When Dan Corbett stepped down from the citizen advisory board of Animal Care Services last summer, the avid animal lover gave few reasons for his departure.

“I have bigger fish to fry and I’d rather do it as a private citizen than as a board member,” he wrote in a short email on July 9 to Kathy Davis, director of the city department, which tries to find a home for thousands of stray dogs and cats in San Antonio.

Left unsaid was that Corbett, who was appointed to the ACS board last year by City Councilman Cris Medina, had been the subject of a “hostile work environment” investigation by the city after he was accused of intimidating and yelling at an ACS employee on May 26.

“She said she felt disrespected and humiliated by his treatment of her,” city investigator Richard Hernandez wrote in his June 22 report about the incident.

Hernandez found no evidence to support claims of a hostile work environment that violated city policy, he wrote. But he concluded that Corbett’s ad hominem remarks, adversarial approach and “malicious personal attacks” weren’t in keeping with his role as an ACS board member.

The investigator's report

San Antonio officials have investigated dozens of workplace complaints against city employees accused of threatening or assaulting colleagues. But until recently, they’ve never had to investigate a complaint against a member of a civilian advisory board who was appointed by City Council. Dan Corbett, who stepped down in July from the Animal Care Services board, was the subject of this investigation after an ACS worker accused Corbett of yelling at her. Corbett denied the allegation.

Corbett insisted he did nothing wrong and decided not to reapply for his voluntary position on the board to ease the pressure on Medina.

“Cris was under stress,” Corbett explained. “I said, ‘Cris, don’t worry about it. My term is already up, I simply won’t reapply. No big deal.’”

In the past three years, city employees have been the subject of 55 similar investigations, in addition to Corbett’s case, after they were accused of threatening, berating or even assaulting their colleagues, according to dozens of investigative reports obtained under the Texas Public Information Act.

At a time when mass shootings have sparked widespread concern about violence in the workplace, the investigations show how the city of San Antonio tries to deal with office conflicts before they spiral out of control.

“The ideal is to try to get into that area and assess that situation early so that it doesn’t fester into something that turns into physical violence,” said Human Resources Director Lori Steward.

While the vast majority of investigations focused on the behavior of city employees, Acting City Attorney Martha Sepeda said the investigation of Corbett was a “special case” because no one had ever filed a workplace complaint against a board appointee.

“This was unusual,” said Sepeda. “I don’t think we’d ever seen a complaint like that before.”

More Information What city policy says on workplace violence: “The city of San Antonio is committed to maintaining a workplace that is free from hostility, violence and threats of violence. The city has a zero tolerance policy for workplace violence and as such will investigate every report of alleged workplace violence. This includes inappropriate humor because intent may not always be known or understood by others. The city will not tolerate hostile acts, violent or threatening behavior or verbal or physical threats in the workplace or on city property.” Examples of past investigations: Date: Aug. 10, 2015 Department: Library Details: A library employee was accused of punching another employee while he was in his car. Result: The victim reported the incident to the San Antonio Police Department and a separate “workplace violence” investigation substantiated the complaint. The employee accused of throwing the punch was fired. Date: Jan. 9, 2015 Department: Solid Waste Management Details: An employee clocking in to work was overheard saying, “I am a disgruntled employee and am going to get my gun and shoot everyone.” Result: Investigators were unable to find any other witnesses to substantiate the allegation. The worker said he didn’t remember making any violent statements and said he likes to joke around. He said he had no intention of hurting anyone and apologized if anyone was offended. The findings of the investigation were inconclusive and the employee remained on the job.

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Medina called Corbett “an outstanding public servant,” and he doesn’t believe Corbett yelled at the ACS employee.

“Dan’s service to the city and to ACS is something I really, really appreciate,” Medina said.

Intent to do harm?

Most of the 56 workplace complaints focused on verbal threats or outbursts. But six municipal workers lost their jobs after they were accused of punching, slapping, or aggressively grabbing their colleagues.

Other cases raise questions about where to draw the line between behavior that simply makes people uncomfortable and behavior that might signal deeper problems.

In 2013, the city investigated an employee who was overheard talking about residents who violate code enforcement rules.

“What we need to do is to cut off their fingers or shoot them all,” she allegedly said. The investigative report states the employee was also overheard at another meeting saying that people needed to get shot. And while on the phone talking about work being done at her house she said, “I’m going to kill him.”

Investigators Richard Hernandez and Steve Harrison interviewed the employee, who admitted making the statements but insisted she only meant them as “figures of speech” and didn’t intend to hurt anyone, according to their report. Investigators concluded that the statements weren’t directed at a specific person and no violation of the city’s workplace violence policy occurred.

“We found no evidence of intent to do harm,” they wrote.

The city’s investigators, who work for the Office of Municipal Integrity, concluded that more than half of the 56 complaints since 2013 were unfounded or inconclusive. In the cases investigators substantiated, 10 city employees were fired, 10 resigned, three were suspended and one was reprimanded.

Steward emphasized that the number of complaints this year is on pace to be lower than previous years. Investigators handled 24 cases in 2013, 21 last year, and 11 as of October 2015. Steward said that’s a sign that employees know the city takes allegations of workplace violence seriously.

“When the organization has a reputation for not tolerating that, then people will trust that system and report rather than feel like they’re on their own to resolve those issues,” Steward said.

Down the rabbit hole

Hernandez wrote the report about Corbett’s behavior. Typically his reports go to a Human Resources supervisor. But in Corbett’s case, Hernandez filed his June 22 report with Sepeda.

Corbett’s case, like so many others, shows how a seemingly simple dispute can lead investigators down a rabbit hole of conflicting accounts.

In his report, Hernandez wrote that Corbett was touring the ACS animal shelter in May near Texas 151 and Old U.S. Highway 90 with two other people. Corbett was upset that a caged dog didn’t have the correct, discounted price displayed on its cage to be adopted.

When an ACS employee attempted to address Corbett’s concerns, he “yelled at her in front of two individuals who were accompanying him,” Hernandez wrote. “She said the altercation with Mr. Corbett made her feel belittled, uncomfortable and embarrassed.”

The employee, whose name was redacted by the city in Hernandez’s report, said Corbett talked over her and wouldn’t give her a chance to respond to his concerns. “She said that he made her feel like he was trying to overpower her,” the report stated.

Corbett told the San Antonio Express-News that his only crime was being outspoken about changes he feels are desperately needed at ACS to save more animals from being euthanized. He denied yelling at anyone.

“All that stuff is made up and exaggerated,” said Corbett, who insisted Davis was looking for an excuse to get him booted off the advisory board.

Davis did not return phone messages for this story. Sepeda said the investigation wasn’t a witch hunt against Corbett, it was an attempt to quickly respond to the concerns of the ACS employee.

“It certainly was a complaint about his behavior in the workplace that involved an employee who was upset and disturbed by his comments,” Sepeda said.

A raised voice?

In an interview, Corbett said he was touring the facility with Philip Cortez, a former city council member who is running as a Democrat for Texas House District 117, and a campaign staffer to share his concerns with them.

Corbett said part of the report’s account of their visit was true except for a key point — he never raised his voice.

Instead, Corbett said he was firmly but calmly trying to get to the bottom of a serious problem he saw during the tour.

Dogs scheduled to be euthanized by ACS are supposed to be kept in the cages with signs declaring they can be adopted at a steep discount, giving them one last shot at finding a home, Corbett said.

But during the visit, Corbett said he didn’t see any signs. “This is a dog’s life,” Corbett said. He said he asked the ACS employee what was going on and couldn’t get a clear answer.

“I didn’t even raise my voice to the woman,” Corbett said.

Cortez told the newspaper he never heard Corbett raise his voice or behave inappropriately.

“He asked one of the ACS employees, ‘Where are the stickers for these dogs?’” Cortez recalled. “The girl’s like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know what happened.’ He said, ‘Can you fix it? Can you rectify it?’ She was just kind of like, ‘Not really.’ I don’t know if she was taking it seriously.”

Cortez said he wasn’t interviewed by Hernandez for his report. Cortez said he would have been happy to cooperate with the investigation.

The report of the incident said investigators interviewed Corbett and he acknowledged “raising his voice,” but only because the ACS employee was “smirking at him and incompetent.”

The conversation with Corbett turned to “criminal issues at ACS,” according to the report. During the interview, the report says Corbett disparaged Davis, calling her a “narcissist” and a “Nazi female prison guard.”

Investigators obtained emails written by Corbett describing the ACS facility as a “death camp.” (ACS announced earlier this year that it had drastically improved its adoption rate and found homes for nine out of 10 healthy animals.)

The report extensively quoted text messages Corbett sent Hernandez. The messages accused Davis of coaching her employee to make a “ridiculous grievance” against him.

“All I did was question an incompetent ACS employee about how her lack of professionalism can cost the lives of the animals down there,” Corbett wrote in the messages. “I ‘raised’ my voice about it and that’s the worst I did.”

Investigators interviewed other ACS employees. One said Corbett accused her of being “full of (expletive).” Corbett said he actually said she was “full of crap,” according to the report, and a guest with Corbett heard him use the phrase “load of crap.”

“My investigation did not find evidence that supports a claim of hostile work environment,” Hernandez wrote, “but I did find evidence of a pattern of behavior on the part of Dan Corbett that is disruptive, disrespectful, discourteous and not in keeping with his position as an ACS Advisory Board member or the standards of conduct expected of someone in public service.”

Hernandez concluded that Corbett violated other city codes and ACS bylaws that stipulate board members can access ACS facilities for “observational purposes only.”

“The City Code and bylaws do not authorize a single board member to engage in unilateral investigation and/or interrogation of ACS personnel, operations or programs,” Hernandez wrote.

Corbett said he’s going to continue the fight to try to change ACS and save the lives of more stray animals. Only now he’s doing it as an outsider.

“There’s no accountability,” Corbett said of ACS. “It’s sad.”

jtedesco@express-news.net