HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson mayor Jon Richardson posted on social media Wednesday morning responding to what was said by Kendal Francis regarding his dismissal in the open meeting. Below are his comments.
Yesterday was a difficult meeting and it has been a difficult few weeks.
I want to note that Mr. Francis, in my opinion, did a very good job in his role. He was interactive with our community and took a hands-on approach to solving issues. It was good to work with him and his ideas/visions on what steps the organization should take.
Unlike other employees, the city manager position is the only one that employment decisions are made in open session. Due to the nature of the motion that was set forth, the manager has a right to discuss the allegations leading to the motion of termination with cause.
In regards to the events that took place in open session, I agree with Mr. Francis that there were many items in the report that were based on complaints against his management style, and other irrelevant points, that were not applicable to the original harassment claims.
He also brought up other concerns in regards to the dynamics that occur within the organization in regards to HR. There are others that have voiced these concerns. Those concerns will not be ignored, but need to be separated out, for now, from the original intent of the harassment investigation.
The independent investigator can’t pick and choose what they include in their overall report. Their job is to gather information and offer both a summary and the raw data. Unbenownst to city staff, I personally hired an attorney that specializes in harassment situations and has no prior ties to the people involved.
My intent was to get a secondary professional opinion to any questions I had and to further remove any possibility of the perceptions of bias towards, or against any person in this situation.
There were two particular instances brought up in open session. One instance that referred to a cold soda being put in contact with a female employee’s face and another instance where the badge of that same employee was reached for with the intent to pull it back and let it go.
As he described the incident in open session, the manager gestures to his chest in reaching for the employee’s badge. That is where it was located on the female employee.Both of these actions are in violation of the employee policies.
In addition to this, the city manager is expected to be held to a higher standard. That aspect of the position is also in writing. Many will have differing opinions on the matter.
My opinion is that, in a management position, there are certain aspects that are considered to be golden rules. Intentionally reaching out to touch or interact with anything on a female employee’s chest is something that breaks one of these rules. Regardless of performance in your job, or likability, or if it was in the intent of friendly goofing around.
There will be more information later this week in regards to our interim city manager situation and recruiting a new one. The recruiting firm we used has a guarantee in their contract that allows us to utilize them at no additional cost.
We have made contact with them in regards to the situation. The intent is to both utilize this resource, as well as a grass roots approach to recruiting potential candidates. A candidate from the original search has already reached out to show their interest in the role.
I have also discussed the interim situation with one person and I have a meeting with another potential interim. They would both be good in the temporary role.
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