2021 file photo by Holly Allen
Outgoing City Administrator stands outside city hall in September 2021 during her first week on the job at Valley Falls.
by Holly Allen
As expected, Valley Falls City Administrator Audree Guzman submitted her resignation via an emailed letter to council members and Mayor Jeanette Shipley Dec. 20. The letter gives an effective date of Jan. 7, 2024, however, by the time Guzman returns from a preplanned vacation out of the country, that date will have passed.
The newspaper has been reporting for months on the tensions between the mayor and the administrator, members of the council, and the city clerk, who tendered her immediate resignation Dec. 13, citing a hostile work environment.
It seems the situation has come to a head for Guzman, as well, who explicitly states that her resignation comes as “a direct result from the unlawful harassment and hostility from Mayor Jeanette Shipley.”
It goes on: “Throughout my tenure I have encountered persistent and unacceptable behavior from Mayor Shipley through her correspondence and actions. The constant unlawful harassment has created an unpleasant and stressful workplace that is being felt throughout the entire organization. The relentless unlawful harassment has had an immense impact on my mental and physical health.”
In an attempt to curb what she considers to be traumatizing behavior by the mayor, Guzman retained personal legal counsel in October. However, she says the situation has only gotten worse, leading to her resignation.
Guzman was hired by the city in September of 2021. She quickly set to work, and in her two years at Valley Falls has made progressive strides toward improving the small town. Guzman has been responsible for and managed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grant money being afforded the city for major improvement projects, including the ongoing $3.1 million rehabilitation of the city’s 100-year-old sewer lines.
During her first interview with the newspaper two years ago, Guzman expressed her intentions to start a family in Valley Falls, becoming personally invested in the town’s future.
“I want to be here for a long time. I want to make a difference here, and I want people to be able to see that difference,” she stated at the time.
Issues with the mayor began prior to either of them working for the city. Immediately following her job interview with the former mayor and council, Guzman left the building to find Shipley waiting to speak to her. Guzman declined.
“I didn’t feel comfortable talking to this stranger I had never met in a town I had never been to,” stated Guzman. “I had never had anything like that happen at an interview.”
Shipley posted about the encounter on her personal Facebook page, and Guzman believes she has held a grudge since. Shipley was elected mayor one month after Guzman’s hiring.
“From the second Jeanette was elected, I began trying to build a professional relationship to ease the transition in this new political upset. But Shipley made it very clear she was on a search for power,” said Guzman. “She also made the comment that she tried to forgive me for not talking to her outside my interview. This is where the problem began.”
According to Guzman, since being seated in office, Shipley has worked to micromanage “every aspect” of her job, referencing directives from dozens of emails, calls, and texts over the past two years, and making information requests regularly. (“At one point I tracked my time spent at her requests, which came to six hours in one day for the list sent that day,” Guzman says.)
According the Guzman, the “full blown harassment” began when she called out Shipley’s “unprofessionalism” in showing up to a domestic violence call involving a member of the Planning and Zoning Committee.
“From this point forward Shipley began contacting my past employers and council members from other communities I have worked in,” reports Guzman. “She increased the frequency and quantity of her tasks with nearly every email, quoting she is the mayor and has ‘supervising control.’ Her requests became extremely hostile and unreasonable.”
Guzman and her husband, Victor, recently bought a home within city limits. They have a seven-month-old daughter, Aurabella.
However, in light of the situation at City Hall, Guzman has accepted a position elsewhere. In her resignation letter, she reiterates her love for the Valley Falls community, and expresses how difficult it will be for her to leave it.
“I am grateful of the support I have received from within the community during this difficult time,” the letter states. “This decision did not come lightly. It has truly been heartbreaking, as my husband and I intentionally choose to make Valley Falls our home.”
She hopes her resignation will draw attention to the situation at City Hall and serve as a message to the community as a whole about the importance of staying in tune with local government.
“I am hopeful that my resignation will bring attention to the issue and a change will come for the sake of the remaining staff and prosperity of Valley Falls,” the letter states. “Mayor Shipley should be expected to rise to the same level of transparency and respect that she demands of everyone else.”
Guzman’s resignation letter ends with a quote by Rick Warren — a pointed comment to the mayor:
“Leadership and respect is learned, earned, and discerned. You develop it. You gain it. It’s based on trust and credibility. Others see it in you. You can not demand it!”
Mayor Shipley did not respond to a request for comment on the resignation of the city administrator, or of the city clerk. She also did not respond to an invitation to tell her side of the story or to share her goals for the city during her time in office.
Despite everything, Guzman hopes her time as city administrator will leave a lasting positive impact and provide her replacement with a starting point in continuing the work of improving and growing the city.
“I love Valley Falls and really wanted it to be our home. I have shed my fair share of tears over the situation,” she stated. “But the town has a lot of great momentum at the moment, and lots of projects ahead of it. I hope I lit a fire in the community.”