Cleveland Heights’ City Administrator Dan Horrigan’s sudden resignation after two months on the job has revealed the possible involvement of the city mayor’s wife in official business and accusations of a bad work environment.
Horrigan resigned as Cleveland Heights city administrator effective March 17, the Cleveland Jewish News reported. Horrigan was appointed to the role on Jan. 6.
“Cleveland Heights is a wonderful community, and they have an excellent staff,” Horrigan told the Akron Beacon Journal after his resignation. “I raised a number of workplace safety and hostile work environment issues that involved a member of the mayor’s family that were not addressed, and it kind of made the administration of my duties untenable.”
In a news release addressing Horrigan’s departure, Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren said it “can be tough to find the right fit for such an important role in our City government.”
“But as with many of our successes thus far, nothing is achieved without some struggle,” Seren said in the release. “The way that his tenure ended is disappointing, but our resolve in finding the right teammate remains strong.”
Horrigan previously served as Akron mayor for two terms and was the third Cleveland Heights city administrator to resign from the position in three years, Cleveland.com reported. Former Erie, Pennsylvania, Mayor Joe Sinnott and Danny Williams each held the post for about a year before Horrigan.
According to various reports, newly released emails reveal a series of conflicts involving Cleveland Heights First Lady Natalie McDaniel led to Horrigan calling City Hall an “untenable” work environment.
“Your wife’s presence here at City Hall has caused a number of employees to feel uncomfortable and on at least one occasion, unsafe,” Horrigan wrote in a March 14 memo, according to Cleveland.com. “Quite frankly, her directing staff in their official capacity is improper and unethical.”
He also asked McDaniel to “discontinue her presence here at City Hall and refrain from directing Cleveland Heights staff in their work capacity.”
Seren disputed the assertion, according to reports.
“At no point has my wife directed staff,” Seren said, according to Heights Observer. “She was very careful to express that her opinions are not the opinions of the mayor, on very very many occasions, and to bring that point home in a very direct and deliberate way.”
After reviewing city records, the Cleveland Scene cited an employee who worked in City Hall and requested a new role, alleging that McDaniel helped create a hostile work environment. The employee was “subsequently put on paid leave pending an investigation,” the publication reported.
“The Mayor’s wife has consistently, over the last three months, come into the [Mayor’s] wing yelling and swearing,” the employee wrote to HR Director Tanya Jones in March, according to the Cleveland Scene.
“She said the words’ f--- you, f--- you, f--- all of you, the f--- I can’t be in that meeting, f--- you all,’” the employee added. “She did not look at me when she was screaming this, but she walked up and down the hallway a few times, including past my office while doing this on repeat.”
Cleveland Heights Councilman Jim Petras expressed concerns to the Cleveland Scene about the mayor putting the employee on leave.
“It’s deeply concerning that the mayor would put an employee on administrative leave after she reported to HR that she felt unsafe in the workplace,” Petras said in a text message to the Cleveland Scene.
“It appears that this could have been a retaliatory act,” Petras added. “City Hall should be a workplace where employees feel valued and want to come to work, a workplace where employees are celebrated and inspired to go above and beyond.”
