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Questions raised in Sequim about ex-Lacey official

By Diane Urbani de la Paz | Peninsula Daily News • Published September 17, 2009

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The Sequim City Council is having second thoughts about hiring Vernon Stoner as city manager after learning that he was fired from his post as chief deputy of the state Insurance Commissioner's Office and was the target of a sexual-harrassment claim there.

Stoner was Lacey’s city manager from 1981-87. He later oversaw the Department of Employment Security and served as the deputy director of the Department of Labor & Industries. He was fired June 15 from the Insurance Commissioner’s Office, about a month after his executive assistant there, Shellyne Grisham of Olympia, filed the claim. It was settled Aug. 31 with a $50,000 payment from the state.

Stoner, 61, is suing the state in Thurston County Superior Court, contending that age or race discrimination played a role in his firing. He seeks damages of up to $20 million.

The Sequim council voted Sept. 1 to hire Stoner and had planned to sign his employment contract during a meeting Monday. Tom Waldron of Waldron & Co., the Seattle recruiter that the council paid $20,000 to find a new city manager, didn’t inform the council about Stoner’s firing or the sexual-harassment claim. Waldron said Tuesday that he did inform the council of Stoner’s firing from the Insurance Commissioner’s Office.

Instead of signing the contract with Stoner, the council will meet again next week, and members will seek background information about all four finalists for city manager from Waldron & Co.

During his brief address Monday night, Stoner told the council he was “caught completely by surprise” by news of that settlement.

“There has never been a finding of sexual harassment,” he said.

In 30 years in various government posts, “I have managed thousands of employees,” he said, adding that for the most part, “I have made those employees happy.”

Stoner then emphasized that he welcomes further background checks.

“I can assure you,” he told the council, “you will not find any findings as to sexual harassment.”

Council member Walt Schubert asked the first question: “Why didn’t you tell us more” about your employment history?

“I wasn’t given any particular reason for the commissioner’s termination,” Stoner replied.

He called the sexual-harassment complaint a “’he said, she said’ kind of thing,” and added that he had done nothing inappropriate.

But “in retrospect, I should have” disclosed the firing from the Insurance Commissioner’s Office, he said.

The council will hold a special meeting Monday, during which city attorney and interim city manager Craig Ritchie and Waldron will report on an investigation of Stoner. They also will report on their background checks of the three other finalist candidates for city manager: Subir Mukerjee, Mark Gervasi and Steven Burkett. Mukerjee was Olympia’s assistant city manager from 2004 until this year. He resigned after he was told that his job would be restructured as part of planned layoffs.

Stoner, Burkett, Gervasi and Mukerjee were brought to Sequim for interviews, tours and a public meet-and-greet Aug. 25. Stoner said when he was hired that he would start work in Sequim on Oct. 5; his salary was set at $120,000 per year.

“We can’t say what we’ll do until we find out the facts,” Dubois said after Monday’s meeting.