A Clallam County Superior Court jury awarded former Port Angeles Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski $1.5 million in damages and $113,471 in back wages in finding the city guilty of sex discrimination over her March 15, 2012 termination by then-City Manager Kent Myers.
The jury, which heard testimony beginning last week, took two hours before announcing a decision at 11:15 this morning that Ziomkowski was subject to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment because of her gender, with most occurring from 2009-12.
The panel decided Ziomkowski was discriminated against for being fired for cashing out, and putting into her retirement account, more than $28,000 in general leave without Myers’ authorization.
Many congratulations to Yvonne, who has had her name and reputation restored. Apparently the jury didn't buy Glenn Cutler's assertions that Yvonne was unpleasant to work with - among other City-sponsored lies.
In any case, this is a just verdict, and I am very happy for Yvonne. Now we'll sit back and see what the City's response to this latest smackdown is...
Keep in mind the city taxpayers are out the first hundred thousand and the "Risk Pool" picks up the remainder. A hundred grand is "chump change" on the scale of the city's budget. The take-away from this is it revealed the soft underbelly of how things are done at city hall and how they will continue to do things until more and more file these type suits and take them all the way through as this fine lady did. With the community holding such a dim view of its city government now is the time to bring such suits against the city because the jury pool is fed up too. Now, how many will line up to complain of the deputy mayor, Cherie Kidd lying before the ethics committee? How many will contact the city police department and complain there is a felon sitting on city council and making judgements about our health and welfare and how our tax money is spent? Yes, perjury is a felony and the more who complain the more likely it is the city will outsource another investigation a'la the City Lights investigation done by the WSP. One, two, maybe three complaints to acting chief of police Brian Smith and we may get this felon off the city council. Any takers? You can email your complaint to the acting chief of police at this email: bsmith@cityofpa.us
ReplyDeleteI thought the county prosecutor was the office that decided whether or not to bring perjury charges. Someone already contacted that office, and they said if there's enough demand they will review it for charging. But right now it isn't yet on their radar.
DeleteCounty prosecutor must have a referral from Sheriff's Dept, police dept, state patrol, etc. CP has no investigative arm.
DeleteHow many dips into the risk pool before they up the rates the city has to pay for coverage? The taxpayers will continue to pay for this one way or another.
DeleteIs it too late to take the damages out of sleazy sexist Kent Myers' paycheck?
ReplyDelete"Apparently the jury didn't buy Glenn Cutler's assertions that Yvonne was unpleasant to work with.." Seriously?? The city brought in GLENN CUTLER to talk about people in the city that are hard to work with?
ReplyDeleteThat is like bringing in Cherie Kidd to talk about how hard it is to work with people who are air-headed morons.
Cutler was notoriously rude, arrogant and bullying.
But, I am glad for Yvonne. She was one of the only people, along with Becky, that I thought was a decent person in City Hall. The rest? Like a den of thieves, one scheming against everybody else, or?
It must have pained Paul Gottlieb to have to report on his daddy figure, Glenn Cutler, in a way that shows Cutler for what he is: A sexist, pompous bully. Passive-aggressive Paul probably wishes he had the nerve to be as in-you-face nasty as Cutler was.
DeleteI don't know any of the people involved but if someone is difficult to work with, there is an appropriate procedure through performance evaluations and coaching, not belittling or intimidation.
DeleteAt the very least, someone should make sure that the newspapers in Fredricksburg Texas and Hot Springs Arkansas (Myers' city manager posts after and before Port Angeles) get details about the outcome of this lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteIt might encourage other victims to come forward.
When Kent Myers left town in 2012, he was said to have owned a house with an underwater mortgage. There were rumors that the lender (an Olympic Peninsula-based Savings and Loan institution?) gave an unusually quick and favorable approval of a short sale.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone confirm this, or provide details? If it's true, it wouldn't mean legal trouble for either party, but it may illustrate how the "good ol' boy network" of PA insiders operated/operates to take care of its own.
If you'll recall, yes, Kent got the short sale, and on very favorable terms. Max Mania asked Kent about it (in private, behind closed doors) and Kent went to the PDN, crying foul that a city council member would dare ask him about such a thing, blah blah blah. It was a last, desperate attempt to smear one of the council members pushing hardest to get rid of him, but all it really did in the end was publicize the fact that, yes, Kent was getting preferential treatment that would be denied to most citizens.
DeleteOnce he was hired as city manager, he was installed on local boards that gave him access to money. And once he was told to get out of town, the good ol' boys made sure he got some cash in hand as he made his exit, too. It sure seems like there are a LOT of overhead costs to being a crook. The payoffs never end, because the paranoia about being ratted out also never ends.
We need to start a "Corruption Stoppers" program modeled after the "Crimestoppers" program but the twist is we pay rewards for those willing to "out" corruption within the "ruling class" of grifters.
DeleteFor instance, $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Brad Collins for corruption such as selling his vote on the city council for preferential treatment on a mortgage, new car loan etc. It happens all the time and somebody knows of it and when they have a sudden need for an infusion of cash they will come forward. Anybody got a few thousand to start such a fund?
I'm sure you remember a couple years ago when the president and chief loan officer of a local savings and loan left town in the middle of the night with no questions being asked.
DeletePeninsula Daily News is the "enabler in chief" of most of the shit that goes down around here. If everything we learn on this blog and the POC was known by the general public they couldn't get away with most of it. So long as the google-eyed Gottlieb is the last say then we are phqued.
DeleteI assure you, money changes hands in Port Angeles, if not in City Hall, to produce "certain outcomes" that are desired by those who run (and ruin) the town.
DeleteBrad Collins? You bet. Remember this: He was formerly one of the GOOD guys that Kent Myers wanted to keep Yvonne away from. It was that brief moment when Collins, Kidd, Mania and Sissi Bruch were all on the Council, and all likely to be asking more and more questions of an "undesirable" nature. The City - and those behind the scenes - couldn't have that. After all, four is a majority on the seven member Council. Uh oh!
So, please recall that Yvonne got tossed to the wolves by Kent the SAME DAY that Sissi was taking office. That put her under investigation, and made her someone that no Council member could talk to about City business, or anything else.
Needless to say, that questioning foursome didn't last long. There was absolutely a moment in time when Brad Collins, the only Council member I ever heard complain about their financial woes in public, changed his voting patterns to fit the established, unquestioning mold. Cherie quickly fell into lockstep as well.
And here we are. The Fluoride Four rule, the debt has piled up, public confidence is bottoming out, and there are still far more questions than answers about what goes on in City Hall.
Other than the bribes and kickbacks. Those we know go on.
I absolutely will contribute to such a fund. Substantially. I'll pledge $500 right here and now, towards a $1,000 reward fund modeled after Crimestoppers, that rewards people for coming forward with information that leads to a conviction. Absolutely.
DeleteI'm on a fixed, limited income, but I will be proud to contribute to this.
Set it up, and as soon as it is legit, I'll drop off the cash to who ever is the responsible party.
And, I promise I'll replenish the fund with another $500 when the first reward is handed out.
Please, please make this happen!
As we all know, there are people who know what goes down in this town.
What does it take? Who will form this local Crimestoppers? As soon as I know the verified account exists, you got my money.
Hell, yes. I'll send in $100 to a certified, legit account. Maybe more if there are real results.
Delete500 from me. It's still cheaper than us hicks drilling a well in the county but currently on city provided PUD water.
DeleteSo, we have the first reward money lined up. Excellent!
DeleteHow is "Clallam County Corruption Stoppers" created? Maybe a examination of Crimestoppers to understand how they ensure the whistle blowers anonymity? Maybe a note o them to understand the legalities they've learned? Why re-invent the wheel?
We should look to paying for a big ad in the POC, once it is created.
Even if folks start telling what they know, your real problem is prosecution. Hell they won't even charge Kidd for a textbook case of perjury. And city employees doing felony theft never see bars.
DeleteAs for the political strategy, maybe you should think this through a bit more. Maybe you need a better plan to expose & leverage the perps. Maybe someone needs to do some investigative work, dig up facts.
All that a love letter saying hey, you're breaking the law, will do is tip your hand before you play it. Again, comes back to the threat of actual prosecution. Without that, this fuzzy idea doesn't make it out of the chute.
Anon 9:31, you obviously have not read what was posted.
DeleteThe reward is for information leading to a conviction. What part of that "fuzzy idea" do you not understand?
There are plenty of people in this town that have first hand knowledge, and know where the bodies are buried.
I think it is an absolutely grand effort to reward anonymous informants.
As soon as we get this set up, I'll be happy to help advertise the hell out of it, to get the reward money even greater, and to help those with first hand knowledge know we're waiting to give them "free money" for what they know.
This will set a great example for other towns to follow, as well. Just a great idea on how to get to the established corruption in towns like Port Angeles.
Yvonne won. Others will be prosecuted, too.
You know...Yvonne, the subject of this topic, probably knows all kinds of things. And with that settlement, I don't think she's worried about finding work here again. So...
DeleteOn the other hand...I am heartened to see that all the comments on this subject on the PDN's website, and all the comments submitted here, are supportive of Yvonne. That just goes to show how many people knew the "charges" against her were total BS. She was absolutely a victim of the bad actors who run things in Port Angeles.
ReplyDeleteI worked with Yvonne -from the day she was hired (by Kay Godbey) to the day I retired. During that time, she became the best City Finance Director I ever worked with (going back to the days of Harvey Henderson and Rob Orton!
ReplyDeletevonne was an honest, well educated, professional public employee - work horse! Stubborn, and not an easy or soft people manager, she still earned my respect.
I am glad she has been vindicated for her unfair treatment by lessor public employees and servants!
Actually Yvonne was Accounting Manager when I was hired in 1990. She was always very honest. I can believe that she was probably set up most likely because she knew too much and challenged too many male egos.
DeleteIt's too bad Yvonne had to endure this. I'm sorry to see that almost 25 years later some things never changed with the male department heads. The older guys tried to bully and intimidate me as well.