- April 25, 2024
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In late 2019, a city employee accused Finance Director Kelly Strickland of discriminatory hiring practices and making racist remarks in the workplace.
In February, the city’s human resources produced a report that confirmed Strickland had made at least one racially insensitive statement but said the allegation regarding discriminatory hiring practices was not substantiated. In July, the employee filed a charge of discrimination against the city with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Both documents were shared with city officials Wednesday in an email from City Commission candidate Martin Hyde.
In interviews during the city’s investigation, Strickland said she responded to a lunch invitation to a restaurant in Sarasota’s majority-Black Newtown community by saying something along the lines of, “We can’t go there; we’d be the only white people there.” Strickland said she felt terrible about the comment, apologizing later to a staff member who has a Black spouse.
“Asked about the apology, she responded, ‘I am not a racist. . . (but) I was brought up that way,’” the city report stated. “She later admitted, ‘I do feel weird when everybody around me is a different color, but I didn’t have to say that.’”
In a statement issued through a spokesperson, the city said Strickland was “counseled with an executive coach and received sensitivity training.” The city said Strickland’s role in the hiring process did not change in the wake of the investigation.
Lorrie Simmons, the city’s manager of accounting and payroll, stated in the EEOC complaint that she interviewed for the city’s deputy finance director position in September 2019. Strickland and David Flatt, the outgoing deputy finance director, conducted the interview. Simmons, who is Black, said Flatt told her she was the only qualified candidate out of 35 applicants.
Simmons later saw the job reposted and said she met with Strickland to discuss why she was not offered the promotion. Simmons said Strickland did not offer a performance-related explanation for the decision, instead saying that Simmons had “a lot outside of work” that she had to take care of and mentioning that she was a single mother with two children. Later in the complaint, Simmons stated Strickland told her she wanted Simmons to have more budget experience.
The city’s investigation into the hiring complaint concluded that Simmons was not promoted for reasons related to her qualifications and performance level, including the fact she was not a certified public accountant, listed as a preferred qualification in the job description. The report stated Strickland provided Simmons with formal feedback on areas in which her work needed improvement in summer 2019. The report said both Strickland and Flatt had input into the decision not to hire Simmons.
Around that time, after Flatt’s retirement announcement but before the job was officially posted, Strickland attended a lunch with Simmons and told her she would not be promoted, according to the city report. The report stated the discussion shocked Simmons and damaged the relationship between Simmons and Strickland.
The report said Strickland was involved in recruiting and hiring Simmons to her position with the city in 2017.
Simmons directed requests for comment to her attorney, who could not immediately be reached. Simmons resigned from her position last week, and her final day of employment with the city is Friday
The city hired an external candidate for the deputy finance director role in December 2019. That employee was terminated in February, according to the EEOC complaint. An internal candidate was hired in May. The EEOC complaint noted both hired candidates were white. The city noted both candidates were certified public accountants.
After Simmons officially learned she would not be promoted to deputy finance director, she said city staff members discussed prior remarks Strickland made in which she joked about being racist, according to the EEOC complaint.
Simmons also learned that Strickland had showed other city employees photos of a wedding where Confederate flags were being flown. Simmons reported this information to Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown.
The city’s HR investigation verified the accounts of Strickland making racist remarks about two years ago. Two employees confirmed hearing first-hand that, when someone suggested going to Miss Susie’s Newtown Kitchen in north Sarasota for lunch, Strickland responded by saying something like, “Won’t there be Black people there?”
Strickland acknowledged making similar comments in her interviews with the city. Other employees reported that Strickland had laughingly said something like, “Don’t you know I’m racist?” Strickland said she did not recall saying that, according to the city report.
City employees also confirmed that Strickland had recently showed at least two staff members pictures from a family wedding that showed the bride and groom in a truck draped with a Confederate flag. The report stated some staff members found this offensive.
In her interviews with the city, Strickland said she did not have control over the wedding. She said the presence of a Confederate flag did not play a part in her decision about whether to show the photos to her staff.
The city’s report stated Strickland has no previous history of investigative action into her workplace conduct in more than 10 years of employment with the city. It said employees who worked with Strickland “are adamant she is not racist.” Of the seven interviewed employees listed in the report, Simmons is the only one who is not white.
The city report said an interviewer discussed with Strickland that even off-handed remarks in the workplace can cause discrimination complaints.
“At the end of the interview, Ms. Strickland was asked if she would be interested in attending seminars on how to avoid discrimination complaints, and her initial response was a simple, ‘no,’” the report stated. “Caught off-guard by her response, the interviewer thought she had misheard the question and repeated it. She then answered, ‘Well, if I had to.’”
