Former Utility Chief Claims Unfair Firing

A former Oxnard city official filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city claiming he was wrongly fired because of a dispute with other officials over sewer capacity.

Former Public Utilities Director Benjamin J. Wong also alleges that City Manager Thomas Frutchey fired him because he is Filipino. Frutchey and City Atty. Gary Gillig could not be reached for comment. But in earlier interviews, the two city officials said Wong was laid off in a cost-cutting move and said race played no part.

Wong was hired by the city as an engineer in 1975 and promoted to utilities director in 1991. But in October 1994 the City Council voted to create two new positions from Wong’s job. Frutchey told Wong shortly afterward that he would not be named to either of the posts because Wong “lacked interpersonal skills,” according to the lawsuit filed in Ventura County Superior Court.

In January 1995 Wong wrote Frutchey a memo claiming that building projects in northeast Oxnard were straining the sewer line in that area beyond capacity. Three months later, Wong was demoted, and in July he was dismissed. Wong alleges that the memo, which became public that spring, led directly to his demotion and dismissal.

Wong’s dismissal was “for the chief purpose of retaliating” against Wong for his complaint about sewer capacity, which critics took as a political tactic aimed at slowing development in the city, he claims.