The longtime human resources director for the City of South Salt Lake, a confidante of the mayor is the focus of a continuing 2News investigation.
The woman who has been the longtime human resources director for the City of South Salt Lake, a confidante of the mayor, is the focus of a continuing 2News investigation. The longtime human resources director for the City of South Salt Lake, a confidante of the mayor is the focus of a continuing 2News investigation.
Charmaine Peck, Mayor Cherie Woods’ best friend is accused by current and former city employees of engaging in a pattern of intimidation designed to silence employees who wish to file grievances or even so much as send an email detailing a problem in the workplace. Not only that, Peck also commented on the KUTV 2News Facebook page within hours of an investigative report airing in which she would be named. Her comment was peppered with a retaliatory tone and appears to have been intended for a whistleblower in our reporting, though we don’t specifically know which whistleblower she is referring to in her comment. However, she quickly removed the comment, but we successfully captured it. The comment gives credence to longtime accusations Peck is acting in the role of the mayor’s fixer.South Salt Lake mayor, police refuse to answer questions about retirement party for officer w/ DUI conviction South Salt Lake mayor's office responds to questions about retirement party for officer convicted of DUISouth Salt Lake police chief to retire after 2News investigation into lieutenant convicted of DUIAfter Wood was elected mayor of South Salt Lake in 2010, she promptly hired Peck as deputy mayor and at some point, Peck also became the mayor’s chief of staff. After the longtime human resources director was forced out, it was announced that Peck would assume the role of HR director as well. A dozen current and former employees have come forward sharing their stories about what they call a “toxic” work environment and how the mayor has worked hard during her terms in office to appoint, campaign for, and hire family and friends to key positions within the city. In fact, in 2016 KUTV reported on accusations of nepotism by the mayor. We received tips following our initial 2News Investigation that began last year with the handling of the internal affairs investigation by then police chief Jack Carruth and his deputy chief Darren Carr of convicted drunk driver, now former South Salt Lake Police Lieutenant Jimmie Anderson. Anderson was allowed to ride it out into retirement. A retirement party was held for him days after he was convicted of drunk driving. Our whistleblowers alleged a culture of drinking in the police department with the chief participating. That led to the sudden retirement of Carruth and the reassignment of Carr. Mayor Wood then appointed the department’s public information officer and training coordinator, Danielle Croyle to replace Carruth.The speed of Croyle’s appointment by the mayor, a mere 5 days following the former chief's announcement to retire, was the focus of a 2News investigative report that was posted on the KUTV 2News Facebook page late Wednesday January 10 following the city council meeting where Croyle’s appointment was approved by the majority of council members. The following day, Peck commented using her personal Facebook page as Charee Watson Peck and attacked the validity of the 2News investigations but offered no evidence of her counterclaims of what she characterized as a smear campaign. She wrote, “I find it tragic that the media can say anything they want to smear someone’s character with zero facts or evidence.” She went a step further possibly publicly revealing confidential HR information but not naming the employee writing, “A former disgruntled employee fired for serious cause can literally make up anything they want anything! There really are people who have no life who gobble up any false story to make them feel better about their empty lives. It’s so sad.” From her comments, Peck raises serious questions about her own smear campaign which is precisely the pattern current and former employees accuse her of.What’s more, the current HR director then wrote what is perceived by many involved in our investigation as retaliatory. “What if someone turns the tables on THOSE people?” The tone of Peck’s comment comes as no surprise for a woman who was supervised by Peck. She says it was highly inappropriate for Peck to even comment in the first place.FORMER HR SPECIALIST & EXECUTIVE MEMBER OF MAYOR'S STAFF BLOWS THE WHISTLE The former executive assistant for the mayor and HR Specialist for the City is among those who agreed to speak with us if we protect her identity. She says she worked for the City of South Salt Lake for approximately four years from 2018 until 2022. She told us Peck was her direct supervisor, but that she also reported to the mayor. “It was hard to be in a position so close to Cherie Wood and Charee Peck, to witness so many unethical decisions when it came to HR policies/procedures and the fiscal irresponsibility with taxpayer dollars and feel powerless to say or do anything about it,” she says. She added, “Due to the nature of my position being working most closely with Charee and Cherie, overall, my experience was very negative, and that was mostly due to the unethical decision making that I saw.” She says her conscience took a hit and the moral dilemmas she was faced with took a “terrible toll” on her physical and mental health. She says, “Due to the nature of my position being HR things were confidential. I couldn’t talk about them. I couldn't let employees know that they were being treated differently than their coworkers and that really that was hard to be in that position and keep a clean conscience. It was for me very hard to balance doing what's right and doing what I'm told in order to keep my job.” She told 2News Investigates, that the mayor and Peck are one and the same and that Peck would never do anything without the mayor’s stamp of approval first. “It's often hard to distinguish Charee Peck's decisions from Mayor Wood's decisions because they are often seen as a package deal.” She found it difficult working as an HR specialist because of a genuine distrust amongst employees who she says were afraid to come forward, “On several occasions employees approached me with HR concerns and admitted that they did not feel comfortable going to Charee because they know anything shared with Charee goes to the mayor's ears.”"As an HR director I would expect someone to be to have a working knowledge of HR law, policies and procedures and be able to make decisions in that role.” When she had a question for Peck she says, “Like I mentioned nine times out of ten, it was let me ask legal, let me ask the mayor.” She provided several examples of what she calls unethical conduct to 2News Investigates. “I was asked on several occasions to push through a pay raise or a hiring and not tell my HR coworker about it because they ask too many questions.” Another example she shared, “Charee was doing a salary survey during my last year with the city, and I noticed that some employees were receiving market adjustments where others weren't even though they held the same position.” Our whistleblower says it depended on if the employee was liked by the two of them as to if they would be allowed to file a grievance. And that it also depended on who the employee was they were attempting to complain about. “Oftentimes when an issue would arise the first question Charee would ask is "Who is it?" which implied that it mattered who you were and maybe your relationship with them.”Multiple current and former employees shared similar statements, complaining about retaliatory measures if they even so much as thought about lodging a complaint including Brooke St. John. She served as the victim advocate coordinator for the South Salt Lake Police Department for fourteen years before she resigned. Her direct supervisor was Lieutenant Jimmie Anderson. After she went over his head because Anderson ordered her team to release victim advocate notes to defense attorneys, she says Anderson repeatedly harassed and intimidated her. “Our notes contained where victims were, what their addresses were, what code words were, what shelters they were in because we all carried a caseload of about 200 people at any time, so we had to keep some notes.” St. John says, “I had a hard time putting one foot in front of the other every day just to go to work because I was concerned or fearful about what Jimmy Anderson was gonna do to me next it was a daily thing where there was harassment, intimidation going on.” She added, “I was fearful steroids were being used,” and wondered “Is that why he’s so, seems so mentally unstable with me sometimes.”“I went to the Deputy Mayor Charee Peck and told her I wanted to file a hostile work environment complaint and I filed it. She met with me and told me I could not file it unless Jimmy Anderson made a physical threat to harm me. I said he hasn't said he's gonna punch me in the face, and she said I couldn't file it.” “I left the South Salt Lake Police Department because it had become a situation where I was fearful for my own safety,” says St. John. We made several attempts to speak with Anderson to get his side of the story, but he did not respond.2News Investigates repeatedly asked Peck several questions about her Facebook comment she deleted but we were able to capture before she removed it. We even sent it to her, Mayor Wood, and City Attorney Josh Collins along with all members of the South Salt Lake City Council. We logged each time we asked for a comment and that turned out to be no fewer than eight times during the 27 days between January 12 and February 7. To this day, no one has responded.
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