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For a city that's emerged from bankruptcy, and still faces serious financial challenges, it sure has doled out some pretty generous severance packages since 2015 to officials who have left the Detroit Public Lighting Authority (PLA).
Ronnie Dahl of WXYZ reports that five PLA executives were given secret severance payouts, in all, totaling $540,833.33 with the condition, as she puts it, to "go away, don't sue and don't talk."
In an interview with 7 Action News, PLA Board Chair Dr. Lorna Thomas repeatedly refused to discuss specifics of the severance agreements, but said the executives were entitled to severance pay if the employment contract called for it.
"It’s part of the operating expense that you incur when you have turnover in an organization as large as this," Thomas said.
Dahl presses Thomas and asks: "It appears as if they were offered huge severance packages to keep their mouths shut and go away. So that begs the question: What is going on at the Public Lighting Authority that these employees are being offered this kind of money?"
Thomas says it's "about personnel matters that I'm not going to answer. Sorry. "
Dahl reports that documents show that two of the executives, Sandra Hughes O'Brien and Dana Harvey, threatened to file whistleblower lawsuits, alleging they had witnessed illegal activity at the PLA. Suits were never filed.
Specifically, CEO Odis Jones was given a $250,000 severance package and a year of healthcare when he announced he was resigning in February to pursue other opportunities even though his contract said he would receive no severance if he resigned. He also agreed to keep the settlement secret like the others.
Another generous severance involved Sandra Hughes O’Brien, an attorney who served as the PLA’s general counsel for 15 months, WXYZ reported. She got a severance of $123,000 when she left in October 2015, Dahl reports. Dana Harvey pocketed $77,000, former COO Adam Troy got $58, 333 and Katrina Crawley received $32,500
“Why are people being paid large amounts of money to leave the Public Lighting Authority? What is behind that? This is unusual,” veteran employment attorney Deborah Gordon tells WXYZ.
Gordon reviewed the PLA documents for 7 Action News and couldn’t believe public employees would get such deals. She also said Jones' contract indicates that he was not entitled to any severance if he resigned from the job.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan also declined to say what was behind the secret deals but did tell 7 Action News, “I’m confident Dr. Thomas and the board have solved the problem and the lights are going on.”
