Frustrated with what he says is the internal politics in county government, Stark County Emergency Manager Bill Fahlsing formally announced his resignation in a statement released Thursday.
Fahlsing's resignation, effective Dec. 4, was submitted in writing via a letter and email forwarded to Stark County’s board of county commissioners and representatives with the Stark County State’s Attorney Office.
“Being out this last week has provided me the opportunity to re-evaluate my life, health and career,” Fahlsing’s resignation letter said. “I have had an amazing career with Stark County over the last nine and a half years. Unfortunately, the last year and a half have taken a sad and preventable... [REDACTED]. This was an issue that I thought would have been resolved, however it was unable to come to a resolution due to a definition in the personnel handbook.”
Fahlsing’s reference to the definition in the personnel handbook is his first public response on the matter of an investigation into complaints he filed against his portfolio holder Commissioner Carla Arthaud in June. That complaint focused on eight allegations of harassment and bullying, which after investigation were found to have not constituted “workplace harassment” as that term is defined in the Stark County personnel handbook.
The investigator Fahlsing's complaint did however raise concerns with the atmosphere of Stark County and concluded his remarks with a rebuke.
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“Indeed, there appears to be an atmosphere within Stark County whereby numerous county employees look for opportunities to “catch” other employees behaving badly, especially employees whom they dislike or disagree with,” the June investigation said. “Stark County employees have important work to perform. The multitude of complaints, charges and accusations being made by and against Stark County employees constitutes an expensive and time-consuming distraction from the important work that these employees have to perform.”
Fahlsing’s resignation letter further included an apparent ultimatum to the commission in order to retain his services as emergency manager.
“I am writing to tell you that I can no longer work with Commissioner Arthaud being a portfolio commissioner or having any involvement with my department,” Fahlsing wrote. “...should you be willing to negotiate any terms in an attempt for me to continue my employment, I would be willing to meet with one to two appointed commissioners, but Commissioner Arthaud is not to be involved in any such discussion outside of a commission meeting.”
Fahlsing’s letter of resignation was not submitted to the emergency management portfolio holder, Arthaud.
Following the resignation, public records requests by The Press uncovered a newly completed investigation into a hostile work environment complaint levied against Fahlsing, the findings of which paint a different picture of his resignation.
Fahlsing’s resignation comes less than two weeks from the conclusion of an investigation, conducted by Denise Hellekson of The Village Business Institute, into allegations of harassment filed against Fahlsing by an employee with the Stark County Emergency Management office.
This complaint marks the fourth such internal HR complaint levied in 2020 by an employee of Stark County.
Hellekson began investigating the complaint against Fahlsing and concluded in a lengthy 35 page detailed report that the complaints levied were sufficiently supported, saying, “there is sufficient evidence to support a finding that Mr. Fahlsing’s behaviors created a hostile work environment as described in Stark County’s Harassment Policy based on the workplace harassment definition and are therefore in violation of the Stark County Harassment Policy.”
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According to the open records documents received, the written complaint against Fahlsing was submitted on Aug. 18, and the complainant identified four main areas of concern regarding Fahlsing’s behavior, which the complainant stated had a negative impact on their ability to perform their job.
The four areas of concern were identified as a lack of training of subordinates, an irregular disposition, an erosion of trust and lying and a cycle of behavior that lacks cooperation.
According to the report, nine employees were interviewed. A telephone interview request was made with then-Commissioner and current State Sen. Jay Elkin on Oct. 2, which was cancelled by Elkin due to a scheduling conflict. Two additional voice messages were left for Elkin, which were subsequently never returned and therefore an interview was not able to be conducted.
The summary of the investigation stated that based on the interviews and statements from Stark County employees, there was evidence that they shared concerns with Fahlsing’s lack of communication and accessibility. Despite efforts to remedy the issue internal to the department, Fahlsing demonstrated a pattern of distancing himself from his employees, exacerbating fears and doubts and interfering with the ability of the complainant to do their job.
“While Mr. Fahlsing is aware of his team’s concerns regarding his lack of communication and accessibility, he has demonstrated a cycle of retreating farther from his employees, and in particular from [the complainant] the more [they] requested feedback and communication,” the investigation report summarized. “There is sufficient evidence that Mr. Fahlsing’s refusal to interact with his employees and provide sufficient, ongoing communication, has created an offensive, hostile work environment.”
Fahlsing’s resignation was addressed by the newly appointed Stark County Commission at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, in which they accepted his resignation and appointed Shawna Davenport as the interim director of emergency management and Stark County representative to the Southwest Coordinated Regional Interoperability Board.
Commissioners approached regarding the resignation have stated that based on the workload of the emergency management office, they did not feel that a replacement would be necessary and that the remaining employees could sufficiently handle the responsibilities of the office.
Davenport, as interim director, has according to sources already begun the process of addressing many of the internal issues facing the department, along with addressing many of the concerns raised in a departmental audit conducted revealing significant issues with the department.
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Attempts to reach Fahlsing for comment went unanswered by the time of publication.
