East Lansing misconduct investigation contradicts council statement, finds charter violation
EAST LANSING — Months after citing attorney-client privilege as the reason for not releasing an investigation into allegations of widespread misconduct by city officials, East Lansing quietly posted the investigative report on its website.
That investigation contradicts a statement by the city in November that the inquiry found complaints submitted anonymously "were without merit."
The complaint claimed that now former Mayor Ron Bacon, other members of City Council and city staff including Elaine Hardy, the city’s director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, engaged in unethical behavior and city charter violations. It further claimed that that behavior and breaches played a key role in numerous resignations in the months prior. Many city staffers have departed, including longtime City Manager George Lahanas, and numerous department heads or assistant department heads.
The 46-page document did identify a violation of the city charter by elected officials, for meddling in the city's Public Art Gallery management, which is under the supervisor of the city manager, according to the report. City officials redacted the names of current and former city employees and elected officials.
Royal Oak-based attorney Randall Secontine, who was paid $30,000 to conduct the investigation, found council members did not violate the charter in replacing both the city attorney and city manager, and said allegations of an "unusually close friendship" between Bacon and Hardy among other complaints did not violate the charter.
Hardy did not return messages sent on Saturday seeking comment.
The city last year denied a State Journal public records request for the report, and also denied the newspaper's appeal of that denial, which by city policy was sent to Mayor George Brookover.
Brookover did not return messages seeking comment for this story.
It's unclear what changed since last year for East Lansing to no longer consider the report protected by attorney-client privilege, although the top of each page still has that designation. Only one of five council members who were the subject of the complaint are still in office.
Bacon, who was in office when the complaint was filed, said the report was more "sprawling" and "maybe outside the scope" of what the city had intended, but added that that can happen with an independent investigation.
Bacon said he felt Secontine did a good job compiling information for the report and acknowledged it came at a difficult time for the city.
"I just want it to be out there that some of these claims were overblown," he said. "And let the community heal."
Secontine found Bacon and one other council member were too involved in the public art gallery. A volunteer who was running the city's public art gallery in 2022 raised concerns to several city officials about changes that impacted the gallery or their volunteer work. In the discussions that followed, which included emails, meetings and at least one memo, Secontine wrote that Bacon and another council member, whose name is redacted, believed that they supervised city volunteers, rather than city staff.
Secontine found that to be contrary to city policies and wrote that "authorization and/or encouragement of the intentional avoidance of supervisory authority" of a city department director "interferes and obviates" the authority and violates the charter.
Investigator surprised at lack of policies
Secontine also said the city lacks many of the basic policies common for local governments, including anti-discrimination rules. He said it was "surprising to learn that most City Officials and employees" did not know whether the city had a formal complaint process.
That discovery led to him asking about additional city policies and determining that 11 were either outdated or had just the legal bare minimum.
"It appears that the City of East Lansing has some policies that are either outdated, or state the bare minimum needed in order to be in legal compliance with certain federal regulations," Secontine wrote. "It appears that Michigan law has not been included or cited in any of the policies, included, but not limited to, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, and the Whistleblowers Protection Act (MCL 15.361 et seq.) Effective policy and procedure management are critical for municipal entities."
More: Anonymous complaint accuses East Lansing mayor, DEI director of unethical behavior
Among the 11 policies that Secontine wrote needed revision are ones that relate to employee complaints, sexual harassment, discrimination for pregnancy and other reasons, email and record retention, the Freedom of Information Act and a whistleblower policy.
When it launched the investigation, the city agreed to pay Secontine $285 an hour for up to $30,000. His invoice, dated Nov. 7, shows $39,530 was billed for 134 hours, but there was a $9,530 reduction to bring the total to $30,000.
Contact reporter Matt Mencarini at 517-377-1026 or mjmencarini@lsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Misconduct investigation into East Lansing City Council finds violation
