Countywide : Program to Halt Harassment Funded

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to extend the contract of a private consultant who found in a study that women and minorities working for the county Fire Department have been subjected to widespread harassment and discrimination on the job.

The supervisors voted unanimously to spend $48,000 to retain Kenneth Hawkins & Associates of Vacaville to educate department employees on how to overcome the problems.

The county had originally hired Hawkins for $60,000 several months ago to determine the extent of the problems in the Fire Department. But that was not enough money to pay for a program to resolve the problems.

“We have underestimated the time and cost it would take to do an effective conciliation contract,” Fire Chief George Lund told the board. “Without a true conciliation, we know we will be dealing with the issues over and over again.”

Supervisor Maggie Kildee told the board: “I cannot think of anything much more important than to work at conciliation and then at training so that we actually change the way we do things.”

In September, Hawkins and his consultants questioned 135 department employees, who expressed a common theme that some women and minorities have been passed over for promotion, treated rudely and harassed.

Hawkins “talked about the bad news,” Lund told the supervisors. “The good news is everyone who was contacted wants to make things better.”