Sisters releases investigative report on Gorayeb

After weeks of debate and an order from the district attorney, Sisters City Council released a controversial 40-page investigative report about former City Manager Andrew Gorayeb.

The report was released Monday evening, on the eve of a deadline set by Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, who reviewed the matter and decided the information should be released under a public records request, rejecting the city’s argument it was a private personnel matter.

City councilors had expressed concern that the report — containing interviews with city employees — could create problems in the workplace. They chose to release the report, rather than challenge’s Hummel’s order in court, but blacked out the names of the parties involved.

The investigator said she would keep the interviews as confidential as possible, which led to a delay in releasing the records, but two media outlets and Sisters activist Mike Morgan filed public records requests..

Investigator Ashley Driscoll was hired in February to look into complaints of bullying, intimidation and harassment brought by city workers. According to the report, it was Driscoll’s job to find out if “the alleged conduct occurred and if it did, whether the conduct violated any of the Sisters’ (city) personnel policies.”

The 40-page report available here in PDF form; here’s the executive summary) consists of 15 interviews. In the report, Driscoll says every interviewee talked of how Gorayeb had helped make Sisters a more productive workplace. Many also said he’d created a negative working environment.

The investigator said some allegations were untrue, but the ones confirmed included that Gorayeb used “disparaging nicknames” –- like Nurse Ratchet, wicked witch and Medusa — to refer to members of the Sisters community. It also said that Gorayeb “publicly disparaged employee’s work product” and threw a party to celebrate the anniversary of an employee leaving.

One employee complained that under Gorayeb, “people are bullied, picked on, called names, ignored and ridiculed all the time.”

The report said employees also felt pressure to treat Gorayeb’s wife’s projects more favorably, but according to Driscoll this doesn’t violate policies.

In the report, employees expressed concerns that they would soon receive the fate as their fellow targeted employees. The investigator said some employees believed Gorayeb randomly selected people to pick on, and said they lived in constant fear they would be his next target.

In his interview with the investigator, Gorayeb said his behavior was a result of a stressful relationship with city councilors. He chose to resign from his position and take a severance package of more than $110,000 rather than return to work and face disciplinary action.

This isn’t the first time Gorayeb has received complaints for his behavior. Last year, Gorayeb resigned from a position as a Sisters lacrosse coach after parents complained of his treatment of players.