Furmon said in the letter dated June 5, the incident “was clearly heard by many other staff members throughout offices on the 6th floor, as well as anyone in the elevator frequented by the public.”
Furmon said while he cannot control Carpenter’s behavior, “I refuse to continue to sit silently without commenting about your abusive and irrational behavior.”
Carpenter responded in an emailed letter to Furmon, saying his claim was a political attack.
Carpenter’s letter does not address her alleged cursing and yelling at employee, but claims she has been left out of meetings where she could have been educated on a land banking plan.
“I recently expressed my frustration to Administrator Mike Campbell regarding the Land Banking legislation, which came as a total surprise to me. Unfortunately, he was also uninformed about the progress of that initiative, therefore, was not in a position to have provided a full report,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter also said Thursday, “I think it is important to know Mike (Campbell) was not offended and I did not mean to offend Mike.”
Campbell confirmed he was not personally offended by Carpenter’s comments. He said it stemmed from Carpenter’s frustration with the flow of information concerning the county land bank resolution adoption.
It is the third time Carpenter has been accused of harassment of employees.
In November, Pete Landrum, assistant county administrator, hired an attorney and told the county he was mistreated by Carpenter.
Through his attorney, Landrum said he had not received a pay raise he was promised when he was promoted to assistant county administrator. He’s also concerned Carpenter could take more actions against him.
Landrum claims Carpenter continues to defame and verbally abuse him since he told Furmon about an April 2011 incident in which Carpenter named the people she’s displeased with.
On April 5, 2011, Landrum reported Carpenter said, “Line them up and shoot them” during a conversation in which she was expressing frustration about the public defenders project and how items are placed on the agenda.
Commission President Don Dixon said the commission needs to focus on working for the county and leave politics out of it.
The commissioners met with county Prosecutor Mike Gmoser Thursday in executive session for discussion of personnel.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lauren.pack@coxinc.com
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