City Councilmember Zack Matheny had some choice words about the press release titled “City of Greensboro Statement,” shortly after it was released at 4:57 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, and later he called for a full investigation.
That City of Greensboro statement refuted statements made by Mayor Nancy Vaughan and City Councilmember Tammi Thurm about why former City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba unexpectedly resigned during the Tuesday, March 5 City Council meeting.
Both said that Jaiyeoba had violated a city policy for which other employees had been fired.
The City of Greensboro statement said that wasn’t true. It stated that there had been no investigation and “Consequently, without an investigation, no determination can be established regarding any alleged breaches of personnel policy.”
Matheny called for that investigation in an email he sent out shortly before 10 p.m. on Thursday, March 7.
Matheny’s email to fellow members of the City Council, senior city staff and others states:
“Who agreed to this statement as sent ‘by the city’? I absolutely disagree with the wording of this statement and would never have voted to send this out.
“While we attempted to keep our discussions in closed session closed, the facts are the facts. The manager did not resign due to the issues with Dec 28.
“For the ‘City’ to issue this statement, without consent is aggressive, not only as the city’s behalf, but those involved in his resignation.
“Based on this statement, I hearby request a full and total investigation of the city manager’s actions that led to the resignation and all components involved.
“If this is not done, then there will be no full transparency. It is a shame the city chose to release such an argumentative statement in relation to what we were told in closed session.
“This further confuses and distorts the truth, and is a compete disappointment.
“While this could have been an easy departure, the city has made this an even more difficult and arduous situation, that now must be investigated properly and reported.”
Matheny will need the support of a majority of the City Council to force an investigation of “the city manager’s actions that led to the resignation and all components involved.”
But, at least, one member of the City Council is calling for transparency. Since Jan. 24 when the Rhino Times broke the story about the domestic disturbance at Jaiyeoba’s home on Dec. 28, 2023, the city has been in a cover-up mode. The police report on the incident was hidden from the public. The city refused to release the Metro 911 calls until Vaughan and City Attorney Chuck Watts got involved.
The city is currently in court attempting to keep the public from viewing the body-worn camera footage of the incident even after their release was ordered by a North Carolina Superior Court judge.
And then, on March 5, during the middle of City Council meeting, the city manager suddenly resigns. Vaughan and city councilmembers have said repeatedly that the Jaiyeoba’s resignation was not related to the domestic disturbance incident on Dec. 28.
Both Vaughan and Thurm said the resignation was because of a violation of city policy.
But the “City of Greensboro” says that’s not true.
It certainly appears that an investigation is necessary and when that investigation is complete the residents of Greensboro deserve to know what in the world was going on at city hall.
So exactly who is running this clown show?
Zack get the other four votes and bring this to an end. If your former city manager, one of two employees who reports to council, wants to burn it down then burn it down. Also eliminate all of the unnecessary positions he created at the expense of our tax rate, leaf pick up, and police department. There is obviously a loyalty problem in that office. The loyalty needs to. We who writes the check, which is really the public. How many hours of work did he and the other employee miss while planning out their bang time?
GOOD! Should have been already done.
Uh…Mayberry unit number one…uh, over and, uh, and Roger…Roger and…out…
Out and under…10…10,,,tenny ten 40… Uh, bye!”
(With apologies to Barney Fife)
******
Who is “The City of Greensboro”?
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This is beginning to sound like the leaf collection fiasco…
Do not believe he is entitled to severance pay unless he earned same. Is he entitled to separation pay?
North Carolina is an at will employment state which means that, unless you have a written contract specifying otherwise, your employer is not even required to keep you on the payroll until next week, much less pay you for time that you did not work, whether in the form of vacation pay or severance pay.
Note- as an at will state- Employers do not have a duty to employees to pay any severance benefits. If they do pay them, it is usually to get employees to release them from any liability they may have incurred during the employment period.
Note-It is usually based on length of employment for which an employee is eligible upon termination. There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay.
Appears council is trying to be released from any liability that could come?
The ‘severance package’ seems to be a blatant attempt to pay off
the DEI hire in an attempt to stop the inevitable civil rights lawsuit he will soon file.
I’ll ask again what do you have to say now
big city care to crow some more and by the way there were 2 more homicides this week you and your kind are getting lots of accolades from Durham. Keep up the good work.
I never understood why he was not fired when he failed to do what the Council requested in reference to Police salaries. It was his small way of defending the Police.
We have yet to learn what caused the ruckus at the ex-city manager’s house in December 2023. Is it possible the argument was caused by the daughters accusing their father, the ex-city manager, of an affair with a co-worker? Could this be one reason the city is so adamant about not releasing the tape? If so, then GCC knew about the “policy violation” long before the ex-city manager’s resignation.
They used to call it a patronage system aka where hiring only friends and creating jobs for friends and mistresses were the order of the day. You know, creating city jobs and programs out if thin air for the benefit of friends, family or back in the day members if a particular class, patty, race or religion. Well it seems the patronage system is back with a vengeance except now it’s not good old boy WASP’s. The shoe is on the other foot…
It’s CLEAR that many commenting have either NEVER had a job or doesn’t understand HR, state or federal law. If the city manager did engage in a “consensual” affair/situation or relationship, that would NOT have gotten him FIRED. Nor would it have been grounds to ask for his resignation. The subordinate would simply have been REASSIGNED! People get into workplace situations ALL THE TIME.
If he was let go, it’s because HE DID SOMETHING HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO DO. Plain and SIMPLE.
But what if the subordinate said it wasn’t consensual? Or it started out consensual, she dumped him, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer? Too many unknowns for you to jump to that conclusion. Plus, the city might have rules in place that forbid dating an immediate subordinate, even if consensual. I’m not sure about that, but a lot of places do forbid such relationships because it opens the entity up to liability as there are too many opportunities for favoritism or holding things over her head to get what he wants. Or someone else see her getting special treatment that they don’t get and they complain. ETC, ETC, ETC. Basically, he has created a dumpster fire situation no matter how you look at it. Based on how much public outcry this has created, despite being a “secret”, how could they not let him go?
And you’re behind the times. Greensboro calls their HR department the “People and Culture” Department. Yes, someone in the City spent city time and city money coming up with that idea and putting it into place. And someone else….Tai most likely….approved that change and the expenditure of said time and said money.
All of this nonsense is your tax dollars at work folks. What a clown show.
Those on the Left must continually twist and distort their language as their positions become increasingly ridiculous.
I remember when the people who dealt with personnel were called the Personnel Department.
That was when honest language was used by the Left, and before they imposed their NewSpeak on the rest of us. And by the way of example, homosexuals are not “gay”, they’re just homosexual. That was one of their earlier lies.
You are not being completely transparent on how these things work. If a supervisor has a relationship with a substance they are not just “reassigned.” There is always the chance of the subordinate saying they were coerced, I.e. sexual harassment. We also don’t know what occurred during work time, what communications they may have had during work. Yes there is always the possibility it was a simple consensual relationship. We shall see.
The bottom line is it is SAD that the conclusion that is automatically come up with is that there was either a relationship or it was “consensual”. SOME men in power use that power for all the wrong reasons.
Whatever was laid out before his employer was enough for them to make a determination that HE had to go.
Let’s stop ASSUMING that anything was consensual. Maybe it was just a good old fashioned case of a person in power doing and saying things that they should not have.
As far fetched as that may seem, it STILL happens every day.
LISTEN to the words of the council people that have spoken. They are saying without saying, that HE did something, that H SHOULDN’T HAVE.
And btw, if it what is being assumed, it’s not just the City’s HR policy that prevents them from elaborating, or dropping names, details, etc.
Whomever decides to leak any further information sets the city up for tremendous liability. And any publication that decides to publish it.
No one is assuming anything. I just don’t agree with your analysis. You were talking about reassigning the employee. Now you are saying to not “assume.” Hey Zack get the 5 votes and release what I know the rest will say is personnel privacy information. Release every email and text.
He You are SOOO right it was laid out somewhere desk,!carpet bathroom somewhere. You are a corporate mouthpiece and full of crap
No, this is NOT an authoritarian country, not yet anyway.
The Free Press has every right to tell the people what our disgusting “public servants” are up to.
Today it’s called transparency. The Founding Fathers understood it as accountability, and emphatically protected the press.
Sorry, but you can’t hide your malfeasance…. for long.
DEI =DIE
If the ex-city manager violated City policy, he is not entitled to severance pay. If he is paid severance by GCC, GCC is in violation of its own policy. How can the policy be enforced in the future when it has been violated by the GCC? Read his contract, read City policy. So, why would he receive severance? Possibilities: To secure a confidential agreement between the ex-city manager and GCC to prevent revealing information; to help the ex-city manager secure another job; to appear to exonerate the ex-manager from wrongdoing. The latest “Greensboro” statement was most likely written by Chuck Watts to make the ex-city manager seem free from misconduct. You know, birds of a feather.
“Former Greensboro City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba resigned after evidence surfaced showing he violated the city’s sexual harassment policy, according to multiple city government sources who spoke to WFDD on condition of anonymity. The two senior-level city employees said they have seen documents related to an internal inquiry which found Jaiyeoba sent inappropriate messages of a sexual nature to a female employee.”…….and he gets a severance? Behold the power of DEI !!
You would hope one of the qualities expected of a city manager would be using good judgment. Sleeping with a staff is not good judgment. HR- where exactly you gonna reassign that person? He’s the City Manager. He’s the boss of everyone. I mean I get why he may have done it. Trump slept with porn stars and playmates and made it to the highest office in the land. It just didn’t work out for Tai. Rest assured, he’ll probably try again with his next employer. I wonder if that attorney he hired specializes in divorce law?
Smh. The comments keep getting more and more ignorant. Refer to the article just published by Rhino. No evidence of inappropriate relationship. Evidence of sexual harassment.
If you have the correct information spill it HR. I’ve heard over 300 emails of a sexual nature. Allegedly they were found during a public information request by someone not in the city. I’m SMH at you. As I said “doth protest too much.”
While you’re at it, let’s investigate the 5 women on the board that voted to give Tai a severance package. These council members voted to give money to a man who sexually harassed another woman.
I’m calling out a Sharon Hightower, Goldie Wells, Marikay Abuzaiter, Yvonne Johnson and Nancy Hoffman – the message you are sending to ALL the women and girls in your districts, during Women’s History Month – a month dedicated to women succeeding and overcoming things of this very nature, implies heavily that WOMEN DO NOT MATTER!
Their vote implies that they believe not only is sexual harassment acceptable, it is to be rewarded!
Women of Greensboro – THIS is unacceptable!
Tai should decline the severance, and WE should demand the resignation of these council members immediately!
CD, thank you.