Ex-parks director was quietly paid $36,000 in severance
No Quarter
Do you recall that $36,000 taxpayer-funded severance payment made by Milwaukee County to its outgoing parks director?
No, actually, you wouldn’t because Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele made no mention of the side deal when John Dargle Jr. abruptly resigned after four and one-half years of leading the county Parks Department late last year.
“I am resigning from Milwaukee County,” wrote a pithy Dargle on Nov. 30, 2017, who made more than $182,000 in his final year. “My last day will be Friday, December 1, 2017.”
In announcing the change, Abele didn’t explain why Dargle was exiting or on what terms.
There was certainly no mention of a “pre-claim settlement,” which is not surprising given the county exec likes to handle personnel and salary matters for his team in the privacy of his third-floor office at the courthouse.
It was only by accident last week that an Abele official acknowledged during a County Board committee meeting that Dargle received the previously undisclosed payment.
County Board President Theodore Lipscomb Sr. asked Abele officials to provide a report on the policy on severance packages and a list of such deals over the past six years. The report mentioned a payment of $36,601 to a parks employee in December 2017.
“Names are not provided in order to protect individual identities,” said the report by Dean Legler, director of compensation for the Department of Human Resources.
But during a meeting of the County Board’s Personnel Committee on Thursday, another Abele official conceded that the payment went to Dargle. She provided few details, except to say it resolved a potential claim.
Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun told the committee that the deal with Dargle didn’t go before the County Board because he did not file a legal claim and the amount was less than $100,000. Pressed on how the public is to know about such payments in the future, Daun said there were two options.
First, the board could seek a report like the one it did. “I will also note that all of those agreements are subject to public records and are disclosable upon request,” Daun said.
But, of course, the public did not know that the county had made any severance payments to Dargle, making it unlikely there would be an open records request on the matter.
Raisa Koltun, chief of staff to Abele, shed a little more light on the deal. She suggested Dargle was not fired and described the payment as part of a “settlement agreement.”
“John Dargle Jr. resigned from his position as Milwaukee County parks director,” Koltun wrote via email. “He was an at-will County employee during his tenure and not working under a contract. The payment was made as part of a settlement agreement between John and the county.
“We’ve been open and responsive about any requests we’ve received for information related to this situation.”
Only later did Daun send a four-page letter to Lipscomb offering more clarification.
Daun said her office did not negotiate the settlement with Dargle nor did it determine the amount of severance. It simply put the deal in writing, she said.
In addition, she said the county paid the money “in resolution of a potential discrimination lawsuit.” She said the money came out of the Parks Department budget.
Daun said there are no limits on Abele’s ability to negotiate such deals as long as they are less than $100,000 and paid in the same fiscal year. If they exceed $100,000, she said, then county supervisors can review settlements.
After all that, it’s still unclear what kind of discrimination Dargle was claiming. He did not return calls or texts. Lipscomb said it should not be this hard to get information about how taxpayer funds are used. He noted the board is fighting with Abele in court over whether it should have the authority to approve pay of department heads and other executive appointees.
“Six months after Director Dargle’s departure, disclosure of a $36,000 payment leaves the public with more questions than answers,” Lipscomb said. “I can think of better ways to spend $36,000 in our parks.”