Residents Protest City’s Treatment of Former Utilities Director

More than 20 residents turned out Tuesday night at the Oxnard City Council chambers to protest the city’s treatment of former Public Utilities Director Benjamen Wong.

Wong, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, had been passed over for a promotion and then demoted.

Tuesday night, members of the Filipino-American Council of Ventura County and the newly created Task Force Ben Wong circulated a newsletter claiming that Oxnard City Manager Tom Frutchey had delivered a memo July 21 laying off Wong effective Aug. 24.

Frutchey refused to comment Tuesday, citing confidentiality of personnel matters.

“You allowed the city manager to rule Oxnard and rule the City Council,” Oxnard resident Sito Serate told the council.

Wong, whose position as utilities director was dissolved in a long-planned downsizing of city services, was told in January that he was not in the running for one of two new management jobs created to oversee the city’s public services. In June, he was demoted to a job with lower pay in the same office.

Wong, a 20-year city employee, has filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In July, he filed a harassment complaint against Frutchey with the city.