Posted: 8/16/06
Resident accuses city employees of discrimination
City responds Wednesday morning
 North Branch resident John Maldonado accused two city employees of playing favorites with neighbors and manipulating city code to neighbors advantage and his own detriment. |
By Patrick Tepoorten
(Note: The City of North Branch's response to allegations can be found at the bottom of the page.)
During the public comment portion of Monday nightís North Branch city council meeting, resident John Maldonado made a stunning request.
Reading from a prepared letter, Maldonado urged the city to conduct a formal investigation into what he called ìinstitutional and personal discrimination by North Branch City employees, perpetuated against myself and my family for several years.î
Maldonado named two city employees specifically, building official Richard Meyer and code enforcement officer Mark Jones. He alleged that the two employees have engaged in ìassisting the neighbors to the west, by selective code enforcement and unlawful misuse of their official positions,î and stated that the abuses resulted in both physical violence and harassment towards his family.
In an e-mail to the Post Review on Tuesday, Maldonado accused the employees of twice inspecting his property for code violations at his neighborís behest, and acting unprofessionally. Also, that actual violations on properties surrounding Maldonado have had distinctions ìrenamedî in order to prevent them from being deemed violations. He claims to possess both audio and visual evidence of his charges.
The city council, after much discussion, decided to hire an independent investigator to determine if Maldonadoís charges have any validity.
When asked, city attorney Tom Miller estimated that an investigation could cost the city anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 or more to complete. Still, he cautioned that spending the money would be preferable to conducting the investigation internally, which could leave room for suspicion of favoritism or conflict of interest.
Mayor Gloria Karsky agreed with that assessment and appointed council members Theresa Furman and Kathy Blomquist to oversee the independent investigation.
Neither Jones or Meyer were present at the meeting to defend themselves against the accusations.
City Administrator Joe Lynch would not comment on the allegations Tuesday afternoon, preferring to wait until the investigation is complete.
UPDATE: North Branch Mayor Gloria Karsky disseminated a response to Maldonado's allegations Wednesday morning. The response in full reads:
"At the City Council meeting on Monday, August 14, 2006 the City of North Branch heard allegations of potential discrimination brought by one family in connection with the enforcement by city staff of the cityís building codes. The City Council took immediate action to investigate the matter by authorizing the engagement of an independent agency to conduct a thorough and independent investigation of the allegations.
"The City of North Branch takes the accusation of discrimination in the enforcement of its codes seriously. We will endeavor to fully investigate this charge with outside assistance to ensure an independent and unbiased review.
"The City of North Branch strives to provide a wide range of services to our residents free from acts of discrimination, bias or unequal treatment for any reason."
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