Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 03-11-08 Special agenda ‎(finance director)‎ — reading text

stated above, all but one of the Finance Department employees described the workplace as hostile and indicated that they would leave the City' s employment rather than continue to work under the current director. My findings regarding each of the Charter Officers are as follows: Helen Spencer, City Clerk This inquiry revealed no information was obtained to indicate any concern regarding Spencer' s working relationship with any City of Fort Walton Beach Charter Officer or employee. Spencer advises that she has a positive working relationship with each Charter Officer and the employees which she has contact with. No officer or employee interviewed provided information indicative of an existing conflict with the Spencer. The City Clerk is a model Charter Officer whom garners respect from her fellow coworkers. Toni Craig, City Attorney Craig has a positive working relationship with two of her fellow Charter Officers and the Department Directors. The sole exception, as noted by Craig, is her strained relationship with the Finance Director, Lisa Absher. Craig singled out Absher as the only Charter Officer that she has continuous conflict with. Craig indicated that Absher frequently misrepresents or mischaracterizes Craig' s verbal communications in subsequent electronic mail messages or in public meetings. As a result, Craig will only communicate with Absher by way of written communication. Craig, believes that Absher " has not had confidence in her since day one." Craig cannot identify a reason for Absher' s actions, but believes that Absher " lies about people" and routinely has conversations then contradicts herself later on." For example, Absher requested Craig' s assistance in drafting a resignation letter then later accused Craig of demanding that Absher resign.  EZ Lisa Absher, Finance Director As Financt Director, Absher routinely interacts with her fellow Charter Officers and Department Directors. Absher did not report any issues with the City Clerk. However, Absher expressed conflict with the City Attorney and the City Manager. In addition, Absher also voiced concerns regarding various aspects of City management. City Attorney Absher is expressly critical of Craig' s performance as City Attorney. She stated that Craig lost her temper with her on one occasion and disagrees with the legal advice provided by the City Attorney. Absher acknowledges that Craig has placed restrictions upon their means of communication but states that she has never received an explanation. Absher also described an incident where Craig physically threw an object at her out of anger. The relationship between the Finance Director and City Attorney has also been strained as a result of a perception by Absher that Craig discussed matters with third parties that she considered confidential. As a result, Absher believes Craig is unprofessional and unethical. City Manager Absher feels that Shanahan acts in an unprofessional manner and breeds a negative work environment at the City. Absher specifically referred to Shanahan as an " abusive, ugly, awful human being ". The Finance Director also expressed concern with Shanahan' s inappropriate use of profanity in the workplace. The conduct described by Absher was hearing Shanahan state get the hell out of my office." Absher also reports that Shanahan has been inappropriately abusive to Helen Spencer, Tom Murray and Carol Jones.  Absher' s Issues Absher brought forward the following issues with the City: June Pease Account mishandled Disagrees with budgeting practices Overuse of capital residual funds Layoffs not conducted in accordance with procedure Pension issues Voided paychecks issues Critical of auditors CDBG issues Councilman Holmes wants her fired CDS Revenues do not match statistics Presidio expenditure in violation of City policy Inappropriate material is placed in her personnel file Tom Murray conducted a background check on her Alleges that Councilmen Hartwell and Holmes discussed firing Absher .with Murray Believes several City Council members enlisted .Main to track Absher Believe that Carole Jones is attempting to obtain her termination Absher was directed to audit the golf course to engender ill -will Fixed Assets/ Deferred Revenue issues Transfers /Cost Allocations are handled improperly Public Records Requests are ignored C]C]  Insurance Claims not filed Investments underperforming City violates Florida Statutes by not advertising rate increases City using extra revenue from rate increases to subsidize general revenue fund Believes people are communicating through third parties to avoid Sunshine Laws Believes that the City' s Pension Attorney has not provided effective services The preceding list of issues is representative of Absher' s feelings of mistrust to not only None of the above each of the City' s operations, but also to outside counsel and consultants. allegations however, were confirmed by any of the witnesses interviewed and appear to be part of Absher' s critique of all facets of the City' s government. For example, Absher questions the veracity of the City' s pension counsel despite his excellent reputation in the legal community and is " AV" rating by Martindale- Hubbell, the highest rating an attorney can achieve from his peers. Additionally, Absher is the only person the pension counsel has ever placed communication restrictions upon due to her alleged deceitful and offensive nature. Lastly, it is important to note that any of Absher' s issues which involve alleged financial shortcomings must be addressed by the City' s auditors. Witness Responses The witnesses reported numerous conflicts and complaints regarding Absher throughout the course of this investigation. Complaints were not limited to Absher' s subordinate employees, but also came from Department Directors and fellow Charter Officers. All but one of the Department Directors and two of the three Charter Officers interviewed indicated problems with the Absher on an ongoing basis. While there are understandable challenges the Finance Director faces when undertaking her duties to oversee the finances of the City, Absher continuously fails to work in conjunction with the other Department Directors. There is always a point of conflict for her and rather than utilize her position to promote better business practices, she instead takes every opportunity to denigrate the other departments and employees. Joyce Shanahan, City Manager, stated that the Finance Director is " insubordinate" and she " attempts to undermine the City Manager ", misconstrues statements and facts in emails following discussions or meetings, and walks out of meetings early in the presence of employees and nonemployees. Absher also " chronically abuses her staff' and Shanahan has received complaints from numerous employees regarding Absher' s actions. Specifically, Absher tormented Wunker ( Comptroller) about her home life" and " berated Hofstad ( Utilities Director) and stated that he " lacks credibility and ethics. "" It is also evident to Shanahan that Absher is " simply messing with other departments and trying to make lives difficult." For example, Absher purposefully delayed approving Dunworth' s travel request, told the Fire Chief that positions were being cut regardless of her lack of authority to do so, and caused former employee Rodney Gollick to state that he, " has never seen one person cause so much havoc within one organization in such a small amount of time" as Absher. Furthermore, Shanahan believes that Absher brings forth allegations of wrongdoing without any specific evidence or regard for her fellow coworkers. Absher accused and investigated Peters of wrongdoing without authority, accused the Utility Director of misusing funds at a City Council meeting when she knew it was not true, and caused the City' s pension actuary to threaten to drop the City as a client because of her actions. Overall, Shanahan believes that Absher disrespects the employees of Fort Walton Beach routinely and causes unrest amongst all employees.  All Finance Department subordinate employees, with the exception of Barnes, whom works in Customer Service rather than Finance, stated that Absher creates a hostile workplace and adversely affects her department' s performance and more generally, the City' s government. Absher' s actions have made continued employment with the City for these employees very difficult. All, save Barnes, either expressly or impliedly stated that they would resign if Absher remains Finance Director. Each has stated that Absher engages in retaliatory conduct if she perceives any disloyalty on their part. The employees reported they have been adversely evaluated by Absher, and in one instance, she extended an employee' s probationary period without reason. It should be noted that many of the witnesses expressed a concern for retaliation by Absher for participating in this investigation. In fact, Absher has already acted out in a manner towards Main following her interview for this investigation that was perceived as retaliatory. In addition to her difficult interpersonal relationships with subordinates, Finance Department employees also reported Absher fails to properly fulfill her duties as Finance Director. Finance staff claims that Absher routinely blames them for her own mistakes and does not complete her assigned tasks which in turn results in a backlog of projects for the employees to undertake. Furthermore, they assert that Absher is openly critical of the City and its leadership to both employees and citizens, regardless of the veracity of her statements. Finally, it is important to note that all Finance Department employees came forward on their own accord to discuss Absher and other City employees. There is no evidence to suggest that any were prompted or influenced by any other person. All subordinate employees, with the exception of Barnes, indicated that they will resign if Absher remains the City' s Finance Director. Joyce Shanahan, City Manager With the exception of the Finance Director, Shanahan has a positive working relationship with the remaining Charter Officers and Department Directors. Shanahan is able to effectively manage City employees and is universally well respected. Comments offered by Department Directors and employees regarding Shanahan are included below. Brandy Wunker, Comptroller Brandy Wunker serves as the City' s Comptroller and reports directly to the Finance Director. Wunker characterized the Finance Director as " very inappropriate" in her dealings with employees and stated that she " makes me uncomfortable." Absher' s actions make Wunker