‘Demeaning. Vindictive.’ Outside investigator slams former Sacramento County CEO

Disrespectful. Demeaning. Accusatory. Punitive.

Authoritarian. Condescending. Retaliatory. Vindictive.

Those were some of the words Sacramento County employees used to describe their former boss to an independent investigator hired to probe an alleged “toxic culture” at one of the region’s largest government employers.

A summary of the report, released Friday to The Sacramento Bee, lays out in abbreviated detail the range of accusations former County Executive Navdeep Gill faced before retiring on Feb. 13. Records show he left his position with a payout of about $209,000, mostly from unused vacation.

The firm Kramer Workplace Investigations interviewed some 40 current and former employees before concluding that there were “multiple credible reports” showing Gill bullied or intimidated his subordinates during his time with the county.

Gill had been the top administrator since 2016, but the report noted that his behavior existed before his promotion to CEO. He was first hired as assistant county executive in 2007.

“An overriding theme from witnesses was a culture in the county in which employees do not feel comfortable disagreeing with the CEO due to a fear of retaliation,” wrote Karen Kramer, a lawyer investigating the claims. “The majority of the witnesses interviewed described Gill as having an ‘oppressive management style.’ ”

The seven-page summary released Friday is the first of two that are being produced for the county. A footnote on the report reads, “The complaints made to the Department of Personnel Services alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation are not included in the scope of this Investigation Summary, and will be addressed in a separate report.”

While Gill’s actions may have been known for years, the public complaints against him did not surface until early last year. As the county grappled with the ever-expanding demands of the coronavirus pandemic, employees in the public health division of the county’s Department of Health Services complained that they were being mistreated and retaliated against.

They took their grievances directly to the Board of Supervisors in defiance of Gill. It was during this time that public health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye later said she had an intense exchange with Gill as she considered signing a public health order. Her decision would have closed most businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Gill did not agree. Kasirye said Gill began yelling on the phone once she told him her plans.

“ ‘Do you know who I am? I’m the one that controls the resources,’ “ Kasirye recalled Gill saying in an interview with The Bee. “ ‘I don’t have faith in what you’re doing. Why are you declaring a health emergency?’ “

Gill referred to the COVID pandemic as a ‘shamdemic’

Several witnesses said Gill expressed a desire to fire Kasirye in the early days of the pandemic, including former director of the health services department Dr. Peter Beilenson, who left the county in December. But Beilenson pushed back and said Kasirye had performed well in her job.

Another witness said they also advised against it because the decision could have caused “huge collateral damage” during a pandemic. Although a county lawyer once concluded that the public health officer can only be fired by the supervisors. Despite the multiple witnesses, Kramer said Gill denied ever telling anyone that he wanted to fire Kasirye.

In his interview with Kramer, Gill also denied ever yelling or raising his voice at any county employee, although he admitted to showing frustration during some meetings. He said sometimes he might show “frustration” or his tone might change but his voice was never raised.

He admitted to having a “very spirited conversation” with a department head that characterized his response as “yelling uncontrollably.”

His disbelief in the urgency of COVID-19 affected his management of the county’s response, Kramer concluded. Notably, he presided over an indoor meeting during which some department directors did not wear masks. Afterward, one person who attended tested positive and another 10 had to quarantine.

Witnesses reported that Gill did not take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, referring to it as a ‘shamdemic,’ ” Kramer wrote.

Kramer found that two employees credibly reported that Gill made fun of them for wearing masks, a requirement under the county’s public health order. Once, he laughed at one of the employees during an agenda review meeting.

When interviewed during the investigation, Gill denied it.

Employees in the county executive’s office who work on the seventh floor said Gill ordered them to return to the county administration building after initially being allowed to work remotely. Gill denied telling employees that if they did not want to work in the office they could find another job, Kramer wrote.

But a memo he sent in June 2020 required all agency, department head and agenda review meetings be held in person. There were no options to attend remotely.

“This expectation is further evidence of Gill’s failure to create a safe work environment for all County employees,” Kramer wrote.

‘Cut out’ former deputy, witnesses said

Gill stood at the helm of a sprawling administration that included some 12,000 employees. He managed them with the help of four deputies and, for a time, an assistant county executive working immediately under him.

The woman formerly in that job, although not identified in Kramer’s report, was Nancy Newton who was the No. 2 in command. She joined the county in December 2016 shortly after Gill was appointed chief executive.

By the time Newton left for a city manager job in Oregon, she was “cut out” of Gill’s inner circle, according to the report. Several witnesses concluded that she had been “marginalized” and Gill stopped speaking with Newton in the months before she left unless she initiated the conversation.

At one agenda review meeting, a witness recalled Newton being seated against the wall and away from the main table where Gill sat. The seating arrangement was interpreted as a sign of their working relationship.

Witnesses said Gill once said that she had “performance issues” and stated that she “didn’t fit in” even though other members of the executive team disagreed.

A former member of the executive team said Newton was excluded from some meetings on purpose by Gill. Once, Newton noticed they were meeting and asked if she could join but was told “no” by Gill, according to the report.

Newton left the job in February 2020 to work as a city manager in Springfield, Ore. In March of that year, Gill eliminated the assistant county executive position — the same job he previously held.

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 2:53 PM.