Gainesville Regional Utilities General Manager Ed Bielarski has been cleared after a harassment complaint filed in November 2017 by the city’s human resources director.
The city’s Office of Equal Opportunity completed its investigation Monday, ruling there was “no cause” for the complaint, which also included GRU Chief People Officer Cheryl McBride.
Bielarski said Monday that he was “pleased” with the findings and will try to improve as a leader.
In November, Bielarski sent out a series of emails to city commissioners and city employees, objecting to the city’s move to give managers and supervisors a $1,590 pay increase instead of merit-based raises. He particularly took issue with Human Resources Director Eugenia Allen-Mercado and emailed her to express his frustration over how she performed her job.
“This is not right Eugenia and is illustrative of your tenure as the HR Director,” he wrote. “My staff has informed me of the numerous missed meetings, unreturned phone calls and virtual inaction on GRU issues. Quite frankly, if your organization was an arm’s length HR service they would be fired.”
Bielarski then asked GRU employees to send him all data supporting the utility’s issues with the HR department, which were later compiled into a 11-page report.
Allen-Mercado took out the complaint soon after the email exchange, following what appears to be an ongoing issue between GRU and the city’s HR department, emails show.
Although the investigation found “no cause” for the complaint, Equal Opportunity Director Torey Alston called Bielarski's emails “unprofessional.”
“It is very clear to any reasonable observer and has been agreed upon by all parties that several emails sent from the GRU general manager were arguable unprofessional and had a very negative tone to the receiver (complainant) and all employees who were copied as recipients,” Alston wrote. “While these emails are documented and are in the public domain, they do not rise to the level of a hostile work environment.”
Bielarski said Monday he will work on his communication skills.
“I need to learn from that and move forward,” he said.
The same findings were found for McBride. The report found that she didn’t violate any city policies.
During the interview process a number of city employees were asked whether they found the exchanges to rise to the level of harassment or creating a hostile work environment. Some said no, while others said yes or that the emails were “disrespectful.”
The investigation wraps up the second complaint filed in the last year against a charter officer. Charter officers report directly to — and are hired and fired by — city commissioners.
The other investigation was spurred from two complaints against City Manager Anthony Lyons — one filed by McBride and one by Eveyln Foxx, the president of the NAACP local chapter — and questioned whether he created a hostile work environment, which came back unsubstantiated.