Assessment of Lake Dallas city government 'mean girl behavior,' 'toxic elements'
By Justin Grass, Staff Writer
Preceding the exit of Lake Dallas’ city manager, police chief and mayor, among other vacancies, a professional assessment of the city’s internal government found substantial problems, including alleged “mean girl behavior” and “toxic elements,” and identified potential threats including bullying and sexual harassment.
The $30,000 assessment was conducted by Lion Strategy Group, a Fort Worth-based consulting company. It began in December and included weeks of interviews with city employees, former employees and community members that culminated in a 47-page report.
The report was not made public until Monday, when it was released to Lake Dallas community member and real estate developer Terry Lantrip following a decision from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Substantial issues within the city’s internal government are referenced in the assessment, including potential threats such as “unhealthy work environment,” “toxicity in the environment,” sexual harassment and discrimination based on “gender/age/sexual orientation.” In its summary, the report states: “The general problem is that negative leaders are negatively affecting the wellbeing and work performance of their employees.”
Lantrip keeps track of several Lake Dallas developments and files — including the Lion Strategy Group’s report — on a publicly available website which includes a timeline of the city’s recent actions.
“Many members reported open bullying of team members. When incidents have been reported, they were told it would be addressed, but the behavior continues,” reads Page 7 of the report, which summarizes statements made during the assessment’s interviews. “One member of the organization reported that working for the city has been a ‘Living Hell’ due to the repeated bullying and harassment. Stated they have been targeted for their age and physical limitations.”
The report included several employee surveys as well, with 48.15% responding they were under an excessive amount of stress and 48.28% rating the city’s morale as “high.” A total of 13.79% of the survey’s respondents reported seeing racist or sexually offensive materials or behaviors displayed, and the same percentage reported they were subject to discrimination in the past 12 months.
In the wake of the assessment — released to city officials in early February — several positions have been vacated, including Lake Dallas city manager, chief of police and mayor, all three of which have opened up within the past three months.
John Cabrales, a former city of Denton employee, joined Lake Dallas in July 2017 as its interim city manager before fully taking over the position. In early March, the Lake Dallas City Council voted unanimously to terminate his employment — a decision Mayor Michael Barnhart referred to as “difficult” in a prepared statement.
“John has worked with the City Council and the various department directors to transition the city to a more modern and professional organization,” Barnhart stated following the vote. “Such transitions do not come without disagreement, as those used to doing things the way things used to be, or were always done, sometimes push back on these changes — and such changes certainly have not come without some internal missteps.”
Reached by phone this week, Cabrales declined to comment on the circumstances of his termination, although he said he’s had no involvement with the city’s government since leaving.
“Ever since I’ve left Lake Dallas, I have not had any involvement with officials in Lake Dallas,” Cabrales said.
Weeks later, the city hired Lion Strategy Group to handle its vacant interim city manager position, in addition to staff training and city manager recruitment. That agreement placed one of the group’s founding partners, Mike Wilson, in the role of Lake Dallas interim city manager. Formerly Keller police chief before retiring from the role, Wilson said Lake Dallas is moving forward on improving its workplace.
“I think the contents of the report pretty much stand by themselves,” Wilson said. “I believe it’s laid out in the action plan that the council approved, which is a combination of different types of training … all of those things are focused on promoting wellness and a healthy work environment.”
Lake Dallas Police Chief Daniel Carolla retired from the position last month. Reached Friday — the day he picked up his retirement paperwork — he said that while he can’t speak for anyone else, his decision was about starting a new career in the private sector.
“I’m only 45 years old, so I’m getting ready to start a second career,” Carolla said. “For me, it was the right time to retire. It was all about timing for me.”
Just over two weeks ago, Barnhart announced his resignation as mayor at a City Council meeting. Similar to Carolla, he said his decision was focused on a new opportunity rather than any workplace issues.
“The reason I resigned was that I had another opportunity present itself to me,” said Barnhart, who had a year of his mayoral term left. “In order to give it the 100% it requires, I couldn’t give 50% to it and 50% to the city.”
Barnhart, the founder of local nonprofit There Has to Be More Ministries, acknowledged the city is actively working through some “bad choices.”
“Obviously, with people leaving, there’s going to be rumors,” Barnhart said. “Like any industry, there have been some bad choices made. What effects that will have on the city still remains to be seen. They’re working on rectifying all of that as quickly as possible.”
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