Issue date: April 01, 1998
By RENEE DEAL
A director of the West Bay Sanitary District has demanded information from the district's legal counsel, William Esselstein, about a former employee who reported alleged wrong-doing by then-manager Charles "Sandy" Thomas two years ago, and who was awarded a monetary settlement by the district when she left her job.
Maxine Harrington, an engineer with the district until mid-1996, apparently tried to alert the district in the spring of 1996 of alleged illegal activity by Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas now faces 36 felony counts of grand theft and other crimes against the district -- the result of an investigation begun only after other employees went to the San Mateo County district attorney in late 1996 with similar allegations.
Ms. Harrington's allegations came in tandem with her threat of a lawsuit against the district.
Pre-empting a lawsuit, the district settled with Ms. Harrington for nearly $25,000, according to an employee who did not want to be named.
The settlement and the official action by the board in approving it is public information. The fact that there is no official record available to the public of the decision to settle is what prompted director John Carcione to request that Mr. Esselstein give the board a full accounting of the matter.
Mr. Esselstein is expected to present the requested information to the board at a special meeting on Wednesday, April 1.
Mr. Esselstein confirmed that a settlement had been made with Ms. Harrington, paying her approximately four months of wages, minus deductions, plus $1,500 in attorney's fees.
He said he knows of no written complaint made by Ms. Harrington, but recalled that she complained of sexual harassment "or that sort of activity" by Mr. Thomas. Mr. Esselstein also acknowledged that Ms. Harrington accused Mr. Thomas of improper activity involving Peninsula Pump -- a company the district attorney's office alleges was part of a scheme that allowed Mr. Thomas to steal more than $300,000 from the district.
Mr. Esselstein said the settlement was handled by an outside attorney, Joe Wiley, and therefore he is not certain of some of the specifics of the case. But he said the sexual harassment allegation was investigated. The other allegation was "looked into," but "didn't appear to have any substance," he said.
In a letter dated March 21, Mr. Carcione noted that he saw no indication in meeting minutes of the 1996 closed sessions dealing with Ms. Harrington's settlement that an investigation took place or that a settlement was made.
He requested that Mr. Esselstein provide, among other things, a copy of any investigative report and a copy of any release that may have been signed.
Ms. Harrington's allegations against Mr. Thomas weren't the first of their kind made by a West Bay employee. In November 1991, nine months after Mr. Thomas was appointed district manager, employee John Simonetti met with Mr. Esselstein to tell him of suspicions about how district business was being conducted, Mr. Simonetti revealed during a December 1997 district board meeting.
Mr. Esselstein said after the December meeting that he had to review notes from the 1991 meeting with Mr. Simonetti, but that he was certain that "there was nothing from that (meeting) that made me believe that there was any impropriety going on between Mr. Thomas and Peninsula Pump."
Earlier this year, the district board hired retired appellate court Judge Allison Rouse to look into the question of whether Mr. Esselstein knew or should have known of wrong-doing by Mr. Thomas.
Judge Rouse's report should be completed "within an week or two," board president David Knight said last week.
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