Breezy Point administrator resigns citing hostile work environment – Pine and Lakes Echo Journal

BREEZY POINT

— Breezy Point

City Administrator David Chanski

resigned at the city’s regular council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 3, citing a hostile work environment as his reason.

The Breezy Point City Council approved the resignation and separation agreement in a 3-2 vote with council members Steve Jensen and Brad Scott opposed.

Joseph Langel, attorney for the city, presented the council with Chanski’s resignation, which cited an unsafe, unhealthy or hostile work environment.

“As a part of that resignation, not only was there a statement, but also the assertion that certain portions of his employment agreement come into play, specifically the portion that refers to an unsafe, unhealthy or hostile work environment,” Langel said.

“He has asserted in his response that that is what occurred here and has been occurring over the last 18 months,” Langel said.

Due to the language of Chanski’s contract with the city, Langel said there was no requirement for the council to make a determination on the state of the administrator’s work environment.

The severance agreement the council approved provides Chanski six months of wages and benefits as well as unused sick and vacation leave totaling $90,636.02. The city will also pay the employer portion for six months of health, dental and life insurance premiums.

Council member Rebecca Ball said the six months of compensation were included in Chanski’s contract due to the time involved with the hiring process for city administrator positions.

Chanski’s contract with the city was originally negotiated through David Drown Associates.

Breezy Point Mayor Angel Zierden said that similar courtesies had been offered to past administrators and accepting the resignation agreement would make for the smoothest way forward for the city.

Past concerns regarding the city’s personnel committee were brought up in a discussion of managing city employee issues, and Zierden said she and Jensen had discussed the possibility of hiring outside human resources services as an alternative.

In their opposition to the resignation agreement, Scott and Jensen said the terms of the contract should not have been made as open-ended as they were.

Chanski’s last day as administrator for Breezy Point was Friday, Sept. 6.

A day after the meeting, Chanski said there were several incidents, including some recently, that led to his decision to resign.

“Over the last 18 months or so, there have been some repeated situations that came up. I have expressed some of my concerns about these issues with some members of the council, members of staff and even some members of the public. It got to a point where I had to have a conversation of what I felt was best for myself, my family and what was best for the city of Breezy Point as an organization,” Chanski said.

“I do care about the organization and the community. Sometimes when there are issues, the best thing to do is remove yourself from them. Ultimately, I felt that was the best route to go,” he said.

Chanski said he provided Zierden with names of individuals for an interim city administrator and it would be up to the council to find the right fit for an interim administrator and permanently fill the position.

“I do want to leave the city well, and I do wish the best for the city,” Chanski said.

Much of the situation came down to how the city is structured for dealing with internal employee issues, Zierden said via phone Sept. 5.

“The bottom line is that it was internal, because there’s a lot of speculation out there right now. The lesson learned in this is that cities really need to have good policies in place for handling situations with employees. My advice to any city is to hire external human resources,” Zierden said.

“I was not in favor of the personnel committee. It’s hard to have the council act as HR. In my opinion, that’s not what our job is, and we are not trained in it. So I do think that the handling of employee situations by outside resources is absolutely necessary,” she said.

Zierden said she was proud of the work Chanski had done for the city and the council will move quickly to find an interim administrator to meet the city’s needs.

“I think David Chanski helped the city lay the foundation we’ve needed to really grow for the next however many years. I don’t think we would’ve been able to do it without somebody like him. So I am extremely proud of the work he has done, and he is leaving us in the best position we’ve ever been as a city,” she said.

Chanski had been the administrator for the city of Breezy Point since April 2022, when he replaced former City Administrator/Clerk Patrick Wussow. Before that, he served as the community development director for the city of Brainerd.

The council had previously accepted the resignation of

Assistant City Administrator Daniel Eick

at its Aug. 5 regular meeting.

Eick continued in his position

with Breezy Point until Friday, Sept. 6.