Cape Coral city manager says he was fired for calling out discrimination

In less than three minutes, Cape Coral City Manager Rob Hernandez’s nearly three years or service to Cape Coral came to a close.

“In light of the recent events, I believe it’s in the best interest of this organization that I make a motion to elect our contractual option to terminate the employment of our City Manager Rob Hernandez without cause, effective immediately,” Councilman Keith Long said during the meeting.

In a letter to the city council titled ‘Hernandez v. City of Cape Coral,’ the city manager accuses Cape Coral of retaliation for blowing the whistle on what Hernandez calls “discriminatory employment practices.”

Hernandez says pointing these things out among members of the city council and the mayor led to his being fired. Now he’s threatening to sue.

Hernandez laid out four examples. The first pertains to the economic and business development officer, Sharon Woodberry, who Hernandez hired last year. Hernadez says after some council members learned she was African American, they began to question her selection and implied racial stereotypes.

Hernadez accuses council members William Steinke and Dan Sheppard of asking why the position was not offered to a lower-level white employee, Ms. Nita Whaley.

Hernandez also says he saw discrimination against LGBTQ employees. He says he tried correcting pay inequities for city employees.

Hernandez says he brought up correcting pay for two white employees, the fire chief and utilities director. Both were approved unanimously. Hernandez then tried correcting the pay of Assistant City Manager Connie Carron, who he says is a white lesbian woman, and says council members Sheppard and Mayor Gunter objected, pointing to her performance.

In a third example, Hernandez says the mayor objected to a lesbian employee’s recent promotion. He accuses Mayor John Gunter of saying the city should not hire people like that for positions that come into contact with the public.

The final example involves the Cape Coral pride parade. Hernandez says he allowed an in-kind donation to be made to the Cape Coral pride parade last year to help pay for security and traffic details. He accuses council member Sheppard of telling him the city should not be providing support to “those people.”

Hernandez also accuses Sheppard of asking him to enforce rules of decorum that would only apply during the pride parade. Hernandez says he pointed out that the request was discrimination.

WINK News emailed each city council member and the mayor, asking for a statement regarding the demand letter. They have not responded.

In the meantime, Hernandez has several demands from the council. He says damages could be in excess of one million dollars but will drop all claims in exchange for $550,000, a neutral job reference, and a public apology regarding the discrimination.

The city has until February 24 to respond to the letter.

There was little discussion before Cape Coral City Council voted 5-3 to fire Hernandez except for Councilman Tom Hayden when he questioned Long.

“We need to explain a little bit,” Hayden said.

A close read of Hernandez’s contract gives Cape Coral the right to fire him as long as it pays him his severance package in a “lump sum payment.” Two weeks of pay comes to nearly $100,000.

If Hernandez accepts the severance pay, his contract said he “waives any rights” to “a preliminary resolution notice and hearing.”

On Friday, the city will hold a special meeting to find Hernandez’s temporary placement, which Mayor John Gunter said two weeks ago, would give the city time.

“We will probably end up doing a national search like we have done in the past, which most organizations do. We will interview those candidates,” Gunter said.

The goal, the mayor said, is to find the right person to run the City of Cape Coral permanently.