Jarrell City Council talks sexual harassment, discrimination reported by city manager

JARRELL, Texas (KXAN) — At their meeting Tuesday night, Jarrell city council members discussed and responded to allegations made in a sexual harassment and discrimination complaint filed by the city's manager. The complaint alleges inappropriate behavior from three male council members and at least one instance of unwanted touching.

In a social media post on May 4, Mayor Patrick Sherek said the council would address harassment and sexual discrimination reported by City Manager Danielle Singh.

In the post Sherek wrote in part "this complaint is deeply concerning and has the potential for a multi-million dollar lawsuit against our city."

At the evening meeting, Sherek read emails between Singh and council members named in the complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Much of the complaint cited "inappropriate" interactions Singh experienced with Council Member Jeff Seidel.

The complaint claims Seidel gave Singh multiple unwanted compliments in person, over the phone, and through texts despite being asked to stop. It also alleges that he "rubbed his hands up and down her back" and on several occasions told Singh she "could not hang with the men."

During the meeting, Sherek played a recording of an online conference call between Seidel, Singh, other city personnel, and a vendor.

In the recording, Seidel could be heard saying "the [Jarrell] government is brand new. It’s technologically a virgin so you can do anything you want."

In response, Seidel said the recording was out of context and his words were misconstrued.

"With a broad brush, Jarrell has no technology. I mean it really hasn’t been developed, it is a blank canvas," Seidel said.

We spoke to Sherek the morning after the meeting, he said this is the second time in Singh's nine months in her role that her job has come before the city council.

The complaint alleged that three male council members are working to have Singh fired from the job as retaliation for reporting the harassment, the first attempt taking place at a March city council meeting.

Sherek said Singh is still serving as the city's manager following this latest meeting. He said the alleged behavior from members of the council is deeply troubling.

“I don't know what to do to get those actions to stop. That is the reason why I highlighted some of their behaviors at last night's meeting. It is my job as Mayor and I would feel complicit if I didn't let people know what was going on," Sherek said.

City Manager's Attorneys and Council Member respond to complaint

We reached out to Kaplan Law Firm who is representing Singh and filed her complaint to the EEOC.

In a statement, the firm said Singh has pursued this complaint in an effort to keep other women employed with the City of Jarrell from experiencing similar harassment.

"We are proud to support Danielle Singh in her efforts to stop harassment and discrimination.  Our client is a highly successful City Manager, but unfortunately was harassed, discriminated against, and retaliated against – all of which threaten to derail her quality work. She first raised these issues to the City, and unfortunately nothing changed. 

So, she took the next legal steps toward finally putting an end to sexual harassment and gender discrimination at City Hall in Jarrell, so that she and all other women can have a workplace free from sexual harassment, and so women in Jarrell will have the same opportunity to succeed at their jobs as their male counterparts," Singh's attorneys wrote in a statement.

We reached out to all members of the Jarrell city council, including Seidel, but only received a response from Council Member Adam Marsh who is also named in the complaint.

In a statement, he said Singh's accusations were "eye opening" but denied any wrongdoing.

"So, while we have all been advised by our attorney to not speak on the matter, I feel that it is important to make a statement. The EEOC complaint filed by the City Manager was eye opening and definitely deserves to be taken seriously. At no time did I ever diminish the importance of her complaint and allegations. The City Manager’s one complaint on me in the EEOC document is completely false. I don’t know if she misread the email that she referenced in her complaint or if she intentionally falsified the complaint because I requested an executive session on the City Manager for a completely unrelated issue. The email she referenced in her complaint where I used the phrase “childlike behaviors” was in reference to the release of emails to the public outside of normal procedures, and then the posting of these emails to Facebook. It had absolutely nothing to do with her complaints of sexual harassment or discrimination. I cannot answer why the City Manager would include me in her EEOC complaint using false information. You would need to ask her that," Marsh wrote.