Pleasanton: Fired city director alleges retaliation, seeks $1.65M in wrongful termination claim

A former Pleasanton utilities director has filed a claim against the city alleging that while the city manager said he was being fired for unprofessional behavior, the real reason behind his termination was retaliation for voicing serious concerns about the water and sewer operations.

Dan Repp, who worked as managing director of utilities and environmental services for the city of Pleasanton, is seeking $1.65 million in damages after getting fired this summer primarily for the use of profanity toward a subordinate, even though Repp argues that cursing is common in the city government’s workplace and the actual motivation was City Manager Gerry Beaudin wanting to avoid fallout from Repp’s departmental revelations.

“Everyone (Repp) worked with, or had interactions with at the city, engages in the use of foul language, including the City Manager himself,” Repp’s attorney Judith Wolff wrote in a tort claim for wrongful termination, a copy of which was obtained by the Weekly. “Given the commonplace nature of foul language throughout the city … (Repp’s) termination was, in fact, retaliation.”

“(Repp’s) performance of his job, with the assistance of his staff, uncovered illegal, unauthorized and unlicensed conditions that the city manager did not want public, because he did not want to have to deal with the fallout from their revelation,” according to the tort claim dated Sept. 25.

Pleasanton City Attorney Dan Sodergren declined to comment when contacted by the Weekly, saying on Oct. 18 that it is the city’s practice “not to comment on pending claims and litigation.”

The letter of termination sent by Beaudin to Repp on June 30 details the city’s justifications for firing the three-year employee after an investigation into a complaint against Repp for allegedly creating a hostile work environment.

“This decision is based on among other things, the memorandum dated June 30, 2023, where the city determined that your use of profanity in the workplace toward a city employee was unprofessional and does not meet the expectations for your position as managing director of utilities and environmental services,” Beaudin writes in his letter.

When asked for an interview this week, Wolff told the Weekly that her client “doesn’t have any comments to share at the moment,” apart from what has been stated in the tort claim.

The city, under the leadership of former city manager Nelson Fialho, hired Repp back in June 2020, after he left a similar job in Morgan Hill so that he could be closer to his elderly father who couldn’t live on his own anymore, according to the claim.

Since coming on board, Repp received positive recognition for his work as the claim references his past city performance reviews where he was given high marks and raises throughout his tenure for “his excellent performance.”

However, in March of this year, Repp was placed on administrative leave following a complaint by a laboratory services specialist.

According to the claim, staff member Stephanie Perley, who no longer works for the city, alleged that Repp “created an abusive and hostile work environment by demonstrating a lack of tolerance for dissent, yelling and screaming at employees, making gestures of anger, swearing in an angry manner,” which devalued her position as an employee.

Repp never returned to work following that complaint — his subsequent termination by Beaudin was effective on July 14.

The claim states that following an internal probe, the only allegation from the complaint that was sustained by the city’s contracted investigator was that Repp did swear in the workplace. Repp’s filing also featured a full list of people he heard use foul language in the city offices, including Beaudin, the complainant herself, city directors, management staff and supervisors.

“(Repp) and other city employees note that everyone swears in the workplace at the city,” the tort claim states. “Foul language is a fact of the workplace.”

Yet, despite the lack of sustaining the serious accusations from the laboratory specialist’s complaint, the tort claim alleges Beaudin still ended up firing Repp, citing the profanity as the main reason.

Because the claim makes the point of foul language being common in the workplace, it then goes on to argue that the reasons given for Repp’s termination was pretextual and, in fact, retaliation for Repp engaging in protected communication, reports and complaints regarding issues with the city.

That includes Repp calling Beaudin’s attention to the city’s wastewater utility not being in compliance with state law, according to the claim.

“An internal audit performed under (Repp’s) direction in 2022 by an outside consultant found the city out of compliance with state law and that as a result, water and sewer service customers were — and still are — paying for services they do not receive, a violation of policy and law, as well as a potential public relations nightmare,” the tort claim argues.

According to Repp, he tried to work on addressing the issue with Beaudin by presenting a series of policies for the City Council to consider adopting; however, Beaudin disagreed with the recommendations and said the policies were not a topic for the council but rather a matter for the city manager’s office.

The tort claim alleges other reasons Repp was retaliated against included Repp calling Beaudin’s attention to deficient billing from the Zone 7 Water Agency, bringing to attention an illegal sewer connection at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, and not pushing for a quicker timeline on the recently completed water supply assessment project.

Repp’s lawyer points to other instances where Repp called out the impacts to the city’s water system if customers’ demand exceeded the available supply and Repp having called the city’s attention to new housing development water storage deficiencies.

“Said revelations would reflect poorly on Beaudin and on the city management generally,” the tort claim alleges. “It was expedient to terminate the employment of (Repp), who was vocal about doing things legally, and about fixing things that had been done either without authorization or illegally.”

While Repp’s wrongful termination claim was sent to the city on Sept. 27, the City Council was in the middle of its annual evaluation of Beaudin’s performance, holding separate meetings in August, September and October in order to determine if Beaudin should receive a positive review – and pay raise as a result. The council approved Beaudin’s salary increase during this Tuesday’s meeting as part of its consent calendar.

According to his claim, Repp is seeking $1.4 million for what he would have made in salary and benefits at his job over five years had he not been fired, $250,000 in emotional distress damages and an undetermined amount of money that would go toward attorney fees.

The city must now review the claim and determine whether it wants to resolve it by agreeing to Repp’s terms or if it wants to reject the claim, which could lead to Repp filing a lawsuit. In the claim, Repp vows to pursue the matter in the Alameda County Superior Court and request a jury trial.