EAST LANSING — The city of East Lansing plans to release a redacted November report that resulted from an investigation that cleared City Manager Robert Belleman of claims he harassed and bullied an employee.
That decision came hours after a longtime city employee who no longer works for the city corroborated grant coordinator Erica Dziedzic-Hernandez claims against Belleman to the State Journal.
The city council spent more than an hour in closed session before voting 4-0, with council member Mark Meadows absent, to waive attorney-client privilege and authorize the release of the report resulting from an independent investigation. The inquiry was conducted by the Miller Canfield law firm in Lansing.
Dziedzic-Hernandez filed her complaint in September. She repeated some of her claims during the public comment portion of city council’s May 19 session. Mayor Erik Altmann said her comments led to council’s decision to share the report.
Council’s decision led to audience members booing, cursing, and saying councilmembers should be ashamed, but Altmann already said it was a matter of fairness and he repeated that sentiment after the meeting.
Altmann said a release from the city with the report is likely to be sent to local media on May 22.
“Independent investigators found no violation of city policy or law by City Manager Robert Belleman but recommended that he receive leadership training,” Altmann said during the meeting, adding that Belleman has since been meeting with an executive leadership expert to fulfill that requirement. “The report that we received indicated that the allegations were unfounded.”
He said it was a relief to be able to share the report’s conclusion with the public.
“Everybody deserves process. Everybody has rights,” Altmann said. “My job in this position as a council member is to take the process seriously, and look at evidence and go where it leads. I look forward to continuing to work with City Manager Belleman in his position and I offer my support to him.”
Dziedzic-Hernandez could not be reached for comment. On May 19, she told council members that Belleman sexually harassed her and that the apparently friendly, thoughtful man council members saw in meetings was different behind closed doors.
She said he was verbally abusive and had also threatened her job. She remains an employee of the city.
Marie Wicks, who was employed by the city for about 15 years including several as clerk, supported Dziedzic-Hernandez on May 21, saying that Belleman could mistreat people and be accusatory and paranoid.
She was the city’s retired clerk when she returned to city hall on an interim basis in 2023, the same year Belleman was hired.
“Robert has always had a beef with me,” she said. “I think this is because I’m a very strong person. I call things out or I question things, for example.”
She shared an experience when he refused to close city hall for an election day, even though city hall had at times been closed for training days and employee parties.
“Robert said, ‘We’re done here.’ Then he slammed the door after us,” Wicks said. “That’s the kind of B.S. we had to deal with. This guy leaves at 5 o’clock on election days by the way, doesn’t stick around.”
Her interim position ended in December but she remained a contract employee in January, when Belleman called to ask her to turn in her phone and computer.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about? Are you firing me?’ He said, ‘I’m not terminating you. I’m limiting you,'” Wicks said, calling the conversation horrific. “If a city councilmember gets upset with Robert or is critical of something, he will turn around and he will just rail on staff.
“He’s also very fickle. You do not know what kind of mood he’s going to be in from one day to the next. One day he can be very friendly and the next he can be very harsh.
“I’d like to see Robert move on. It was a terrible hire. We know that.”
Altmann and other councilmembers recommended that employees with concerns about harassment go to the city’s human resources department.
Altmann would not directly answer whether the council might ask for Belleman’s resignation, given the criticism during public comment.
“I’m not going to speak to that,” Altmann said. “All I can say is that if there are complaints against anybody working for the city, we have a robust process and we can’t act outside that process. That’s not fair to the respondent.”
He said he wouldn’t speak to Wicks’ claims.
“Because she didn’t file a complaint,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing will release documents in city manager investigation
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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