Treasure Island staff pulled into city manager dispute

Treasure Island’s investigation into allegations against City Manager Charlie Van Zant has raised an uncomfortable question inside City Hall: How freely can employees speak when the complaint involves the person at the top of the city’s administration?

City Manager Charlie Van Zant. Photo: City of Treasure Island.

City emails obtained by the Catalyst show three commissioners sought to interview employees about Vice Mayor Tammy Vasquez’s complaint against Van Zant, while the city was separately arranging for an outside attorney to investigate.

The request prompted one employee to tell city attorneys she was uncomfortable, and referenced an effort to seek whistleblower protection. The records show how the complaint quickly spread beyond Vasquez and Van Zant, drawing other commissioners and city employees into the dispute.

Vasquez unsuccessfully sought to place Van Zant on paid administrative leave during an Aug. 4 City Commission meeting. She and Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon supported the motion, while Mayor John Doctor and Commissioner Arden Dickey opposed it. Commissioner Chris Clark was absent but later publicly defended Van Zant.

Six days later, Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Gary Volenec emailed members of the city’s executive team saying Doctor, Dickey and Clark wanted to speak with employees about the complaint.

Volenec described them as “the three Commissioners who voted against suspending the City Manager,” although Clark did not participate in the Aug. 4 vote.

“The three Commissioners who voted against suspending the City Manager would like to conduct brief interviews with staff to better understand the circumstances and allegations outlined in the complaint,” Volenec wrote.

He told employees to “be prepared to meet with the Commissioners” if contacted. Volenec also wrote that Van Zant would be out of the office that week “to allow the process to proceed without distraction.”

Less than an hour later, Bobbie Shay Lee, whom the city identifies on its Facebook page as its community development director, forwarded Volenec’s message to the city’s attorneys and Human Resources Director Jessica Zamora.

“I am not comfortable with this request below,” Lee wrote.

Lee also referenced an unfinished notice seeking protection under the Whistle-Blower Act and said she could supplement it with concerns including gross mismanagement, waste of public funds, fraud or neglect of duty. Her email did not identify who she believed may have committed such acts or establish that they occurred.

Lee declined to comment to the Catalyst.

Vasquez said she learned about the proposed interviews after city employees contacted her.

“They’re like … what are the repercussions?” Vasquez said. “What are they going to ask us? And what happens if we don’t answer them? And what happens if we do answer them?”

The Catalyst could not independently verify those conversations. Vasquez said she also did not know whether the interviews ultimately took place.

The Catalyst contacted Doctor, Dickey and Clark seeking comment about the proposed interviews but did not receive responses.

Meanwhile, the city had already begun arranging an independent investigation.

Vasquez filed her formal complaint July 17, one day after an encounter with Van Zant that she described as confrontational. The following morning, Zamora told Van Zant she had consulted with the city’s attorneys and insurance carrier and submitted a claim.

“My understanding is that an independent investigation will be conducted under our coverage policy,” Zamora wrote.

Emails between the city and its claims administrator show that by Aug. 3, officials were working to bring in attorney Cindy Townsend. The administrator wrote that the city requested an outside investigator “due to internal conflicts of interest.” Townsend confirmed the following day that the conflict check had been completed and another attorney would assist.

Vasquez said she was scheduled to speak with the outside investigator last week, but the interview was canceled shortly before it was set to begin because the investigator had not yet spoken with the city attorney. At the time of the interview, it had not been rescheduled.

City spokesperson Jason Beisel said officials could not discuss the specific allegations while the investigation remains underway.

“Because this involves a personnel matter currently under internal investigation, we’re unable to comment on the specific allegations or details while the process is ongoing,” Beisel said.

He said withholding comment during an active investigation is standard practice intended to protect the integrity of the process and ensure fairness to those involved.

The Catalyst also sought comment from Van Zant but did not receive a response.

Vasquez’s July 17 complaint, obtained via a public records request, provides more detail about the allegations. She described the previous day’s City Hall encounter as part of a pattern of increasingly “aggressive, confrontational, and unprofessional” interactions with Van Zant.

Vasquez later added a July 21 commission workshop exchange to her complaint. A review of the meeting shows that when she sought answers from Volenec about the Sunset Beach Pavilion, Van Zant objected, saying he wanted “to be recognized before my staff is summoned.” He said Vasquez could have brought her questions to him and he would have gotten the answers.

“I didn’t summon Gary,” Vasquez responded. “But it is public works and that’s who it was.”

In an interview, Vasquez said she viewed the exchange as part of a broader problem with her ability to communicate directly with department heads.

Van Zant’s supporters on the commission have rejected Vasquez’s characterization of his leadership. At the Aug. 4 meeting, Dickey said he meets with Van Zant weekly, has seen no evidence of financial mismanagement and could not recall him failing to respond to a request. Doctor similarly said he had not experienced the conduct Vasquez described.

Clark was more pointed in an email to the Catalyst after the meeting.

“I have never seen any of the behaviors that the Vice Mayor accused him of. Not ever,” Clark wrote. He called the effort a “coordinated attack” on Van Zant that was “purely political.”

The outside review remains unresolved, and the records released so far do not establish whether Vasquez’s allegations are substantiated.

Vasquez said she has faced criticism since filing the complaint but maintained that raising her concerns was necessary.

“Somebody’s got to speak up,” she said.