Tom looked to his right at Sally and smiled as he drove the van into the exit lane for Capital Boulevard North, off the I-440 beltline in Raleigh. His wife had a peaceful expression on her face this morning. They had looked forward to this day for nearly two painful months. Finally, the mediation meeting would take place, explaining and resolving the anger and retaliation from the two agency bosses, Director Keith Overcash and Fayetteville Supervisor Steven Vozzo.
It was a deeply troubling, workplace mystery. Why had Tom become the target of angry bosses the day after the North Carolina environmental agency's meeting with the DuPont Fayetteville Works' environmental manager? He had spoken up during the meeting and politely pointed out how the DuPont presentation was misleading. The DuPont official had discussed their onsite groundwater monitoring wells at great length. However, he was silent about the scrubber systems and the persistent fluorocarbon chemicals discharging into the Cape Fear River. He did not respond to Tom. The DuPont official and the agency bosses said nothing at all. The entire room went silent. It was as if the Fayetteville coordinator did not exist.
Clearly, DuPont Fayetteville Works needed an advanced or upgraded wastewater treatment system. Why were the agency bosses silent during the entire meeting, even after their own Fayetteville coordinator spoke up? Yes, DuPont is a powerful company. But why were the bosses still angry and not communicating with him? Their anger and unwillingness to explain the situation had now lasted two months. Why did Director Overcash tell Tom over the phone that if he talked to anyone about what was happening in the Fayetteville office it would be considered "insubordination?"
The company's flourochemical manufacturing plants in both Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, were receiving a considerable amount of national attention.
Certainly at this point, top North Carolina agency officials in Raleigh were closely following the situation in Parkersburg and discussing DuPont Fayetteville Works with both the U.S. EPA experts and the many nearby university experts. Almost certainly, DuPont's wastewater treatment plant located southeast of Fayetteville, with persistent fluorocarbon compounds discharging into the Cape Fear River, was now primarily in the hands of an EPA team of experts. The EPA team would be regularly meeting with DuPont engineers and some of the many technical experts located in the Raleigh-Durham area, including Director Alan Klimek and the state agency's Division of Water Quality, to upgrade the company's treatment plant and pollution control systems.
Once the pollution control systems were upgraded the company could proudly announce that they were working tirelessly to protect the downstream communities from harmful pollution. After all, safety first! Any difficult haggling between attorneys and engineers for the two sides about the specifics of the treatment system upgrades could eventually be brought to a conclusion. After the pollution control upgrades were completed, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley could praise the company for their ongoing efforts to put safety first and protect the downstream communities while providing numerous well-paying jobs. Based on his years working in Louisiana, the Fayetteville coordinator thought this was how it was very likely to play out with such a large and powerful company in North Carolina.
Clearly, the plant needed an advanced treatment system to remove the persistent fluorocarbon chemicals discharging into the river, rather than the site's existing conventional system that futilely used microorganisms for wastewater streams that contained numerous chemicals that could not be broken down by microorganisms. It was Futility 101. And it was college-level Water Chemistry 101. DuPont was discharging their persistent industrial chemicals into the Cape Fear River.
And it was also Pollution Control 401, taught in senior-level, civil engineering classes. Professor Walter Weber had emphasized this when discussing industrial chemicals that don't break down in his popular civil engineering course back in 1983 at the University of Michigan. The Water Resources Lab on North Campus in Ann Arbor in the 1980s had been actively studying the effectiveness of activated carbon to remove persistent halogenated carbon chemicals from wastewater with funding from a U.S. EPA grant. Tom had been one of the student workers on the project. Certainly, DuPont needed to upgrade their current system and install an advanced treatment system.
The EPA team investigating the pollution control systems at DuPont Fayetteville Works would certainly be collaborating with the EPA team that was investigating the DuPont fluorochemical manufacturing processes in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Those EPA teams would likely be consulting with the numerous experts and EPA officials in Raleigh and Durham, including the adjacent Research Triangle Park (RTP) area and the well-regarded, North Carolina universities. Many of the key regulations and guidance documents pertaining to inspecting chemical manufacturing facilities were developed by RTP area consultants and the EPA teams located in the Mutual Life Building in downtown Durham, not far from the many experts at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina Central University. In addition to downtown Durham, the nearby experts included numerous U.S. EPA officials located within Research Triangle Park.
Obviously, the ongoing discharges into water and air of these industrial chemicals, halogenated carbon chemicals that do not break down, needed to be tackled. And now there was much more information. DuPont had recently started reporting to the agency's Division of Air Quality the specific names and quantities of fluorocarbon chemicals discharged to air and water from their large scrubber systems. Fortunately, the experts to address this big problem were nearby. In this respect, North Carolina was in a much stronger position than West Virginia with DuPont's fluorochemicals plant next to the Ohio River in Parkersburg. It was very fortunate that just a one hour drive upstream from DuPont Fayetteville Works was the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill area with one of the largest concentrations of scientists, engineers, lawyers, policy and public health experts in the United States!
But why the anger and cruelty towards Tom and Sally? They were both originally from the midwest and did not have engineering degrees from North Carolina State University like many of the bosses located an hour away in Raleigh. And Tom did not have an advanced degree like many of the talented professionals located in the nearby Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill area. Is that why Director Overcash did not want him included in the agency discussions about DuPont? Perhaps not enough education? Even if DuPont had asked Director Overcash to exclude him from inspections and meetings, it made sense for the environmental agency and its Divisions of Air Quality and Water Quality to include him in internal discussions until the bosses and many experts in the Raleigh area got up to speed on what was probably the most complex chemical manufacturing site in North Carolina. And why so angry and cruel? Why not give Tom and Sally some information? Any information!
Yes, DuPont has a lot of money and power. But that does not preclude the agency from having a professional conversation about the DuPont Fayetteville Works site and its discharges of fluorocarbon chemicals into the Cape Fear River. Why not communicate? And why was Sally dragged into this? Why the cruelty towards her? Tom was the agency inspector for DuPont Fayetteville Works, not her. He was the one who wrote the inspection report describing the problem. Sally had not even been an attendee at the agency's DuPont meeting two months ago in September. It was baffling.
Within a week of the DuPont meeting, Director Overcash had told him over the phone, "it will be considered insubordination if you talk to anyone about what is happening in the Fayetteville Office." And while placing paperwork on the desk of the Fayetteville boss, he saw yellow sticky notes next to the phone with text indicating that Director Overcash was trying to get him removed from the agency's Fayetteville Office. It seemed quite possible that the Fayetteville boss might also have been ordered to stay quiet under the threat of "insubordination." How else to explain the angry behavior of the Fayetteville boss during the past two months?
Both the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Organizational Excellence seemed to be sympathetic, but apparently were not able, or allowed, to explain to Tom or Sally what was happening and why. It made no sense. As they turned the van into the parking lot of the environmental agency's Parker-Lincoln Building the van's stereo played, "I am the Walrus." During the past month it had become one of their favorite songs. They had listened carefully to the lyrics, but they made no sense at all.
I am the egg man,
They are the egg men,
I am the walrus,
Goo goo g'joob ...
The environmental agency building, the Parker-Lincoln Building at 2800 Capital Boulevard, was a former General Electric factory converted into state government office space in the 1990s. In some respects it had the look and feel of a prison. However, the couple thought the building had a pleasant and rejuvenating glow this morning as they walked down the hall. After all, the mediation meeting about to begin would clear up the mystery and certainly resolve the anger and retaliation. Tom chuckled to himself how the old and unattractive Parker-Lincoln Building in Raleigh seemed quite beautiful to him on this morning.
The group around the conference table was well-dressed and somber. Tom took the seat at the end, directly opposite Director Overcash. Sally took the open seat along one of the long sides of the table. Rita Richardson of Human Resoures was sitting to the director's left, on the long side of the table nearly opposite from Sally. Any misunderstandings during the past two months could now be discussed and resolved. Finally, the mystery and stress was about to end. Thank God! Tom and Sally were eager for the meeting to begin.
But as the mediation meeting got underway the couple's optimism quickly turned to alarm. Director Overcash immediately began scolding both of them. He was angry that Sally had written more than a year ago, as part of a request to attend training, about her belief that women in the agency field offices were not always given the same training opportunities as men. Also, Director Overcash was still very angry that Tom had contacted Human Resources in September to ask for help and advice. He seemed to be arguing that the agency's Office of Human Resources was essentially an "outside party" and this was none of their business.
He thought it might be helpful to explain that he contacted Ann Waddle of Human Resources for advice based on the recommendation of Michael Williamson, who had experience at the top level of the agency during Governor Hunt's administration. But this only upset Director Overcash further and caused him to scold Tom again for "speaking to outside parties." It seemed that Director Overcash had a harsh, secretive, CIA-like mindset about the agency's day-to-day business. Tom had never encountered this type of mindset before in the environmental agency, a state department headquartered in Raleigh, where the majority of employees had backgrounds in science or engineering, and information-sharing and collaboration were essential. The harsh secrecy did not make sense. In any event, it was clear that he should never again call Human Resources and ask for help or advice. But perhaps now the discussion could move forward to clear up the mystery and any misunderstandings.
"I was just trying to communicate and share information," he explained helpfully. "Working in a field office and communicating with Raleigh can sometimes be difficult," he added.
"Don't tell me about working in a field office," Director Overcash snapped back angrily.
Tom froze in his chair. Everyone sitting at the table was very still. The mediation meeting was not proceeding at all as Tom and Sally had expected.
During these tense and quiet seconds, he remembered that Keith Overcash had worked for many years in a field office, the Mooresville regional office north of Charlotte, before being promoted to deputy director in Raleigh by Director Alan Klimek. He wondered what had happened in Mooresville to produce this sharp response years later. Did something unpleasant happen to Keith Overcash during his time in Mooresville that involved Human Resources?
"But the agency Honor Code emphasizes teamwork, and that we respect and support each other," Tom said hopefully.
"No, the agency Honor Code does not apply to the Division of Air Quality," Director Overcash responded sharply.
This comment was startling. It made no sense.
"But we all work for the state environmental agency. We all work for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)," Tom responded.
"No, you don't work for DENR. You work for the Division of Air Quality, he snapped back."
Tom and Sally were stunned. Sally now had tears in her eyes and quickly got up out of her seat and left the conference room. This was supposed to be a mediation meeting. They had entered the meeting with optimism and in good faith. But it felt like an ambush, with more anger and retaliation. It felt like futility. Why so arrogant and cruel?
He had learned from his years in Baton Rouge that he needed to maintain a polite and positive, win-win attitude, regardless of what happened. Director Overcash might be trying to provoke a response that he could use, with witnesses in the room, to cite him for insubordination. During the past two months, his Fayetteville boss might also have been trying to use anger to trigger a potentially inappropriate response that could be deemed "insubordination."
When the Director said Tom did not work for the agency, Rita Richardson of Human Resources looked shocked, like she might fall right out of her chair. The monthly paychecks, the signs at the building entrances, the letterhead and envelopes, the business cards, the agency website. All indicated that Tom and Sally, and everyone sitting at the table, were public employees working for DENR, the state environmental agency. It was as if Director Overcash, a long-time public employee in state government, and perhaps carrying some old grievances, had decided that the state agency's Division of Air Quality headquartered in Raleigh was now his own private company.
Despite the scolding, Tom felt confidant he could give the Director the deference he seemed to need and want for the mediation meeting. But he had a problem sitting immediately to his right. During the scolding from the director, Charles Valrie kept grinning at him. Everyone could see this happening, but no one said anything. As one of the agency's business officers, he worked as an assistant to Director Overcash in Raleigh, but Tom recalled that Charles had previously been in the military. He wondered, was this intended as some type of psychological warfare? He tried to avoid looking and thinking about the person sitting next to him, but Charles was leaning forward and his grinning face was several feet from Tom's face. He thought about turning to Charles and politely asking, in front of the group, why he was constantly grinning. However, asking that question might be deemed "insubordinate" by Director Overcash. The grinning face sitting next to him was starting to cause Tom's blood to boil.
Suddenly, he thought of something that he wanted to tell the group. "I have a specific example from an agency office of why the agency Honor Code is important for all of us," he said. For the first time during the meeting, Director Overcash's face and eyes changed from an expression of sternness to one of curiousity.
Tom explained how he was in a meeting with one of the agency bosses and, out of the blue, he started complaining about one of his subordinates who was not present. The boss went into a strange discussion about how the explanation for the subordinate's personality must be that he was a black guy who was short in height. This boss talked at length about how "short black guys" have a certain type of personality and way of behaving. He concluded that this specific example showed why the Honor Code was important for everyone in the agency.
After hearing this example, the faces around the table were suddenly wide-eyed with looks of concern. Director Overcash's face now showed surprise.
Charles Valrie, just a few feet away from Tom, stopped grinning. Charles is African-American, and this specific example of a boss ignoring the agency's Honor Code seemed to wipe away his grin for the remainder of the meeting. The meeting's dual tone of scolding and mocking seemed to dissipate. Tom's optimism and hopefulness returned.
Sally entered the room and returned to her seat at the table. She appeared composed and determined. Sally was a conscientious, quiet, and soft-spoken agency employee. She had grown up in Brighton, Michigan and had a masters degree in engineering from Michigan State University in East Lansing. She had worked hard to earn an advanced degree while raising three children with the help of her kind parents. Tom recognized that he could never have done what she had accomplished under very challenging circumstances. He admired her. At this moment in the meeting, looking over at Sally gave Tom renewed energy and confidence. Now the mediation meeting could make real progress. The difficult initial phase was over. The group should now be able to have a collaborative and professional discussion. The honest communication could now begin, he thought.
But once again, the couple's optimism quickly evaporated. Director Overcash announced that a decision had already been made, and previously printed out in a memo, now handed for the first time to Tom and Sally. Due to unspecified problems in the Fayetteville office one of them had to leave Fayetteville and drive each day to Raleigh to work in a vacant position in the Parker-Lincoln building. The other could remain in the Fayetteville office. The couple would be given five days to decide who would leave Fayetteville. No specific reasons or explanations were given.
The couple had been married since 2001. But now, four years later, an agency decision had rather suddenly been made regarding them working together in the Fayetteville office. This seemed better than two state government bosses brazenly trying to intimidate Tom out of Fayetteville for reasons still unexplained. In this respect, perhaps Human Resources had been able to influence agency management and provide a bit of help. But why the two months of anger, retaliation, and secrecy? It still did not make sense.
The so-called mediation meeting was over.
As they stood up to leave the room, he remembered the importance of always maintaining a positive attitude. He turned and addressed Director Overcash with a final comment.
"We can keep working together on win-win solutions," he stated with a pleasant and hopeful tone.
He was expecting a polite response from Director Overcash, but it never came. Since there had been a lack of honest communication, and so little had been explained, he was focused on closely watching the eyes in the room. The reaction to his comment about "working together on win-win solutions" was as if he had blurted out a statement in a completely unfamiliar foreign language. Director Overcash appeared puzzled and silently stared back.
Tom and Sally walked back through the parking lot stunned at what had just taken place in the state agency's Parker-Lincoln building in Raleigh. They climbed into their van for the hour-long drive back to Fayetteville. As they started up the vehicle, the music on the stereo resumed.
Expert, texpert choking smokers,
Don't you think the joker laughs at you,
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide,
I'm crying.
Semolina Pilchard,
Climbing up the Eiffel Tower,
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna,
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe.
I am the egg man,
I am the egg man,
I am the walrus,
Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob ...
__ __ __ __
__ __ __ __
November 28, 2005
Memo to:
Tom McKinney
Sally McKinney
From:
Keith Overcash, Director
Subject: Transfer from the Fayetteville Regional Office
Recent events in the Fayetteville office, have resulted in the Human Resources of DENR conducting an investigation. Ann Waddle of HR and Charles Valrie, Business Officer, traveled to Fayetteville on October 25, 2005, and met with each of you as well as your supervisor, Steven Vozzo.
Based upon the information gathered, I have decided that change needs to be made for the good of the division and all individuals involved. I feel it is necessary for one of you to be transferred, effective November 29, 2005 to a position outside of the Fayetteville office.
This was not an easy decision to make, as both of you have been good employees for some years now. However, it has become quite evident that your personal relationship has become intertwined with work issues and the situation in Fayetteville cannot continue as it has in the past. I believe that the department and the division have been more than accommodating up until now of your marital situation based upon the stated policy in the State Personnel Manual, but I no longer feel we can do that. Therefore, my decision is as I have stated above.
cast of characters
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