Secontine Investigation Released, Finds One Charter Violation

A report completed by Independent Investigator J. Randall Secontine in response to an anonymous complaint made last year did not find members of City Council and government violated the city charter as alleged in the complaint. However, the report found that there was a violation of the charter regarding communication between a person who volunteered for the City and two members of Council, an issue that was not raised in the anonymous complaint.

The complaint alleged that a wave of staff departures within city government were due to unethical leadership from some members of city government and actions by some Council members that violated the city charter, including overreach by then-Mayor Ron Bacon. 

One City Councilmember, Dana Watson, called the report “one-sided” at Council’s Friday, Feb. 23 meeting. Some city officials have shared their belief that the complaint is racially motivated, however the independent investigation does not appear to explore this possibility or discover who made the initial complaint. 

The 46-page report is dated Oct. 31, 2023, but had been hidden from the public by attorney-client privilege until recently. On Tuesday, Feb. 20, City Council voted 3-to-2 to release the report to the public, with the three new members of Council – Councilmembers Mark Meadows and Erik Altmann and Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh – voting in favor and Mayor George Brookover joining Watson voting against. ELi then obtained the report via a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request. 

Secontine’s report includes information gathered from interviews with more than a dozen current or former city employees and all five members of the previous Council. Six individuals contacted for the investigation declined to participate. 

The report redacts names and gender-specific language. However it does not redact positions, making it obvious who is being referred to in most of the report. The redacted report and other relevant materials were posted to the city website and can be viewed here. 

This investigation was conducted by an investigating attorney (referred to as IA in report) who works outside of the city. The report did not receive a formal response from city staff. 

Timing, messaging surrounding separation with former City Manager George Lahanas left employees anxious, overwhelmed, according to report. 

Secontine’s report says he was told by some staff that the timing of the separation agreement with Lahanas pushed city staff to its limits – though Council was working within its boundaries when it reached that agreement.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the IA views the timing of the separation to be problematic,” Secontine wrote. “The budget cycle was imminent and that caused substantial stress for some key department heads. Some leaders broke down when relaying the overwhelming burden they felt shortly after the separation, and how much strain it caused them both professionally and at home. The pace of management resignations then quickly accelerated.”

Additionally, the lack of communication around Lahanas’ departure stood out as an issue to Secontine, as Council failed to articulate why it was making the sudden change in leadership. 

“Council members, especially those that sought, and supported the decision to oust [Lahanas] in January 2023, must be held accountable for the timing of their decisions,” Secontine wrote. “Simply saying “it’s time to move on” is not enough for a smooth transition and likely contributed to the toxic environment that was created in this IA’s opinion.”

Secontine continues to write that communication issues go beyond Council, pointing out that members of Council are part-time employees, with careers away from the city government.

“In the opinion of this IA, many of the items that resulted in the initiation of this investigation more than likely could have been avoided entirely if there was earlier recognition, and a swifter response, to the rumbling and rumors of City personnel,” the report reads. “Since provision 7.1(a) of the Charter identifies the City Manager as the “chief administrative officer of the City”, it would seem logical the person hired as City Manager is, and should always be, the employee most responsible for conveying accurate and reliable information to City government and staff.”

The report also clarifies circumstances around Lahanas’ departure. Secontine wrote that Bacon claims it was Lahanas who initiated the separation, not Council. 

“In one of the more surprising revelations of this investigation, Mayor [Bacon] stated that it was [his] opinion that [Lahanas] was the one who initiated and wanted the separation, not the Council,” the report reads. 

However, Secontine also points out that language in the separation agreement indicates members of City Council thought it was best to seek new leadership. 

“The East Lansing City Council has determined that it is in the best interests of the CITY to separate Lahanas’ employment in order to go in a different direction in the management of the CITY…” a section of the agreement cited by Secontine reads. 

The report points out that there seems to have been preparation for the separation with Lahanas on both sides even before Council’s vote. Secontine notes that the former city manager found a new city manager job just 48 days after signing the separation agreement. 

The report also says that Randy Talifarro was recruited to serve as interim city manager by a former Councilmember and current District Court Judge, presumably Lisa Babcock, who stepped down from City Council in Dec. 2022 after being elected to serve as a judge in the 54B District Court in the Nov. 2022 election. The report says Talifarro was first contacted around early December, before Lahanas signed the separation agreement. 

Secontine finds no charter violation for Bacon floating plan to reorganize staff. 

One of the issues raised in the anonymous complaint was a draft proposal for a staff reorganization Bacon sent to Lahanas. 

Under the East Lansing city charter, the mayor and rest of City Council are the legislative branch of government. The city manager is in charge of personnel and day-to-day operations. 

Secontine says the reorganization would have negatively impacted the Parks, Recreation and Arts Department, as well as Planning Department, while growing the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Department. 

Former Community and Economic Development Administrator Adam Cummins has said he alone drafted the plan. Secontine reported that Bacon sent the plan to Lahanas and advocated for it, but the City Manager rejected the proposal. Bacon then dropped the subject.

“Each and every witness that was asked, all admitted that no action was actually taken to implement the plan once it was apparently rejected by City Manager [Lahanas],” the report reads. “Therefore, under the circumstances of this investigation, the NO vote by the City Manager was respected and no further action was taken to implement the proposal. Had there been further steps taken to implement by unauthorized individuals, those further actions would have been very problematic under the Charter.”

Secontine wrote that one staff member told him that the reorganization plan had a negative impact on the relationship between Lahanas and Bacon. Lahanas declined to participate in Secontine’s investigation.

Bacon’s friendship with DEI Director Elaine Hardy was not a charter violation, Secontine says. 

One of the allegations in the anonymous complaint was that DEI Director Elaine Hardy’s close friendship with Bacon allowed her greater influence over the city and Bacon to interject in personnel matters. 

Secontine found that Bacon and Hardy did have a close relationship and regularly communicated. However, the topics they most commonly discussed – the Human Rights Commission, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, press releases and Bacon’s availability for events – were appropriate for the DEI director and mayor to discuss. 

The DEI director reports to the city manager, according to the city’s organizational chart. Secontine’s report says this means that if Hardy’s actions were inappropriate, it would be the city manager’s responsibility to hold her accountable. 

In this section of the report, Secontine points out that Council members, city staff and department heads seem to have insufficient understanding of what is allowed under the charter and within city government. He said bridging this knowledge gap should be given a high priority. 

Secontine found a charter violation involving Council’s interactions with the public art gallery director. 

The only charter violation Secontine did find in his investigation was not alleged in the anonymous complaint. Rather, it involved Bacon and another member of Council (it is unclear who due to the redactions) interjecting into the work of the volunteer public art gallery director. 

The volunteer director was unhappy with some of the changes to the gallery implemented by the city. The volunteer met with city staff members about these changes and was “not happy” when the meeting ended, according to the report. 

Bacon later indicated to staff that he believed he should have been present at the meeting, and a few days after that, the redacted Council member sent an email that they and Bacon had met with the volunteer. The email was sent to Bacon and Lahanas, but not Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Cathy DeShambo, whose department oversees the art gallery. 

The email states that the Council member and Bacon “hope and expect” the volunteer director be able to continue to manage the gallery selection, plan future shows, be the primary point of contact and manage the installation and removal of gallery work. 

Secontine reported that later on, the volunteer director sent an email labeled “Questions: Gallery Issues” to Bacon, another Council member and Hardy, not to DeShambo whose department the gallery falls under. Not being clear about who employees and volunteers report to could set a bad precedent and lead employees to develop a “lack of trust” the report says. 

“Authorization and/or encouragement of the intentional avoidance of the supervisory authority of an East Lansing Department Director, when it comes to the management of that Director’s department, interferes and obviates that Director’s authority and violates the Charter, as noted,” the report reads. “Simply put, City Council members did not have the valid authority under the Charter that they had been asserting.”

Secontine found that Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro participating in city meetings before officially taking over rubbed some employees the wrong way, but it wasn’t a charter violation. 

Talifarro was approved to take over as interim city manager at the same meeting the city reached the separation agreement with Lahanas, Jan. 17, 2023. The contract stipulated that Talifarro’s position would begin on Feb. 13. 

After signing his contract in January, Talifarro began to participate in city meetings, which some employees found “inappropriate and problematic.” Secontine says Police Chief Kim Johnson, who was then acting as interim city manager, took offense at Talifarro giving him direction before officially starting in his position. 

Secontine acknowledges the anonymous complaint’s criticism of Talifarro, but also defended Talifarro’s perspective. 

“The complaint is well grounded–but it does ignore the obvious–East Lansing was in crisis mode and [Talifarro] was the person hired to calm the crisis,” the report reads. 

“[Talifarro’s] pre-employment actions were wrong,” Secontine wrote further down. “Every new hire however, has a learning curve. [Talifarro’s] early actions certainly added stress to many of staff that [he] was hired to help.”

City should update complaint procedures, several policies, Secontine suggests. 

Secontine said he was informed the city does not have a formal complaint process at all. He found most employees were unsure if that process exists, although they understood the basic practice of reporting complaints to their supervisor, HR or the city manager. He believes creating a new formal policy is critical. 

“The creation of a formal Employee Complaint Policy should be given a very high priority,” the report states. “Naturally, consideration must be given to an alternative report person if the Supervisor set forth in the reporting chain is somehow involved in the relevant complaint. Thereafter, training for all staff must be mandatory once the policy is approved and implemented.”

Secontine also reviewed the city’s existing HR policies, and said that some need to be updated to include language from state laws or to be further expanded. He made several suggestions regarding city policies:

Councilmember Dana Watson pushes back against report, describes it as “one-sided.”

At the Friday, Feb. 23 City Council meeting, Council voted to release Secontine’s investigation to the city’s website, along with other relevant documents to be viewed by the public. The vote again was 3-to-2 with Singh, Meadows and Altmann voting in favor, and Brookover and Watson voting against. 

While discussing the motion, Watson shared her thoughts on the investigation and anonymous complaint. 

“I would never support a racially motivated action,” she said. “I never thought the full letter should have been examined and I never thought it should be released, as it’s evidence to civil rights complaints.”

Watson also said employees believed their names would not be made public through the investigation and leaving titles in the report identifies them. 

A memo sent from City Attorney Anthony Chubb last May gives some insight to the information staff were given.

“For those employees who chose to participate in the review, please note that confidentiality is not guaranteed. However, the City will make every attempt to keep your name confidential from public disclosure,” the memo reads.

During the discussion, Watson proposed that a document be created to give context to the origin of the anonymous complaint. This document would be added to the package of documents posted to the website.

“If we added a background to this webpage that you’re talking about, I would suggest stating things like: This current Council, a white majority, utilized a Council right to release an investigation centering around Black people, and the letter [anonymous complaint], nor investigation was done by the City of East Lansing,” Watson said. “You can pay 30 grand, but that does not mean that you’re going to get 30 grand in quality. 

“The hope was that this independent investigation was going to be objective, but it’s subjective and at its worst, this investigation is one-sided, dragging people of color and driven by white fear,” Watson continued. “From the letter that was submitted, the anonymous letter, to this document, it would be nice for Council to say we recognize the gaps.”

Watson did not receive a second on her motion, meaning her proposed context was not added to the city website. 

City leaders, including Bacon and Talifarro, stated their belief that the anonymous complaint was racially motivated shortly after it was released. Secontine’s report does not explore the possibility that the complaint was racially biased, and the origins of the complaint remain unknown.