What is the banner on Fourth Street and Danenberg Drive referring to and who put it there? The banner has been there for almost a week now. What does it Mean, El Centro
The banner asking the county “to let go” Workforce Development Board Director Francisco Marquez was placed on a fence a block away from the One Stop Employment Service where Marquez works, sometime last week. By Friday the banner was no longer there.
Who put it up or who pulled it down is a mystery and it’s unlikely anybody would admit to either action.
What the banner refers to is also a mystery since the message is vague. It doesn’t list what supposed “favor has been paid” or what “errors” are being covered.
But for the purpose of answering this question, let’s assume the banner refers to allegations of hostile work environment and harassment on behalf of Marquez toward One Stop employees, since that is the biggest known issue.
This issue came up last summer, when Ruth Duarte, Teamsters Union agent who represents some 75 percent of One Stop employees, submitted a letter to the county Board of Supervisors signed by nine employees. This letter listed the aforementioned allegations and asked for the results of an investigation on the allegations and Marquez.
With that said, we went to inquire about the investigation. However, county counsel can’t disclose the results of personnel investigations, which are not public records, said County Counsel Michael Rood. He did say the county has procedures available to employees with grievances, that the county takes all complaints seriously, and investigates them.
We then spoke with Ray Castillo, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors to inquire about the banner. He said he doesn’t understand it.
“I never met (Marquez) until he applied for that position,” said Castillo, and noted the rest of the board doesn’t know him from before either. “So there is certainly no favor, no payback to anybody, so what is (it) referring to, I’m not sure.”
With that said, we then went to Duarte, to ask if anything came up from the investigation.
She responded that after the investigation, “we mediated with the county and there was some solution to the department.” Duarte added that countywide training to teach staff “how to work with each other” followed.
This training, she said, included Marquez.
Duarte also said she checked back on One Stop employees months later and that they “kind of put it to the side and (continued) working.” Moreover, “ever since that time, nothing else has come up that I know of,” she said.
But something has come up and it’s not only the banner. Castillo said he was recently contacted by a person from the One Stop and that he told him the process “for filing a complaint about someone that you work with.”
It’s unclear if that complaint is about Marquez, who was reached for this Probe but didn’t have any comments on the matter.
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