Lawsuit Against Destin Settled This Week for $35,000

By Fraser Sherman, Destin Log, Fla.

Mar. 8–Ten months after a former Destin employee sued the city over her firing, the case has been settled.

Tuesday, the City Council voted to accept a $35,000 settlement offer from former City Clerk Dana Williams, who filed suit against the city last May. Williams, who couldn’t be reached for this story, filed for damages “in excess of $15,000″ to compensate her for lost wages and benefits, attorneys’ fees and for “humiliation, mental and emotional distress, physical discomfort.”

In 2006, Destin businessman Rick Olson, who employs City Manager Greg Kisela’s wife, asked Williams for a specific plot in Destin Cemetery to bury a suddenly deceased friend. The lot was out and away from the parts of the cemetery already open for sale, however, so city rules, Williams said, would have required Olson to buy 14 lots between the open area and the

one he wanted.

City officials have said the rule prevents buyers from breaking up the cemetery into a patchwork of unsold lots that might be harder to sell.

Williams told Olson buying more than six lots required council approval. Olson contacted Kisela, who told Williams the rules applied to family purchases, not to someone buying lots for a friend. Williams disagreed and refused to sell the lots, after which Kisela had Deputy City Clerk Rey Bailey make the sale.

Kisela placed Williams on administrative leave in September, then fired her in October for, he told council later, using leave time to drive her mother to South Florida but secretly using the trip to job-hunt.

Williams’ lawsuit said she was really fired for refusing to sell Olson his lot, and for reporting Kisela’s “illegal actions” to City Attorney Jerry Miller and to some of the City Council members. That would make her firing illegal under Florida’s Whistle-Blower Act.

City Labor Attorney Ron Larkin told The Log making a whistle-blower claim is a way for Williams to work around Florida’s employment laws, which allow employers to fire employees for any reason except discrimination or retaliation.

The sale and Williams’ firing became a topic of debate for three heated council meetings in 2006, including charges that some councilors had violated the state’s opengovernment laws, and a motion to fire Kisela. The Office of the State Attorney later reviewed videotapes of the meeting at the city’s request, and found no evidence of any wrongdoing.

“I’m sorry she ever got terminated,” Councilor Larry Williges told The Log this week. “She was a fine lady, she was probably the best the city of Destin has ever had in that capacity. She did so much behind the scenes for the council members … I could ask her a question about a document and within an hour she’d have it for me.”

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