Scottsdale City Auditor Cheryl Dreska frequently yelled at her staff members and slammed doors in anger, according to the findings of an investigation launched by the City Council.
On Wednesday the city released a heavily-redacted version of the complaint against Dreska filed by former senior auditor Ramon Ramirez and a one-page executive summary of the investigation that concluded two of the 16 allegations levied against Dreska were valid.
Scottsdale auditor probe goes to council
The investigation concluded that while yelling at employees and slamming doors in anger were not specifically identified in the city’s regulations, the conduct “clearly violates the non-harassment policy of the city of Scottsdale.”
The city did not release details of the 14 allegations that either lacked merit or evidence “based on Ms. Dreska’s privacy interests and concerns related to the best interests of the city.”
However, the only portion of the complaint that was not redacted stated that the nature of Ramirez’s complaint was that Dreska may have used city facilities and equipment for personal purposes and may have misreported her work time. These were not substantiated.
While the Scottsdale City Council disposed of the complaint on Tuesday, it did not discuss the specifics of the substantiated allegations, other than they were related to a hostile work environment. The council concluded a letter would be written to Dreska and the findings would be discussed as part of future performance reviews. No discipline was mentioned.
Dreska was on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. Dreska, the city’s auditor since 1993, said Tuesday after the council meeting that she had no comment because she had not seen the investigative findings.
Ramirez filed the complaint on June 11 during his last week with Scottsdale before taking a similar job with Chandler. The investigation was conducted by attorney Bradley Gardner of the law firm of Udall, Shumway and Lyons, who interviewed all the current members and cooperative ex-employees.
The council met in closed session four times since June to discuss the situation before Tuesday’s public action.
