Published: Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009
SLO County supervisors fire Gail Wilcox over a 'personal relationship'
The assistant county administrator had sued her boss, David Edge, for sexual harassment
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closeThe county Board of Supervisors fired Assistant County Administrator Gail Wilcox on Tuesday evening “based on her participation in a personal relationship that conflicted with her official duties,” according to a statement by County Counsel Warren Jensen. Supervisors did not identify the other person in the relationship.
The board took the unanimous action shortly before 7 p.m. after a three-hour closed session.
Supervisors also “found that Ms. Wilcox’s conduct violated her contractual duty to maintain exemplary behavior and that it violated the common law duty to avoid conflicts of interest,” according to Jensen’s statement.
Supervisors did not go into detail about what conflicts of interest Wilcox allegedly failed to avoid, or what made her behavior allegedly less than exemplary.
Neither Wilcox nor her attorney could be reached for comment.
The investigative report that played a role in Wilcox’s dismissal will be released July 24, unless Wilcox or her attorney obtains an injunction, according to Jensen’s statement.
Jensen said the report, by Oakland attorney Sarah Robertson, will be redacted.
Supervisor Adam Hill said the redactions have yet to be decided, but will generally be used to protect the identities of people on the periphery of the investigation who gave information.
The decision was the second shoe to drop in a scandal that has invaded the county’s administrative office the last two months. Supervisors fired County Administrator David Edge, Wilcox’s boss, on May 12.
The two dismissals left county government and its 2,400 employees without its top two administrators.
After firing Edge, the board brought back former Deputy County Administrator Jim Grant to take over the top job until it can hire a permanent replacement for Edge.
Hill said after Wilcox’s dismissal that he is proud of his colleagues for acting “methodically but decisively.”
He said the board has been criticized for taking a long time to settle the Edge-Wilcox matter. But supervisors used a deliberate pace to make sure they were “on firm legal ground,” Hill said.
As to releasing Robertson’s report, Hill noted that he has said all along that the public deserves explanations.
The Tribune filed a Public Records Act request seeking the document.
“It has been tough,” Hill said, “but the board did what we needed to do in the public’s interest. Our chair (Bruce Gibson) showed exceptional leadership through this very difficult period.”
The Edge-Wilcox controversy began May 7, when supervisors placed Edge on paid administrative leave. Supervisors met behind closed doors the next day and the following Monday, for a total of 10 hours.
On that Monday, May 10, they placed Wilcox on paid leave. They hired attorney Robertson to “investigate personnel matters relating to Gail Wilcox’s paid administrative leave.”
The following week, they fired Edge.
On June 15, Wilcox sued Edge for alleged sexual harassment and the county for allegedly allowing it to happen. Edge called the lawsuit a “pre-emptive strike” designed to head off criticism that might appear in Robertson’s report.
Edge has since hired an attorney, Martin Moroski. Both declined this week to speak about the case.
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