City workers complain bitterly in employee audit

CELINA - Some city employees are dissatisfied with their workplace, citing a lack of effective communication and leadership from their supervisors and city administrators.

Long-simmering concerns about leadership have had an effect on the city's workforce and "can equally have a long term impact on future staffing and the ability to provide excellent service to the community, as already felt by the exit of many employees recently," an employee relations audit report determined.

The audit conducted by the city's labor relations firm Clemans, Nelson & Associates Inc. also found that some city workers harbor deep-seated suspicions about their superiors, perceive a sense of favoritism and fear retaliation.

In response to the perceptions and facts disclosed in the report, mayor Jeff Hazel said he will work with city council to put together an optimization plan based largely on the findings.

"Even with council, I know collectively we are committed to moving very promptly to make these adjustments and improvements, not only in the work environment but to make sure to provide all the city's workers with the support that they need," he told The Daily Standard.

He also said there will be changes in the city's administrative structure as a result of the report, without elaborating further.

"So much of it was perceptions but perceptions become reality," he said. "This needs to change. We need to fix this and that's what I intend to do."

Hazel at an Aug. 14 council meeting announced an audit would be undertaken to identify any causes driving police officers and firefighters to seek employment elsewhere.

The report was publicly released on Wednesday, the culmination of voluntary interviews conducted with employees spanning multiple departments from September to December.

Hazel believes about 38 of roughly 94 city employees agreed to be interviewed for the audit, insisting the process was completely anonymous.

On the issue of administrative leadership, most of the negative comments expressed by employees concerned city safety service director Tom Hitchcock "and his known or rumored comments and actions towards employees," according to the report.

Workers noted demeaning and/or dismissive comments allegedly made by Hitchcock about employees. There is also a perception that Hitchcock controls the police chief and assistant police chief, "takes pleasure in being the bad guy (and) pits people against each other," holds grudges and "told employees not to address/speak with council."

Not long after being elected mayor in November 2011, Hazel announced he was appointing Hitchcock to the role of city safety service director. Hitchcock, who has professional engineering and surveying licenses and a master's degree in business administration, previously worked for the cities of Van Wert and St. Marys.

The audit report noted that "not many direct comments/complaints regarding the Mayor" were made during the employee interviews.

"Rather, the perception is that due to the Mayor's position being responsible for the Safety Service Director, there is is a sense of guilty by association, or that by seeing no rebuke of the Safety Service Director's actions … then the Mayor must be okay with the actions or even authorizing them," the report states. "Many of the employees believe the Mayor has not been accurate when addressing the public in regards to employees who recently left City employment. The Mayor stated that he relayed the information provided to him at the time."

Hazel spoke favorably of Hitchcock, telling the newspaper that he has brought much value to the city with his high degree of expertise in engineering and surveying and his proven ability to manage and ensure the timely completion of multimillion dollar projects.

"There's going to be some administration structural changes," Hazel said when asked if the report will result in any personnel changes.     He also noted that Hitchcock had been pulled from contract negotiations with police and fire unions.

Employees during audit interviews lasting between 30 minutes and an hour were asked a host of questions regarding their jobs.

The most common things employees said they disliked about their jobs were issues pertaining to their supervisors and/or administration, chiefly communication and leadership concerns, a lack of trust and not being respected and/or cared for.

Some employees perceive a sense of favoritism by management toward employees who have not upset Hitchcock at some point in their careers, according to the report.

"A concern was noted in the fire department that preferential treatment of employees by supervisors and Administration occurred previously but hasn't been much of a problem lately," the report states.

Police Chief Tom Wale and assistant police chief Dan Harting were characterized by some employees as "hands-off supervisors."

"This has created some concerns when employees feel a Chief should handle some sort of discipline matter, but the Chiefs pass it back to the employees to handle," the report states.

Employees are concerned about police and fire department staffing levels, according to the report, which notes recent resignations "were due to the other morale issues of pay and not feeling cared for but some employees are still considering leaving."

A significant majority of employees in each department, the report states, indicated they feel comfortable discussing issues and complaints with one another but not with department heads and administrators. Many feel they would become a target if they go above their department head.

Some police department personnel stated that information is not flowing from the top down.

"They view the Chief being inefficient due to seemingly always needing the Safety Service Director's approval on matters, not taking initiative and therefore delaying things being communicated to the rest of the Department," the report states.

Several departments, according to the report, agreed they do not see or hear from Hitchcock, Hazel or city council with any regularity, and in some cases their own supervisors.

"This inaction is perceived as a lack of leadership by the employees," the report states. "Though it was noted by different departments that the Safety Service Director has asked employees not to got to the Mayor or Council without permission."

The report makes a number of recommendations and steps to be taken to address employee concerns, complaints and grievances.

"The employees concerns listed in this report, whether real or perceived, are real to employees, and these concerns need to be addressed in one form or another," the report states. "It is recommended to review the employee recommendations and then meet to identify what changes can be effectuated immediately."

Hazel said he had been largely unaware of the negative feelings and perceptions held by city employees.

"I think collectively we've learned a lot about the day-to-day work environment for city employees, which does concern me. Until this past August, it never came to me," he said. "It's disturbing to me that I did not know that, but then I'm not there to micromanage either."

However on one level, Hazel said he was encouraged by the candor displayed by employees who chose to be interviewed. He also is optimistic about the overall state of city government.

"Most of the aspects of the work and the environment, I think they're in pretty good order and we keep improving them," he said. "We have made a lot of progress in providing the resources and equipment needed to do the job while we still met all the budgets."