By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Williston City Manager Jackie Gorman and her Deputy Manager and Human Resource Director Deanna Nelson weren’t fired at a special meeting Wednesday, but it doesn’t mean they are off the hook.

            Acting on the advice of City Attorney Scott Walker, the city council postponed a vote on the termination of the two administrators until the next regular council meeting on Sept. 6 to avoid what Walker called potential “due process” issues.

            Walker said there may be people who aren’t aware of what is happening with Gorman and he advised the council to delay a decision until their next regular council meeting to give everyone plenty of advance notice.

            “The easiest way to stub your toe is on a procedural due process,” he said.

            Gorman and Nelson were absent from the special meeting. City Council President Debra Jones said she didn’t know why they didn’t attend. She said they just didn’t show up.

            Attorney Taren Delisle declined to say why her clients, Gorman and Nelson, missed the meeting. The two managers were also absent from work on Wednesday. 

            Robinson Urges Firing

            City Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson made it clear she wanted the council to terminate Gorman and Nelson at the September 6 meeting and was disappointed the council couldn’t take action at the special meeting.

            Robinson instructed City Clerk Latricia Wright, who prepares city council agendas, to post an agenda item on the Sept. 6 meeting agenda calling for the termination of Gorman and Nelson.

            She read her termination statement.

            “I move we terminate the city manager immediately. We can no longer afford this cancer growing in City Hall,” Robinson wrote in her prepared remarks. “I also move we terminate and remove the deputy city manager from that position.”

            Robinson alleged the human resources director had violated confidentiality requirements when dealing with an employee, proving she couldn’t be trusted and had acted aggressively when confronting Fire Chief Lamar Stegall.

            The special meeting was called by Mayor Charles Goodman. He had nothing good to say about the city manager in his prepared statement, accusing her of attacking and alienating many employees and fostering such a toxic work environment that employees had lost respect for the city manager’s position.

            “In closing, I believe that there is a demonstrated path of poor decision making and questionable choices made by the current city manager. I believe, by her actions, she has alienated so many employees of the City of Williston that they have lost respect for the position of city manager. She has attacked and alienated mid-level employees to the point that they struggle to perform their jobs. I believe that only the council has the authority and the power granted to them by the charter to take whatever actions they deem necessary to create an environment of fairness in our city where people want to live, play, work, and raise their families,” he said.

            “Beyond Repair”

            Jones said she is close to Gorman. She added that she has had many conversations with employees over the past week to two weeks. They have come to her office and her house. She said she spoke to Gorman and informed her that her management of the city was broken beyond repair.

            “I have also spoken to Ms. Gorman, telling her that when it comes to making a decision, when it comes to her, when it comes to Ms. Nelson, when it comes to the City of Williston, I will vote to protect the City of Williston,” Jones said. “I have listened to the people who have come and talked to me, and in a matter of a week to 10 days my whole thinking process has changed, and the more I talk to the city manager, the more I have come to realize that I think we are, as I told her, beyond repair. I’ll just leave it at that.”

            Councilman Zach Bullock said he wouldn’t want to work for a boss like Gorman.

            “From what I am being told, I would not want to work for a boss that talks to some people the way some of these employees are saying they’ve been talked to,” Bullock said. “As far as what I would like to do, I would like to refer them to talk to human resources, but in a way, human resources is their boss. We’ve created a big problem in the city with the promotion of Nelson to deputy city manager. The employees have no one to talk to other than privately sitting on my back porch and talking. Something’s got to give somewhere.”

            Jones said she was informed by the city clerk that several of the city council members pulled the city manager’s contract this past week or two weeks to read it. Jones also pulled the contract. She said everyone on the council knows Gorman has options and the city has options.

            “I should tell you that I’m not out to ruin somebody’s career. I think we’ve done enough damage in the public,” Jones added.

            Jones said she knew that Gorman had written a letter in advance of Tuesday’s council meeting. Gorman read the letter to the council Tuesday night. She advised her not to read the letter, but she did anyway.

            “I can tell you I would rather she give us a resignation rather than throw her to the wolves. That’s just where I stand,” Jones said.

            Later in the meeting, responding to a citizen’s criticism, Jones said perhaps the council should have acted sooner.

            “Maybe we were blind because people thought we didn’t want to know, but when the employees start coming to you and telling you, you have to listen. I think maybe some of them tried to talk a little earlier and we just weren’t willing to hear it, but when they all start coming, you have to listen,” she said.

            Darlene Stegall, wife of Fire Chief Lamar Stegall, said she was troubled by the disrespect being shown to Goodman as mayor.

            “I thank you mayor for trying to listen to police and fire because it seems like the council has more consideration for every other department than police and fire,” Stegall said.

            Stegall said she hopes people don’t take everything in Gorman’s letter as being 100 percent truthful, because it’s not all true.

            “There are lies in that letter that frustrated me. Things have gone on and not been dealt with and created this position we’re in,” she said. “We have a human resources director that aggressively addressed my husband in a meeting that did not get dealt with by the city manager. If you want to talk about rumors, rumor has it they celebrated that they did those things to him.”

            Stegall said she doesn’t know why the city manager and deputy city manager/HR director are allowed to continue operating the city in this manner. She said they would have been fired in the corporate world.

            She said she hopes the council doesn’t drop the issue by delaying a decision three weeks.

            Zimoski Forced to Resign

            Goodman revealed what really happened to former Deputy City Manager C.J. Zimoski when he resigned on short notice after working for the city 26 years. He said when he became mayor, he really didn’t think much about Zimoski’s resignation until people who knew the truth began to tell him what happened.

            “It turns out that C.J. resigned because the current city manager had decided that she had issues with him. She had an armed police officer in her office when C.J. was called in. He was given a choice to resign or be fired. Being fired would impact his ability to get other jobs, so he made the decision to quit to protect his future. This, by definition, is forced resignation, not willful,” Goodman said.

            Goodman cited other actions by Gorman he found questionable. When an anonymous letter circulated in city government, he said he wrote it off as someone who was venting. He said Gorman read the letter and went into attack mode, spending tax dollars, installing cameras everywhere, monitoring phone calls, and calling for an increased police presence.

            The mayor said he also found out that an email he sent to a council member was on Gorman’s desk. He said he asked the clerk if there had been a request for his email records, but no request was made. He asked the city’s information technology director why the email wound up on Gorman’s desk and IT director indicated it was taken as part of an investigation. Gorman had searched the emails of Goodman and the council member as part of her investigation. Goodman said the city manager should not have been allowed to search his email account. He said the information technology director said the search was allowed because it was an investigation. Goodman cited an article in the city charter that allows the city council, not the city manager, to conduct investigations into the affairs of the city and into the conduct of any department officer or agency.

            “This was not brought to my attention by the current city manager, but by others. In my thoughts, this is an unethical breach at best,” Goodman said.

            Goodman cited another case that was brought to his attention. He said the situation involved a long-term employee who was forced by Gorman and Nelson to retire. When the employee went to Gorman and Nelson to ask why he was being forced to retire, the employee was told he had no option. The employee asked the two administrators if he needed a lawyer.

            “At that time, the current city manager claimed he was threatening, and the appointed assistant (Nelson) said he had no choice but to be let go. Then his position was removed from the budget completely, forcing him to retire against his will. This happened after well over 20 years of service,” Goodman said.

            Goodman said the city manager has created an atmosphere where people fear losing their jobs if they reveal information about what is happening in city government.

            “I have been approached by several employees who, in fear of being fired by the current city manager, requested that I not reveal who they are. They would talk to any council member, but frankly, do not want to lose their jobs for telling what they believe to be true. An atmosphere of lack of respect for others, hostility, fear, and anger pervades City Hall,” Goodman said.

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City of Williston Special Meeting August 17, 2022; Posted August 17, 2022