section of the meeting,
outlined numerous allegations against Gomsi, including:
Gomsi's alleged direction to Mann to create fake Pacific
Life Open passes.
Gomsi frequently accessed Internet pornography on his
district computer.
Gomsi created a hostile workplace, and sexually harassed
some female workers.
Gomsi directed the hiring of young, attractive, female
employees, sometimes bypassing more qualified candidates.
Gomsi later issued a statement "categorically
denying" Passaro's statements. He has not responded to numerous attempts
by The Desert Sun for further comment.
Passaro said he did not share Gomsi's alleged porn viewing
to district investigators months earlier.
"I just didn't want to go down that road," he
said. "I knew if I brought forward the Internet pornography stuff, Don and
Lisa would have me fired. I thought by bringing the other things forward, they
would actually look into it and do something about it."
Was it 'smoke and mirrors?'
As the public shock wave from Passaro's allegations
reverberated, the board six days later, on March 17, held an emergency meeting
that included a more than three-hour closed session. Reilly, the attorney who
had conducted the investigation into Mann's and Passaro's allegations, was
there.
But the talk focused on what to do about Gomsi, Lock said.
"Most of the discussion was not around any of those
allegations by Mann," Lock said.
"Looking back on it, I think it was smoke and mirrors
to keep that discussion from coming up, maybe."
Though Reilly's voluminous investigative report was in the
room, it was not shared with the full board, Lock and Baker said.
In her statement to The Desert Sun, Copeland said, "It
is a violation of fiduciary duty to the district for any one or more individual
trustees to violate the district's privileges by discussing closed-session
matters. They also expose the district to liability as a result."
The board, later in its March 17 meeting, voted to place
Gomsi on paid administrative leave and have an independent investigator probe
Passaro's allegations.
Within days of Passaro publicly laying out allegations
against Gomsi, Indio Police launched a criminal investigation at the agency. On
Thursday, police recommended felony charges for Gomsi and Mann.
Copeland, had served as the district's lawyer since the
1990s, also submitted her resignation on Thursday to trustees, stating in a
letter that "in light of the ongoing barrage of false attacks being
directed at me as general counsel both internally and externally, I find that I
am unable to defend my professional reputation by remaining in that post."
Mann said he was following Gomsi's orders for fear of losing
his job, and will cooperate fully with investigators.
That the case has been forwarded to the district attorney's
office with a recommendation by police for criminal charges "points out
both Robert and I were telling the truth," Passaro said.
"If we were telling the truth about that, maybe the
trustees should consider what else we have been telling the truth about, and
what may have been kept from them," he said.
Questions remain, Lock said.
"I think everybody on the board is asking, 'What really
has gone on here?'"
Fiscal Impact:
None.
Attachment: Fax from Ms. Copeland to Desert Sun