For the second time, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency’s board has delayed a decision on extending CEO Grace Gallucci’s contract.
Now the board plans to investigate an anonymous letter from former employees objecting to the work environment at the transportation agency, which spends tens of millions of public dollars on roads and bridges.
Board members received the letter earlier this week. It listed complaints about high turnover in the office, low morale and Gallucci’s travel to Chicago. Several former staffers who said they signed the letter and asked not to be named also outlined those concerns in interviews with Signal Cleveland.
Gallucci told Signal Cleveland this week that “false” and “defamatory” information was being circulated about her. She acknowledged that she traveled to Chicago, where she teaches a course at Northwestern University and where her husband lives. She said she uses vacation time and argued that the visits do not distract her from the job of running NOACA.
“Anyone that is actually here and working knows that I pick up my phone. I’m always available,” she said. “There is no reason why somebody should have any trouble getting a hold of me at all.”
The letter did not list the names of employees who co-signed it, but urged board members to “vote no to a contract extension and begin a search for a new Executive Director.”
At Friday’s board meeting, one former employee came forward during the board’s public comment session. Katie Moore, who worked from 2020 to 2023 as the manager of environmental planning at NOACA, said she spoke on behalf of the letter authors and other former staff.
Moore said that staffers’ concerns included “mistreatment of staff” and an office structure “that breeds inefficiency and mistrust.” She urged board members to listen to NOACA’s employees.
“We are bringing this information to you after exhausting all internal processes provided to staff,” Moore said. “While each of us decided the behavior of the executive director is unacceptable, I ask that you undertake an effort to hear directly from staff and form your own judgment on where change is necessary.”
Moore now works for the City of Cleveland.
Gallucci previously told Signal Cleveland that she has been working with a human resources consultant to assist with hiring and morale. The agency currently employs 33 full-time workers, below its budgeted strength of 47.
“We have tried to be, again, supportive of employees,” she said earlier this week. “We’ve tried to focus on morale. We’ve tried to focus on developing the individual and developing them professionally. We’ve tried to support them in the work that needs to be done. But first and foremost, the work needs to be done.”
The board discussed Gallucci’s contract behind closed doors in executive session. Afterward, members voted unanimously to refer the extension back to the board’s executive committee “for further investigation by an independent third party of the recent correspondence received by the board.”
Gallucci has led the agency since 2012, and her current contract does not expire until the middle of 2024. Last year, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne objected to the board’s performance review process and moved to delay a three-year contract extension.
If her contract is renewed, Gallucci will continue making a base pay of $254,601, pending a compensation study by an outside expert. Ronayne and Mayor Justin Bibb requested that study at an executive committee meeting earlier this month.
This story has been updated to include additional comments from Gallucci from an interview earlier this week.