JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The person responsible for investigating wrongdoings within Jacksonville’s city government has resigned after an internal investigation accused her of neglecting her duty, abusing her power, creating a hostile work environment, discriminating against employees and engaging in ethical misconduct.
Lisa Green, Inspector General for the city for three years, was put on administrative leave in November because of complaints filed by office staff against her. An investigation followed.
In her resignation letter obtained by News4JAX on Wednesday, Green fired back at the investigation and allegations against her.
Green admitted that she cursed at one employee during her tenure but said she “insisted on a commitment to high quality work” and “had high expectations and demanded due diligence from my staff.”
In the letter signed on Monday, Green called out her second in command who was the first whistleblower to file a complaint against her. Green said she fired the first whistleblower for a “lack of due diligence and insubordination” and he retaliated by filing a complaint.
“He had to go. There was no other reasonable option,” Green wrote.
There were four separate complaints against Green and each person requested whistleblower status, so we will never know their identities. Only one person waived the right to confidentiality, but News4JAX is choosing not to name them.
Green accused the first whistleblower of recruiting others to help salvage his job and said he was able to do so because he is a more “lenient supervisor” than she is.
The Office of General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville investigated the four complaints. The Jacksonville Human Rights Commission examined some of the allegations as well and gave copies of its report to the members of the committee.
“I was really disturbed by the allegations,” said councilman Sam Newby, a member of the Inspector General Selection And Retention Committee.
There were nine allegations, all of which were substantiated, and the committee voted to advance to formal charges against Green.
The charges are:
- Hostile work environment (Green made inappropriate and unwelcome sexual comments in the workplace)
- Discrimination (discriminating against Black employees and based on disability status)
- Retaliation (following one of the whistleblower complaints)
- Toxic work environment (Green behaved in an unprofessional and “often erratic” manner)
- Objectivity – didn’t maintain objectivity and impartiality
- Inappropriate relationship with subordinate – had a romantic relationship with her former director of investigations (that employee resigned in early 2020)
- Mismanagement/violation of city policy & state law (some of it surrounding public records)
- Attempts to influence testimony of investigation witnesses
- Credibility (has provided some inconsistent statements during the investigation)
“I think the report speaks for itself,” said Daniel Henry, a member of the Inspector General Selection And Retention Committee. “For so many of her staff members to have experienced these types of difficulties during their work career, all to come forward, one by one, tells a pretty clear picture.”
FULL REPORT: Investigation into complaints against inspector general Lisa Green (Details in this report may be disturbing to some)
Green said she developed personal relationships with coworkers but denied making any unwelcome sexual comments. The investigation states, “Ms. Green indicated that she felt the friendly nature of the office made these types of sexual conversations acceptable.”
She also denied taking any action to violate public records laws and said she never discriminated against anyone or made inappropriate comments about anyone’s race.
“I cannot take responsibility for allegations that are entirely false,” Green wrote. “For example, I never had a romantic relationship with the former Director of Investigations. Instead, I chose to be his friend and repeatedly rebuffed all of his advances. I never propositioned any coworker to have a ‘threesome.’”
Green’s attorneys also sent a lengthy letter to the city Tuesday.
“Ms. Green never engaged in any behavior that even begins to scratch the surface of a hostile work environment. Ms. Green is guilty of being a no-nonsense, demanding leader. That is what it took to salvage an agency plagued by instability. There is nothing illegal or improper about this. This kind of unbending approach, however, does make people uncomfortable. Ms. Green is now paying a political price for this,” the attorney’s letter said.
After the committee voted to advance the allegations into formal charges, the charges and the full report were presented to Green and the committee set a meeting for Jan. 6, at which point Green would have had a have a chance to present evidence. After submitting the resignation letter, Green will no longer present her case, but the committee will still meet on Thursday and decide whether or not to accept her resignation.
“Any hope that I would be afforded due process was non-existent from the outset,” Green wrote in the final lines of her resignation letter. “I will no longer participate in this conniving sham.”
Green had sued the city to get back on the job but she dropped that lawsuit this week.
