Lisbon city council member Rick Scott was publicly reprimanded for language used in an incident May 2 involving city staff member Marsha Lasack.
The reprimand was approved in a 3-0 vote, with Scott abstaining. Council member Mike Williams was absent from the meeting.
The reprimand noted that the city council cannot tolerate abusive language towards any city employee, council member or mayor, and that the language used by Scott in the May 2 incident was not to be tolerated.
Lisbon city attorney Mark Parmventer outlined the instance of a third party investigation that was triggered after the incident was reported May 9 to city staff.
According to the investigation, Lasack made a formal complaint of the May 2 incident on May 9. Cameras in city hall were not functioning at the time to capture the incident, so a third-party investigation was conducted, with Cedar Rapids attorney Andrea Reasoner visiting Lisbon Monday, June 9, interviewing city staff, mayor Doug O’Connor, Scott and Lasack during that day.
A report was filed by Reasoner July 9, a month after her visit, where Reasoner stated she was able to substantiate Lasack’s complaint and there was a preponderance of evidence that Scott had spoken in a manner that was unprofessional and could be called abusive.
Scott is an elected official, not a regular city employee, but Reasoner noted that if he was a city employee, there was a preponderance of evidence that he would be in trouble with city administration. There was also an implication in the complaint that Scott was asking for his family to be dealt with differently when it came to city ordinances.
The council had two options following the report of the third-party investigation – do nothing or give a public reprimand to Scott.
Council member Nathan Smith moved to make the public reprimand, with council member Kevin Steele seconding.
Council member John Bardsley reminded the public that they needed to treat city staff with respect, and that cameras are running in city hall for all interactions for staff protection.