Medford Finance Director Alleges Hostile Work Environment

MEDFORD, MA — The city's chief financial officer is accusing the mayor's administration of creating a "hostile and toxic" work environment following a comment she says Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn made during a June 1 meeting.

Aleesha Nunley Benjamin, who also serves as Medford's auditor and financial director, alleges Lungo-Koehn told her "a white male should present the budget to the City Council instead of [Ms. Nunley Benjamin] since they will listen to a white male," according to a cease and desist order sent by former city solicitor Mark Rumley on Nunley Benjamin's behalf.

The order, first published by the Medford Transcript, was sent to Lungo-Koehn, Assistant City Solicitor Kim Scanlon and Director of Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion Neil Osborne earlier this month. It was later sent to the City Council on June 18.

“Recently, certain personnel allegations have come to our attention,” a spokesperson for the city wrote in an email to Patch. “While the mayor strongly refutes several of the quotes, facts, and characterizations included in the complaint brought forth, she takes every complaint seriously and we look into them appropriately and thoroughly.”

The city solicitor has enlisted an independent third party to conduct an investigation.

“As this is a personnel matter, and out of respect for the employees involved, we will not comment further,” the statement continued.

The order claims the comment came during a Microsoft Teams call with consultant CLA and six other city employees. Nunley Benjamin emailed the mayor that afternoon to say she was "personally offended" by the remark.

"I'm sure you can somewhat understand how I feel as a female," she wrote in part. "I am also a black female in a predominantly white profession and have worked extremely hard in gaining respect from my peers, constituents, councilors and alike."

In a June 3 email, Nunley Benjamin told the mayor this would be her last year working for the administration. She cited performing duties outside her job description and facing "negative and inappropriate" comments from Chief of Staff David Rodrigues. This included criticism about the budget not being "aesthetically pleasing" and saying he wished he had "micromanaged" the process.

Rodrigues also defended Lungo-Koehn's comment after the mayor apologized, and Nunley Benjamin thought "everything was fine," according to her email. He further "threatened" her by saying he would know if "someone applied for another job" given his political connections and asking if she was going to pursue an opening in Salem, she said.

"I have tried to keep it together, but this has caused me emotional stress and trauma," Nunley Benjamin wrote.

In addition to Nunley Benjamin's allegations, Veteran's Affairs Director Michael Durham claims he was not compensated for five months of work clearing a backlog of contested parking tickets as the city's hearing officer, the Transcript reported.

The City Council will also look into both matters, having scheduled executive sessions for June 25 and 26.