When city engineer Russ Lawrence ripped out a beaver dam
on Johnson Creek last month, he stirred up more than the
waters.
The action has become a symbol of what's been called
the Bureau of Environmental Service's "big pipe" mentality,
favoring engineering projects über alles.
In an address last Friday to Portland's City Club, Commissioner
Dan Saltzman called the removal of the dam "a powerful
example of how our thinking must change."
Saltzman was talking about making his agency more aware
of environmental concerns, but several female employees
of the bureau, including the city's 1997 employee of
the year, say Lawrence also demonstrates that BES lacks
sensitivity in another area.
Last April, Patrice Mango, a storm-water program manager
for BES, filed a harassment claim with the Bureau of
Labor and Industries against the City of Portland. "Since
1994," she stated in the claim, "I have been harassed,
threatened and intimidated by engineer/coworker, Russ
Lawrence."
Mango's claim lists 16 items that describe continued
harassment and intimidation by Lawrence, incidents she
claims were ignored or dismissed by BES management.
She describes Lawrence as a disrespectful, insensitive
bully. "When I met him in the hall," she wrote in her
complaint, "he would partially block my passage, glare
at me, and exude hostility."
The complaint also charges that management at BES dismissed
her concerns as a personality conflict. It states that
Becky Kreag, a group supervisor at BES, told her she
was "rocking the boat."
If so, she wasn't the only one. Eleven BES employees--women
and men--filed affidavits in support of Mango's BOLI
claim.
One came from Catherine Stark, an engineering technician
who says she originally complained about Lawrence to
the city during his first four months of employment
in 1991.
"He's very big and uses his body in an aggressive way,"
she told WW. "He would aggressively brush up
against my shoulder when we were walking in the hall."
Another affidavit of support was filed by Ivy Frances,
the Johnson Creek watershed manager and the City of
Portland's 1997 employee of the year.
In 1998, both Frances and Mango had filed harassment
complaints with the city against Lawrence that foreshadowed
Mango's later complaint. Neither of the women report
to Lawrence, but both have worked with him on several
team projects. The city's response was unsatisfying,
they say. They were never told what, if any, disciplinary
action was taken against Lawrence, and his behavior
didn't change.
Most of the documents in Lawrence's personnel file
are considered privileged information, and no one at
the city will discuss whether he has been formally reprimanded.
Willamette Week was unable to reach Lawrence.
WW did, however, obtain copies of Lawrence's
two performance reviews. One, from 1994, is practically
blank. But another was completed in August 1998, just
after Mango and Frances filed complaints against him.
The review contains no direct mention of those charges,
but there are allusions such as, "Russ often expresses
himself to others without taking into account the effect
his communication or style of communication will have
on their feelings."
The city also released a memo from D'Norgia Price,
the equal-opportunity representative for BES, to Harvey
McGowan, the human resource manager. It describes an
incident in January in which Lawrence asked Frances
if she were "still a red-hot mama."
Frances says the city has refused to take the women's
complaints seriously, and Lawrence has never been held
accountable for his actions.
"The bureau has failed to adequately address the ongoing
harassment of women by Russ Lawrence," Frances told
WW. "It shouldn't take someone pinching ass and
tits for it to be clear there is a problem. And if several
people are complaining, it doesn't add up to a personality
issue."
BES Director Dean Marriott declined to comment on Lawrence
or the complaints made by the women. "What you should
be doing a story about is dealing with the civil-service
process," he said.
But according to BES staffer Dawn Hottenroth, who is
also president of the City of Portland Employees Association,
it isn't that hard to get rid of a bad employee as long
as the problems are clearly documented. The union exists
to protect all employees. "We agree that sometimes there
are people you need to get rid of," she says, "if you
just do it correctly."
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Willamette Week | originally
published October 6,
1999
