Great Bend mental health center trial looms

Sept. 25--GREAT BEND -- A discrimination lawsuit brought against The Center for Counseling and Consultation, Great Bend, is inching toward trial, but its executive director, whose hiring spurred the lawsuit, will be in a different job by the time it is slated to open.

The Center's executive director, Douglas McNett, will be sworn in as Pawnee County attorney in January. McNett won the August Republican primary over Pawnee County Attorney John Settle, 1,023 to 553. No Democrat is on the ballot in November, so the Center's board already is preparing to hire its next executive director.

The trial that will look into the Center's history was set recently for February.

Sexual misconduct

In 2015, allegations against the Center's then-executive director Dwight Young's sexual behavior burst into the news. The Center is a community mental health provider supported by and serving Barton, Pawnee, Rice and Stafford counties.

"Young was a serial sexual predator with an almost 40-year history of the most vile conduct, against both patients and staff," the plaintiffs allege in the pending case against the Center. The plaintiffs are Wendy Lockwood, a current employee of the Center, and Talaya Schwartz, a former employee.

"In the 1980s, Young admitted to taking an employee to an out-of-town conference, arranging adjoining rooms and jamming the lock in the door between their rooms so he could enter the employee's room. He then left pornography and a (sex toy) in her room," a court filing said.

The plaintiffs added it was not known if this was the same sex toy that Young brought to the office to have staff use and report back to him.

Young's behavior was reported to the Center's board in the 1980s, and he was sent to Menninger's for an evaluation. He preserved his job, but the behavior did not change, according to claims.

Recent court filings, including portions of depositions entered into the record this month, reveal more about the past executive director and how the Center transitioned to a new director in 2014.

"In the 1990s, Young was investigated for allegedly having sex with an employee who allegedly stole $5,000 from The Center. No charges were filed against this employee," a filing states.

Lockwood claims she endured sexual harassment, innuendo and touching by Young. In August 2014, Schwartz talked to a field staff individual about the workload and during that conversation, Schwartz's unhappiness with Young's behavior "flooded out," Lockwood said in a deposition.

Schwartz was told by field staff that the information about Young needed to be reported.

Lockwood testified she received a call from Schwartz saying Center board member and Barton County Commissioner Jennifer Schartz wanted Lockwood to call her. Lockwood said Schartz was "pretty intent on making sure something was going to get done, she was pretty angry, and she said that 'We're going to handle this, he's going to be gone, I want him out of there now.' I think she could have hung him out by a tree in the backyard if she would have been able to," Lockwood said.

Schartz wanted Lockwood " 'to disclose to the whole board what has happened to you, what he said to you, all of this stuff,' " Lockwood said. "And I was sobbing on the phone and I said, 'Jennifer, I cannot do this, I can't sit next to him in front of all of these people that make a decision about my job and my future and disclose this, things you can't say,' " Lockwood said.

" 'You have to stick up for other women,' " Lockwood said Schartz urged.

" 'I will go to the media or withhold your funding if I have to, but I'm not letting this go,' " Lockwood said Schartz said.

The center's board met and went into an executive session. Young was stunned. He and Lockwood and Schwartz and another employee were asked to leave while the board talked.

Young "kept sighing really heavy," Lockwood said, as they waited. " 'The last time this happened, they were voting on my dismissal,' '' he said, referring to the 1980s, when he survived a close vote by the board.

The board decided to put Young on administrative leave, and he was walked out of the building. The Center's continuity of operations plan called for Lockwood to step in if Young wasn't available. However, she learned the board chose its chairman, McNett, an attorney in the Pawnee County attorney's office, as interim executive director.

Great Bend attorney Charles Pike conducted an investigation into Young's behavior. Pike and McNett interviewed employees. Pike would later report to the board he found credible evidence Young had made "verbal statements of a sexual and extremely offensive nature" to four employees.

Young resigned on Sept. 11, 2014.

The board named McNett executive director in November.

Lockwood and Schwartz are claiming sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation in their lawsuit against the Center.

New executive

With Young gone, the job description for the Center's executive director was updated. Minimum qualifications called for someone in the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology or social work, or in the alternative, someone with an advanced degree in business administration. The executive director "must have a minimum of five years' administrative experience and demonstrate executive ability."

McNett testified in his deposition in July he did not meet the requirements.

He graduated from Washburn Law School. His management experience, by his testimony, consisted of running a roguing crew in high school and college and overseeing one or two secretaries. He was appointed to the Center's board roughly five years ago.

Lockwood holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and earned an MBA through Fort Hays State University. She worked at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility before starting her career at the Center in 1994.

Foreign-speaking doctors, an employee at Wal-Mart'sSam's Club, an MBA-degree holder and an assortment of other people applied, including Lockwood.

About four or five met the requirements, McNett said, and the board reviewed the applications in an open session.

McNett testified that board member Laurie White said as they looked at the applications, " 'I don't believe we have all the applications.' "

" 'You didn't apply,' " she said, he recalled. He answered, "And I'm not going to apply."

A discussion ensued. Why wouldn't he apply? "I like what I do," he said. Would he consider it? Yes, he would consider it. He said he brought it up to the board that he didn't have the qualifications. One board member said he considered a law degree the same as an MBA.

The board voted to hire McNett. No one else was interviewed.

There were rifts in the Center and Schwartz alleges she faced retaliation from McNett when she attempted to do her job. She ceased working there in early 2015.

McNett missed the law. He missed handling criminal cases and being in the courtroom, and so he ran for Pawnee County attorney after less than two years at the helm of the mental health center.

In a deposition just days before the primary election, McNett said if he lost, he would pursue continuing as executive director of the Center. "I could see myself retiring in that job," the 46-year-old testified.

Defendant counters

In 1985, the Menninger Foundation advised the Center that Young should not see women with family or marital conflict. In its defense in the pending lawsuit, the Center says the 1985 evaluation "did not conclude that he should be precluded from seeing all clients or that he be removed from his position."

From 1985 until 2014, the board received no complaints about Young that caused it to re-evaluate its decision to keep him in the job, according to the defense.

The Center says Lockwood intentionally concealed information about Young's behavior and encouraged Schwartz to do likewise, because Lockwood thought Young would retire soon and Lockwood was confident she would be named executive director, the defense claims.

Only when the women learned Young was negotiating for a year-long extension on his contract -- delaying Lockwood's elevation to the top job -- did Schwartz talk to a board member, the defense claims.

The Center asserts that Lockwood and Schwartz were directly involved in drafting the proposed job description for executive director to ensure that Lockwood's credentials were consistent with the requirements.

The Center denies it knew about sexual harassment, or that it engaged in sexual discrimination or retaliation. Schwartz says she was fired after McNett became executive director. The Center says Schwartz elected to resign and "was not constructively discharged."

Schwartz gained employment elsewhere at higher pay and is not owed a monetary award, the Center says. Lockwood continues to work at the Center and has received merit increases and also is not owed a sum, the defense says.

The damages and relief requested by the plaintiffs, combined, exceed $1 million.

Trial

Kevin Case, of Case Linden PC, Kansas City, Missouri, is the lead attorney for the Center.

He told The News he was unable to comment on the litigation or the likelihood the case would be settled before the Feb. 21 trial date in Wichita.

Randall Rathbun, of Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer LC, Wichita, is representing Lockwood and Schwartz. Rathbun said most cases are settled before trial, but he assumes a case will go to trial.

This summer, the defense sought to obtain testimony from Rathbun because Lockwood had brought documents from the Great Bend office to a meeting with him. Rathbun said he destroyed the documents believing that the Center would use removal of the documents from the premises as a pretext for firing Lockwood.

In 38 years of practicing law, Rathbun said, never had anyone sought to take his deposition.

McNett declined to talk about the lawsuit as it involves personnel matters, but said his contract as executive director is naturally set to expire at the end of January. He intends to stay in the job until he is sworn in as Pawnee County attorney in the second week of January.

At its September meeting, the Center's board authorized commencement of an executive director search. The Center outsourced its payroll and human resources functions to Syndeco, Wichita, in spring 2016, according to McNett.

"The specific logistics of the search process will be handled by its contracted human resource staff (Syndeco) in coordination with the governing board," McNett wrote in an email to The News.

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