City manager cleared of claims

An outside investigation has cleared Maricopa City Manager Kevin Evans of several allegations stemming from a complaint filed against him by city human resource director Karen Shaffer.

In the complaint, which Shaffer sent on May 22 to city lawyer Denis Fitzgibbons, the HR director details 10 allegations against the city manager, including disclosing personal medical information to council members, approving pay increases during a salary freeze, violating election law and making derogatory comments.

“I am very concerned and upset. I have never filed a complaint about any supervisor during my career.” Shaffer said in the letter. “Also, over the past year, I have tried to remain loyal and not cause any issues for Kevin, but this latest incident forces me to document a complaint because of issues I’ve had with his behavior.”

The incident propelling Shaffer to file the complaint occurred when Evans was working on changing the organizational structure within the city so that then Public Safety Director Patrick Melvin was elevated to the position of assistant city manager and directly responsible not only for fire, code enforcement and police, but also several other city departments, including Shaffer’s.

During this shift, which she alleges was done so Evans could justify Melvin’s salary, Shaffer said a portion of her duties were removed and placed under the direction of the city’s other assistant city manager, Roger Kolman.

Shaffer alleges when she contacted Evans to ask about why her duties were being reduced, she was told council had concerns about her medical issues and the move was designed to take pressure off her. She adds in the letter she has never disclosed her medical issues to council, is fully capable and that Evans must have disclosed her issues to council.

The lawyer assigned to investigate this and the other allegations, Kylie TenBrook of Jackson and Lewis Attorneys at Law, said in her report that the issue was a simple perception error by Shaffer due to her sensitivity in regard to her medical condition.

The lawyer came to this conclusion through interviews with Melvin, Evans, assistants to the city manager Paul Jepson and Nicole Dailey, and city council member Julia Gusse.

In her interviews with these individuals, none could ever recall Evans discussing or saying anything about Shaffer’s medical issues, and those involved in the reorganization all seemed to agree it was completed to free Evans to focus more on economic development.

In addition to allegedly disclosing information about her medical condition, Shaffer said Evans gave salary increases, amounting to $10,000 a year, to two employees during a pay freeze, put 120 hours of sick time/vacation time into an employee’s account and made offensive comments to employees.

In terms of the pay increases the investigator found that Evans indeed did give raises to assistant to the city manager Nicole Dailey and city finance director Cynthia Sneed. However, the investigator reported that Sneed was hired at a lower wage than the other directors in the city with the understanding that, if she performed, her pay would be increased.

Dailey’s pay was raised when she took on extra duties vacated due to the firing of the city’s community services director and then lowered to its original level when a person was hired to fill that position.

Yet, shortly after Daily’s pay returning to its previous level, Evans increased it to equal that of his other assistant, Paul Jepson, due to both having the same level of experience in city government. TenBrook said she did not believe these actions were wrongful, and that the city manger has the authority to make these types of personnel decisions.

In terms of derogatory comments, Shaffer alleged that Evans would say, when a group of women were talking, “It’s time to break up the hen party” or “The hen party is over; get back to work.”

Shaffer also said Evans makes comments about staff members to other staff members and uses foul language.

During the investigation Evans admitted to using the “hen” remark, not only to women, but more toward a group of people congregating on the clock. Evans also admitted to cursing on occasion, but said he is making an effort to clean it up and has told his other directors to do the same. In her report the investigator said she could not substantiate any other comments made by Evans.

In terms of the election law violation, Shaffer alleged in an interview with the investigator that Evans asked the city deputy clerk, LeeAnn Schirato, to accept signatures from Maricopa Mayor Anthony Smith despite him not turning in a statement of organization, whose completion is required before signatures are submitted.

Evans allegedly asked Schirato if she was certain the city didn’t misplace the paperwork and if Smith could submit a new statement of organization and the already collected signatures. Schirato said he could not do that.

Evans, in his interview with the investigator, admitted to asking Schirato if the mayor could just submit a new form with the signatures, but he was not telling her to do so.
He said he wasn’t aware of Arizona election law at the time, and, after gathering the information from Schirato on what must be completed, he passed it along to Smith. The investigator said in her report the situation was a simple misunderstanding.

While most of the allegations were dismissed, the investigator did find one that was substantiated.

Shaffer raised a concern about only one performance evaluation being conducted by the city for director level positions since the inception of Maricopa. The investigator found this to be true, but not a violation of city code and only agreed with Shaffer that the evaluations should be completed more often.

Evans chose not to comment on the complaint or the investigation.

Staff photo

Read the entire investigation and complaint below:

 

Evans HR Complaint