Mayor, town clerk set meeting July 23

Published 6:00 am Monday, July 16, 2018

BALDWIN — Baldwin Mayor Donna Lanceslin said she will meet Town Clerk Chrystal Willis at a public hearing in which the two will air their grievances against each other before the town’s Board of Aldermen.

And Willis said she will present documentation that will prove inaccuracies and faults in the mayor’s job performance, as well as mounds of work she has completed as clerk.

Meanwhile, Alderman Donald Grimm, who said he is in the dark about issues on both sides, noted the board has not met in executive session as a whole to even begin discussing the matter. 

Lanceslin said  Friday the date of the public hearing is tentatively set for 6 p.m. July 23 at Town Hall.

Issues between Lanceslin and Willis came to a head Wednesday afternoon when Willis said she received a letter from Lanceslin placing her on administrative leave with pay, until the town meeting on Thursday, when she would recommend to the aldermen that they fire Willis. 

In the letter, Lanceslin wrote she is recommending Willis be terminated for cause, including insubordination, creating and executing documents that are beyond her authority as clerk, abusing her position as clerk and creating a work environment which isn’t conducive to productivity, along with other reasons. She requested Willis turn over her keys and all passwords pending the hearing, and that refrain from performing any duties in her role as clerk, including taking minutes of the July 12 board meeting. 

Before closing the letter, Lanceslin thanked Willis for her service. 

After receiving the letter, Willis wrote an email blast to The Daily Iberian and other media in Acadiana, requesting they appear at the meeting July 12. In the prepared statement, she wrote, “So that there will be a proper and non-biased representation the of the truth and the essence of the Town of Baldwin’s municipality in action.”

Willis said her pending dismissal had the, “potential to not only damage my professional, personal and entrepreneurial image, but more importantly it has the potential to completely eradicate the model of efficiency and effectiveness that I have implemented within Town Hall since being hired.”

She alleged the tension between her and Lanceslin escalated due to, “a combination of faulty internal controls and in-house communication issues, paired with over-inflated egos and a lack of follow-through by leadership, on matters of importance.”

“Frankly, what’s being done in this town is a waste of taxpayers money, and now it is time the public find all about it,” she said.

Willis has been on the job five months as a full-time clerk. Previously, she worked for Lanceslin as an independent contractor.  She said Lanceslin was a beloved high school teacher of hers.

“Initially, she had my allegiance and alliance. Five months later, however, I have unfortunately learned that this is not the same woman I looked up to and revered so much,” the town clerk said.

Willis said she loves her job and does not want to leave, so she plans on fighting.

“What she has said about me are discreditable and unfounded truths, and I will fight to uphold my name. That’s all I have, to keep their integrity and reputation,” she said.

The town clerk said if anything is true, “the town of Baldwin is a mess.”

She cited, for example, that she has been completing water FLOW reports to the state Department of Environmental Quality because the town’s interim water plant director refuses to complete them.

Also, Willis said, when she began working in the town, she found the FLOW reports (which are basically water quality reports) had not been filed for months at a time with the DEQ.

Lanceslin did not offer much comment other than she stood by the letter that requests  the aldermen fire Willis.

“She was one of my students. She was very bright and gifted. However, I cannot have her as a member of my team under the conditions as of late,” Lanceslin said.

“I asked her to have  discussion with me about her issues, in executive session with the aldermen. However, she chose to make this public,” the mayor said. “That’s when she accused me of running the city like a dictator, among other things.”

Grimm, an alderman who did not attend Thursday’s meeting, said he is anxious to get the matter resolved at the upcoming meeting on July 23.

“I’m in the dark about the situation and the aldermen have never met in an executive session to discuss anything,” Grimm said. “We have to sit down as a board. I don’t believe any of us know all the facts, so how can we pass any kind of judgment until then?”