Dismissed for fighting waste, ex-panel chief’s lawsuit claims

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The former executive director of the Arkansas Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council has filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming she was fired in retaliation for identifying wasteful spending.

Regina Wilson, who served for two years on the council, was fired Oct. 11, 2012, after the council’s chairman, Jeb Joyce, sent her a text message to meet at a Little Rock hotel, where he informed her that the votes “were there” for her termination, according to the lawsuit.

The council voted to fire Wilson later that day.

The complaint was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court on March 18 and claims violations of the Freedom of Information Act, the Arkansas Whistleblower Protection Act and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993. The state and the council are listed as defendants in the case.

“Defendant’s termination of [Wilson] was nothing more than a retaliatory action taken against [Wilson] for engaging in protective activity, complaining of waste and insistence on audit procedures, under the Arkansas Whistleblower Protection Act,” Wilson’s attorney, Luther Sutter, wrote in the complaint.

Sutter did not respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

In an interview, Joyce said he received word about the lawsuit from the attorney general’s office Monday but had not been served by the court.

Joyce, a Fayetteville attorney who has been chairman of the council since June 2011, said he would respond to the lawsuit’s allegations in court.

On Monday, the council announced that Brenda Mercer, who has been a member of the council’s staff since 1999, would replace Wilson as executive director.

In the complaint, Sutter wrote that Wilson always received “favorable” personnel reviews.

“One example of [Wilson’s] responsiveness, [she] significantly reduced waste in government spending by collaborating with other resources to provide reduced cost and/ or free supports to several DCC [Developmental Disabilities Council] activities, including moving the Council’s quarterly meetings from a hotel contract for meeting space, to a public library that provided meeting space free of charge,” Sutter wrote in the complaint.

According to the complaint, Wilson began training for her position in September 2010 and worked to get the council’s budget “into compliance with best practices standards and other directives as mandated by the [Developmental Disabilities Act].”

The council aims to improve the independence and productivity of people with developmental disabilities.Council members are appointed by the governor and include activists, people with developmental disabilities, and representatives from state agencies and nonprofit organizations.

Wilson said in the complaint that she “became concerned that there was a waste of public funds and a violation of employer conduct” and attempted to bring “attention to her discoveries including a handwritten note on a budget sheet” that showed the council overspent its portion of federal funds.

According to the complaint, Wilson presented “documentation of mismanagement” to the governor’s staff in spring 2011.

Governor’s spokesman Matt DeCample said he could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit but that the governor’s office had met with members of the council after a legislative audit report found issues at the council. A copy of the report was not available Monday night.

In the complaint, Wilson states that she is seeking “appropriate compensatory damages exceeding $75,000, for reinstatement or front pay” and reasonable attorney’s fees.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 03/26/2013