June 3, 2016

Dear Mayor Condon,

I write this letter to you aware that it may fall on deaf ears, but none-the-less
determined to ensure that the many people I had the pleasure of working side-byside with for three and a half years no longer work in an environment that does not
value them, does not treat them fairly or equally, and does not protect them from
harassment, bullying or abuse.
Over a year ago, I began researching gender and racial pay equity at the City of
Spokane with a genuine curiosity about the state of our city, and what could be done
to improve our systems. As part of that research, I began to have discussions with
and survey employees to gauge perceptions of workplace climate. As you are no
doubt aware, the results of the survey are incredibly troubling: Nearly a third of
women surveyed report that they have been harassed or bullied by a colleague
because of their gender, and one in five people of color and LGBT report harassment
or abuse because of their race or identity.
In the comments to the survey, as well during private conversation, employees
revealed the impacts of this treatment: Some were purposely demoting to take a
lower paying job in another department to escape harassment, others felt devalued,
neglected and overworked, and many spoke candidly about how this impacted their
physical and mental health. What was disturbing to me about these conversations
and comments was not only that it was happening to begin with, but they did not
believe they had an avenue to rectify the situation: That they would not go to Human
Resources to handle their problems, because they did not feel the department would
handle their complaint with the care and competence we all expect.
After hearing this stated so many times, and so matter-of-factly, I decided to take it
upon myself to analyze closed and/or completed harassment and sexual harassment
cases based on the documentation on file. I filed a public records request for all
such cases within a four year window, and received 624 pages of documents as part
of the request. In doing the analysis, a best practice lens was utilized to discern what,
if anything, should have been done differently. What this analysis revealed was just
as shocking as the data described above.
In one incident, the supervisor explicitly requested an investigation into a potential
workplace violence situation and noted that the situation was urgent given the the
history and possibility of it escalating. One would reasonably expect a quick, but
thorough response. Yet it took human resource staff a total of four months to even
begin an investigation. No reason for this violation of city policy and flagrant
disregard for best practice is given. And the final report bears the express approval of
the Director of Human Resources.
Another complaint seems to have revealed a departmental culture that was nothing
short of toxic: employees would routinely make homophobic jokes to one anonymous
ther, in the direct presence of supervisors, without any consequence. If there was an

LGBT employee on the clock hearing their fellow colleagues talk about fagging on
and fagging out how do you imagine it would make them feel? In response, the
department was required to attend a respect in the workplace training that said
nothing about LGBT co-workers and the potential struggles they face. It is little
wonder then that LGBT employees do not feel safe or comfortable bringing their
problems to Human Resources. Our City fails to acknowledge that they exist in some
of the most basic ways.
In another case, a young woman alleged that a fellow employee had been stalking
her for weeks. The description of the alleged behavior is disturbing to read: following
her, waiting hours for her to get off work, looking up her schedule and coming in on
days off to catch her on shift... These are not allegations to be taken lightly. Yet the
little documentation from human resource staff that does exist on this incident
suggests that this is exactly what happened.
Rather than conduct an investigation into these allegations, supervisors and human
resource figured the situation was working itself out and let it continue to the point
that the complainant asked for a meeting with security staff. This response is not only
inconsistent with best practice, but potentially dangerous. It is well known that
stalking has the ability to escalate, and sometimes violently. That it did not escalate
in this case may have been pure luck. That is not something we can, or should, bet
on when it comes to the welfare of employees.
In nearly every case, documentation is sparse and/or rarely conforms to best
practices. This may not seem like a big deal, but should an employee decide to file a
lawsuit against the city for neglecting to thoroughly investigate or remedy a
harassment or sexual harassment claim, they only need to point to sparse or
inconsistent notes, or the lack of important records altogether, as evidence of poor
protocol. And you know as well as I do that the consequences of that could be dire
for the city's financial health, making your recent statements of concern regarding
city's exposure to liability ring all the more hollow. If you care that much, would it not
be a top priority to ensure Human Resources is functioning as it should?
While these cases certainly reveal either neglect, complicity or incompetence on
behalf of several of the supervisors and human resources staff, it would be too easy
to cast all the blame on them. It would ignore the role you play as Mayor of our city in
setting employee expectations, shaping workplace culture and managing staff in dayto-day operations via your cabinet. And it would ignore the role Theresa Sanders
plays in assisting you on these duties and responsibilities.
Frankly, it's hard to find a charitable explanation for the complete lack of leadership
on this from you or Theresa. Perhaps neither of you were aware of all these cases,
or the problems underlying them. But then, why were you not aware? As the
administrative heads of our city, it is part of your job to not only know these about
these issues, but take concrete steps to address them. The second possible
explanation is even less flattering: that you both knew but simply did not care enough
to take real, concrete actions to help your employees. I hesitate to attribute the
manifold documented failures to this, but I also have a hard time believing you were
not aware of these problems.

Whatever the case, employees and citizens of the City of Spokane deserve far better.
Now the question is: Will you make the kind of decisions need to be made to truly call
Spokane the city of choice? Or will your words continue to contradict your actions?
For the sake of the employees and the citizens of this city, I hope it is the former and
not the latter.
Sincerely,
Blaine Stum
P.S.: If you are going to accuse others of having a political motivation for their
actions, you may want to ensure your own house is in order (and that you don't
suspiciously re-order your house at a politically convenient time).
Cc: Theresa Sanders
Heather Lowe
David Lewis
Joe Cavanaugh
City Council
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