The public works director is accused of making racist and sexist remarks in front of city employees.
By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published June 30, 2004
ST. PETE BEACH - City officials are investigating Scott Graubard, the public works director, for allegedly making racist, sexist and other insensitive remarks in front of city employees.
Graubard, a department head who is white, said the charges are untrue.
Stephen Sarnoff, president of the city employees' union, said the way the investigation has been handled has created a harmful work environment for employees.
Rumors abound that Graubard has been protected because of personal relationships with other managers. City Manager Mike Bonfield called that "absurd."
Still, he said the investigation has pushed a cloud over City Hall. "Any time these things go on, it's a disaster," Bonfield said in the first of several interviews this month. "Everybody on both sides of the issue has rights, so I believe we have an obligation to be correct in what we do."
The first week of June, maintenance worker Ray Radvilavicius, who is white, told Bonfield that Graubard made racist statements about African-Americans, sexist comments about women and negative comments about the Masonic Lodge during conversations at work and at lunch with his subordinates.
Radvilavicius could not be reached for comment.
Bonfield said that whatever conversations took place - some dating as far back as six to eight months ago - were not limited to Graubard.
"He wasn't the only one involved," Bonfield said. "Nobody expressed a concern. Nobody asked anybody to stop. Nobody voiced that anything was inappropriate."
The city employs two people of color, both of whom work under Graubard in the public works department, Bonfield said. Neither was present when these conversations allegedly took place, he said.
Kara Schrader-Smith, the city's personnel officer, was commissioned to conduct the investigation. She interviewed a "dozen or so" public works employees, Bonfield said. So far, the allegations have not been corroborated, he said.
Under state law, the city has no obligation to reveal results of the investigation until it is officially closed. As of Tuesday afternoon, the investigation remained open. The specific statements Graubard allegedly made are unavailable.
Sarnoff, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 3179, on Tuesday cited a meeting in which Bonfield created a script for Graubard to tell employees to focus on their jobs and everything would be back to normal, regardless of the inquiry's outcome. Sarnoff said Graubard deviated from the script and added words in his own defense.
"Without naming Ray, he said there's no fact and no basis in fact," Sarnoff said. "That's the kind of atmosphere we have right now."
He said fear permeates City Hall now, and he wants it to be addressed.
"We've got some issues," he said. "We've got some raised questions. We want some answers."
Some employees have expressed concern that Schrader-Smith's objectivity has been affected because she and Graubard attend Bible study together.
"I'm not going to comment on that," Schrader-Smith said Tuesday. "That's nobody's business. It's not applicable. It doesn't mean a damned thing."
When asked earlier this month whether Graubard was under investigation, Schrader-Smith refused to discuss it.
The St. Petersburg Times discovered then that city employees' personnel files, open records under the Sunshine Laws, do not contain complaints or investigation notes. Those are kept in separate files as a rule, Schrader-Smith said Tuesday.
How would someone from the outside know whether complaints had been filed against a city employee? They wouldn't, Schrader-Smith said.
"Any time you've got any kind of investigation or grievance or formal proceeding, it's always kept separate," she said. "That's the way recordkeeping is done. All HR folks keep the investigation records separate."
Tuesday, Graubard denied making the comments and called the accusations "a painful thing" and "just not true."
Graubard, with the city for two years come November, blames unpopular changes he has made in the department and employees' resulting ill feelings toward him for placing him in this situation. For instance, he ended a city practice of paying employees to be on call in case something happens after hours, thus eliminating an opportunity for overtime pay for some workers, he said.
This created animosity, he said.
"What happens when you can't justify (policy changes) through the city, I think people get personal," Graubard said. "I think that's what happened here."
In addition, Graubard said Radvilavicius made contradictory statements, first accusing him of practicing his religion at work, then making lewd and racist comments.
"Seems inconsistent, don't you think?" Graubard said, laughing. When asked to elaborate, he said, "I think it's kind of hard to teach the Gospel Jesus taught on one hand and then be yelling sexual and racial comments about people. . . . It's not me."
Bonfield said he has admonished Graubard in the past for being too friendly with his employees, but things happen.
"We're not "one of the guys,' if you will," Bonfield said. "There's a separation between department heads and employees. Although it may not be the most appropriate conversation, it's reality."
