Lifeguard Sex Abuse Allegations Mishandled By Staff, Report Finds

EVANSTON, IL — An independent report into allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse among lakefront staff in the Evanston Parks, Recreation and Community Services department attributed the city's failure to conduct an investigation into the claims to former Human Resources Division Manager Jennifer Lin.

Lin, a former Cook County prosecutor and currently the director of compliance for Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez, negotiated a separation agreement with Erika Storlie against the wishes of Mayor Daniel Biss and departed with 6 months severance pay and other benefits. She declined to comment on the report.

The report from the firm Salvatore, Prescott, Porter & Porter also found Lawrence Hemingway, who resigned as parks director as soon as the report was presented to the City Council, showed his failure to effectively lead the department.

According to the SPP&P report, Hemingway claimed he "recused" himself from involvement in the complaints because he had himself been the subject of sexual harassment complaints, but at the same time demanded that he be kept in the loop.

The City Council commissioned the report in the wake of a July 2021 WBEZ Chicago report that detailed a petition that had been shared the previous summer describing a culture of pervasive sexism and harassment of young female seasonal parks department employees and including a series of anonymous accounts of sexual misconduct, some of it criminal.

"In July 2020, the petition organizers brought [Parks, Recreation and Community Services] and Human Resources a bombshell. The petition includes dozens of stories of young women being mistreated both on and off the beach by male supervisors. Everyone who read the petition has described it in similar terms: horrifying, disturbing, upsetting," the report said.

After the petition was brought to city staff, some changes to training and permitted punishments were implemented, but none of the allegations in the petition were investigated.

"The Human Resources and PRCS staff cited several reasons for that, chiefly (1) that the organizers stated that they did not want an investigation or discipline of individuals, (2) the allegations involved mostly off-site and after-hours activities, and (3) the allegations were anonymous, so there was nothing they could do to investigate. We are not persuaded by any of these rationales."

City staff also cited the "beach culture" as another reason not to investigate the claims of abuse, which included non-consensual sexual relationships, either involving minors or intoxicated participants.

"In her interview with investigators, and in some of her contemporaneous emails, Lin noted that some of the young women complaining about the behavior they experienced had themselves 'behaved badly,'" the report said. "Though none said it directly, the implication was that though they were now complaining about it, the petition signatories may have themselves been willing participants in the culture they were now complaining about."

While the four organizers of the petition, two of whom spoke with the outside investigators who produced the 74-page SPP&P report, may not have wished to pursue a further investigation or discipline against individual employees, that did not preclude the city from conducting its own probe.

"For reasons that remain unclear, the City appears to have prioritized ongoing conversation with the petition organizers over thorough review or investigation of a real problem that had been brought to their attention," the report said. "Our best explanation is that the City was trying to mitigate risk of public exposure of these concerns by remaining in conversation with the organizers."

In addition to Lin and Hemingway, the resulting scandal contributed to the resignations of City Manager Erika Storlie, Parks Department Assistant Director Karen Hawk and Recreation Manager Ray Doerner.

"It is clear that Hemingway relied heavily on Lin and Hawk to handle the matter, and after seeing how badly things went, feels he should not be held to account because he wasn’t driving the ship," the report said.

According to the report, Hawk told investigators she specifically handed a copy of the petition to Hemingway and described its contents. Hemingway claims he did not recall.

"We find Hawk's memory on this point credible," the report said.

The report extensively criticizes Lin's handling of the city's Human Resources Division, describing poor record-keeping, inconsistent application of policies and a lack of trust from employees that reports of misconduct would be handled appropriately. The description of the city's HR process under Lin is consistent with past reports that describe Lin as more interested in covering up misconduct than investigating it.

Witnesses told investigators that it felt like Lin, whose approach they described as "prosecutorial" and "adversarial," would try to talk them out of filing formal complaints, indicating that it might lead to an embarrassing or stressful investigation. In the case of a sexual harassment allegation against a supervisor, for instance, a woman said Lin appeared to be advising her against taking any action.

"Particularly in cases of race-based, sex-based, or other 'protected class' complaints, any suggestion, however slight, that the City is seeking to dissuade a complainant from seeking an investigation into the matter is a significant concern," the report said.

"Lin’s questions asking them what they wanted were interpreted not as an expression of care," it said, "but as a signal that Lin cared more about protecting the City or sweeping things under the rug than trying to fully investigate and address possible wrongdoing."

A key question the report aims to answer is who knew about the petition before the summer of 2021.

"The general answer is that while some high-level officials knew a vague outline of the petition’s complaints, only a small handful of City staff—those who attended the meetings we just described—had a copy of the petition and knew the full extent of the allegations it contained," it said. "It was this latter group, with Lin at the helm, that led the City’s response."

According to the report, Lin kept Storlie in the loop with the city's meetings with the petition organizers, calling her immediately after meetings to detail what occurred, but never shared the petition. Lin did not provide an explanation to investigators as to why she did not share it.

Former Mayor Steve Hagerty and then-Corporation Counsel Kelley Gandurski were also aware that lakefront employees had raised concerns about workplace conditions, but they were never provided a copy of the petition, the report found.

"They, too, relied on Lin, who represented to them that the petition included primarily anonymous allegations about after-hours behavior. In our interviews, we provided each of these three individuals a copy of the petition to review. Each of them, after reviewing it, unequivocally stated that the allegations contained in it merited an investigation," the report said.

"Gandurski expressed significant frustration that the nature of the allegations had not been brought to her as Corporation Counsel because she would have insisted on an outside investigation immediately. Storlie stated that had she seen it, she would have immediately shared the petition with Gandurski and requested an outside investigation. Hagerty stated that none of his conversations with Storlie or concerned residents in 2020 in any way hinted at the sorts of serious abuse alleged in the petition," it continued.

"Had either Lin or Hemingway provided a copy of the petition to their superiors at City Hall, it is likely that the City would have conducted an investigation of the allegations in the petition much sooner."

The report outlined nine recommendations to implement to prevent future such occurrences. In a statement, city officials said the city takes responsibility for what occurred, apologies to those who experienced an unhealthy work environment during their time employed by the city and committed to implement the report's recommendations.

"The City is tremendously grateful to the courageous employees who brought these horrific circumstances to light, and who shared their experiences, especially in light of the way they were initially treated," it said. "Their willingness to come forward ignited needed changes not only at the City's lakefront operations, but in the organization as a whole."

Read the full: Report to the City of Evanston Regarding Allegations of Misconduct within the Parks and Recreation Department