City did ‘nothing wrong’ in treatment of staff, mayor says in weekly video

“The city has done nothing wrong in the way we work with our staff,” Gig Harbor Mayor Kit Kuhn said in his weekly Facebook video last Friday, responding to a Gateway article the previous day.

“The Gateway said things in their article that are just not true,” Kuhn said. He went on to say that he couldn’t talk about specifics because of concerns about employee confidentiality.

The mayor was responding to a July 16 story about the number of employees, including senior staff and supervisors, who have left the city since he was elected in 2016.

Kuhn said he was at a disadvantage because he can’t talk about why employees have left.

“Anyone who has worked at a private company or a public organization realizes employee confidentiality is a must,” he said. “You cannot say anything about employees, but employees tend to be able to say what they want.”

“You can’t say if anyone has quit to go back to their home town, you can’t say if they have retired for any reason, or have need of a child, or even if they want more time to do something else, or if they were disciplined. You can’t say anything.”

“I will continue to protect the city from any type of lawsuits, and I’m not going to violate one of my sworn obligations as an elected official,” he added.

However, when The Gateway asked the mayor for his comments before publication of the July 16 story, he responded by email in detail — and by name —about two of the people who left, saying they hadn’t really resigned but failed to apply for new jobs that had been created to replace their old ones.

“Seems this is your way to stir the pot and try to sell papers,” he added.

Later in the day, he sent a second e-mail, saying “As you are aware, we don’t comment on any current or former personnel matters.”

Retirement toll

In his video, Kuhn noted that when he took office, 25 percent of the city’s 100 or so employees were set to retire within five years. Five of them have, according to public records.

But another 15 resigned, according to a list provided to The Gateway last year by Kameil Borders, the city’s human resources director. Two more were terminated. Of the five retirees, two have told The Gateway they retired early.

The list did not include Kay Johnson, the former IT manager, or Nicole Jones-Vogel, both of whom left after the public records request. Johnson took retirement and Jones-Vogel resigned.

Kuhn also maintained that he has played no role in employee relations since since City Administrator Bob Larson came on board six months ago.

He ended the segment by saying, “So please, there’s always two sides to every story.”

Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/CityofGigHarbor

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 12:00 AM.