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Central Point seeks a settlement City sued for past harassment By SUSAN JAY CENTRAL POINT -- The City Council voted Thursday to pursue a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a former employee alleging she was harassed by former Mayor Rusty McGrath. Sandy Lommel, who worked as the city's administrative secretary for six years, resigned in November 1996, saying harassment by former Mayor McGrath forced her to leave. In January 1997, Lommel filed suit in Jackson County Circuit Court. The suit alleged that McGrath harassed her because she was a woman, which created a hostile work environment that made it impossible for her to continue to work for the city. In the past, McGrath has called Lommel's claims nonsense. Lommel's suit seeks back wages and loss of future wages and benefits. She also seeks $100,000 in damages for emotional distress, humiliation, fear of embarrassment and anxiety. In a telephone interview Thursday night, Lommel said changes in city attorneys and court conflicts have delayed the suit. The suit is scheduled for trial June 8. But in Thursday's meeting the council instructed attorney David Ingalls to start negotiations for a settlement. Although it has been two years since she filed the lawsuit, Lommel said she thinks about it and the harassment and intimidation every day. "It's been very difficult and frustrating," she said of the long wait, "but I guess that's the way the court system works." Lommel is not presently employed after suffering a work injury at her most recent job since leaving the city. "I'm just waiting for this to be taken care of and be over with," she said. "It's been forever." Lommel was the second female Central Point employee in less than a year to file a lawsuit against the city claiming harassment by McGrath. In March 1996, Susan Wilson Broadus, then the city's public works director, filed suit in federal court claiming that she had been harassed because of her gender. The suit sought $300,000 in damages for emotional distress and $3,000 for medical expenses incurred from job-related stress. Wilson Broadus said McGrath and then-City Administrator Dave Kucera "threatened, intimidated and micromanaged" her after she attempted to hold developers and contractors to Central Point's public works standards and environmental regulations. In the summer of 1995, public works standards were the source of heated exchanges during several City Council meetings when Wilson Broadus repeatedly asked the council for a clear enforcement policy. At one meeting, in an apparent reference to Wilson Broadus, McGrath waved his finger at her and said, "There's a lot of tempers right now around the valley really flaring with this titty ..." McGrath later said he had said "city," and apologized to Wilson Broadus. The city settled the suit in 1997 for $20,000 plus legal costs and attorney fees. In other action Thursday night, the council: Heard favorable testimony on a proposal to vacate a portion of Ninth Street to allow construction of a Rite Aid Pharmacy. The council will vote on the proposal to vacate at its next meeting. Amended the planning commission's approval of an eight-lot subdivision off of Beall Lane to require sidewalks on both sides of Benjamin Lane. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA