Marlborough Mesa

Not lying hurt review, city empl

Not lying hurt review, city employee alleges

Justin Juozapavicius
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 1, 2006 12:00 AM

A city employee says he received a poor performance evaluation because he would not lie for his boss to a private investigator looking into allegations of workplace discrimination.

Ray Villa, the city's neighborhood outreach director, accused Neighborhood Services Manager Lisha Garcia of retaliation when she wrote his review, which stated that he ''does not have the trust of all the division directors and I doubt his trust and loyalty to me as the department manager.''

She also slapped him with a 365-day probation period, amounting to what Villa described Wednesday as the worst review in his career. advertisement

Villa, a Chandler police officer for more than 20 years, wrote in a review rebuttal that he was being punished for comments he made last fall to Phoenix-based Investigative Research Inc., a firm hired by the city to look into a discrimination claim made by Debbie Driscol, who abruptly resigned nearly two weeks ago.

Driscol, a 10-year employee and popular neighborhood outreach coordinator, brought a complaint last June to the city's Human Resources Department, accusing Garcia of discriminating against her and other employees because they were not Hispanic.

''(Garcia) said I could say things in such a way that wouldn't be damaging to her,'' said Villa, who joined the city in May 2005. ''What it implied to me was that she wanted me to lie.''

Villa said he was surprised to discover the city had redacted that dialogue from the April 11 response to his review, which was requested by The Arizona Republic.

''I stand by what I said, and I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't meant it,'' Villa said.

In his response to the review, Villa also wrote, ''during the conversation, you stated that I was not a team player,'' and after that conversation, ''I have since felt that I work in a hostile work environment.''

Garcia placed a rebuttal to Villa's response in his file May 25, three days after a Republic records request of Garcia and Villa's personnel files.

In the report, Garcia denied retaliation because of Villa's comments to investigators and wrote, ''the quotes that you attribute to me have no basis in truth or fact.''

Garcia did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday. Last week, Garcia said she has never made any personnel decision based on racial bias and praised Driscol's hard work and popularity among neighborhood leaders.
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Not lying hurt review, city emp

Chain of command

Driscol brought her complaint to the city almost three months before Deputy City Manager Paul Wenbert wrote Garcia's annual review. Wenbert oversees the neighborhood services department.

The review praises Garcia's leadership skills and rates her ''successful'' in quality of work, communication and interpersonal skills, among others, but does not mention the complaint.

Wenbert said it wasn't mentioned because it was ''a matter of timing,'' and added the city was waiting on results of the independent investigation from the Phoenix firm.

The company produced an executive, 35-page summary Oct. 17, which suggested Garcia was misleading ''about a number of allegations'' to investigators, was biased against non-Hispanics and micro-managed employees.

Some other findings suggested that Garcia's conduct led to perceptions that she was biased, that she took public stances on political issues, and that she told a co-worker she ''did not like or trust'' Driscol.

Of 24 allegations cited in the document, heavily redacted and barely readable in some places, 15 were substantiated or listed as unresolved by the firm's investigation. Mesa paid more than $8,700 for the investigation.

In December, Wenbert put a corrective action plan in Garcia's personnel file, which addressed the findings of the investigation and recommended a management coach for Garcia.

''Frankly, I saw some things that could be improved in terms of management,'' Wenbert said. ''It wasn't just put it in the file and forget it, it was a live document.''

In January, Mesa hired Richard Fincher from Workplace Resolutions in Phoenix as Garcia's coach. The city has paid him $6,473 to date, according to the City Attorney's Office.

'Time to heal'

Last week, Driscol rejected an offer of a new job in the City Manager's Office and a $24,500 settlement.

Mesa previously tried to offer Driscol $8,000 and $16,000 to settle her complaint. She made about $62,000 with the city.

On Wednesday, Driscol stopped by City Hall to say goodbye to co-workers and turn in her identification badge.

''I need time to heal. I need time to get healthy again,'' Driscol said.

In the 20-plus months she worked under Garcia, Driscol said, she's suffered high blood pressure, has been diagnosed with diabetes, lost 20 percent hearing in one ear and, for the first time in her life, started seeing a psychologist.

Driscol, who worked with Villa in Chandler before he came to Mesa, said, ''because he's an honest man, he's getting screwed.''