The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency's headquarters on Superior Avenue. Credit: Nick Castele / Signal Cleveland

The longtime head of an agency that controls millions in tax dollars for roads and bridges is under criticism from former staffers about turnover and her time spent out of town. They claim these problems have hurt the agency’s work. 

Grace Gallucci defends her record as the head of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency as the board prepares to vote on extending her contract. 

“Many of the things that I’m hearing are actually not only just false, they’re defamatory,” she told Signal Cleveland in an interview. “I have spent my career, 30 plus years of my career, dedicated to the people, to public service, and I have done so with integrity at all times.”

The vote on the three-year contract extension is set for Friday. The board has already delayed the decision once under pressure from Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, a board member.

Now a group of former NOACA staffers is mounting a last-ditch effort to derail the deal. They sent an anonymous letter to board members late Wednesday night outlining their complaints about NOACA’s leadership and work environment.

Several former staffers, including one who shared a copy of the letter, also spoke with Signal Cleveland, but asked that their names not be printed for fear of reprisals. 

The staffers complained about low morale and high turnover at the agency. They also voiced concerns that Gallucci’s travel to Chicago – where her husband lives and where she teaches a college course – has divided her attention. 

Gallucci pushed back in an interview with Signal Cleveland on Wednesday, before the letter was sent. 

She said NOACA brought in a human resources consultant a year ago to help fill vacant positions and boost morale. She also said her trips to Chicago do not take her eye off of her job as CEO.

“There is no doubt that I spend time in Chicago, but it is not impacting work at all,” she said. “And I can’t even imagine anyone to say that.”

Gallucci said the frequency of her travel to Chicago varies. Sometimes she goes months without a visit, and sometimes she goes “a few weeks in a row,” she said. (Gallucci later asked to clarify that she was describing successive weekend trips rather than a trip that lasted multiple weeks.)

Her husband also frequently visits Cleveland, she said. 

Gallucci said she abides by NOACA’s telecommuting policy, which she said counts Monday as a work-from-home day and permits 12 additional remote days. She said she is reachable even when she is not in the office – including when she travels for work to Columbus and national meetings. 

“Anyone that is actually here and working knows that I pick up my phone. I’m always available,” she said, adding, “There is no reason why somebody should have any trouble getting ahold of me at all.” 

Prior to joining NOACA in 2012, Gallucci worked as the chief financial officer for the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois. She and her husband have owned a home in the Chicagoland area since 2007, Illinois property records show. They also purchased a house in Shaker Heights in 2013, according to county records.

She is listed as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University in Chicago’s northern suburbs, where she teaches a master’s course in transportation economics, according to a university website. Over the years, the course has held class hours on Monday nights during the school’s spring quarter, according to online course listings viewed through the Internet Archive. 

Gallucci said that she sometimes teaches the class in person and sometimes does so virtually. When she teaches in person at Northwestern, or if a Chicago visit extends into the work week, she takes vacation time, she said. 

“On my vacation days, I still work,” she said. “So I don’t think I get the better part of that deal.” 

NOACA turnover, morale questioned

In an executive committee meeting last week, Ronayne and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb pushed to add conditions to Gallucci’s contract renewal. The committee voted to hire a compensation analyst to examine Gallucci’s pay. They also agreed to bring in a consultant to examine NOACA’s human resources and other operations. 

Gallucci acknowledged to Signal Cleveland that turnover has been a challenge at NOACA over the last few years. But she argued that staff departures were in line with those seen by employers nationwide in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Currently, NOACA employs 33 full-time staff, 2 part-timers and one intern, according to a spokesperson. The agency is budgeted for 47 full-time positions.

Gallucci said she learned in advance that former staffers had contacted Signal Cleveland. She preemptively rebutted a claim – also contained in the letter – that staffers worked nights and weekends to accommodate her schedule. 

“I work evenings and weekends, but I do not expect anybody else to work evenings and weekends,” she said. “Unless there was something that they had to do, by a deadline, and because of their own fault that it wasn’t done, then it needs to get done by the timeline.” 

She said NOACA has tried to support its employees, and questioned whether a male executive would face the same criticism being leveled at her. 

This story has been updated to allow Gallucci to clarify an earlier comment.

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Government Reporter
I follow how decisions made at Cleveland City Hall and Cuyahoga County headquarters ripple into the neighborhoods. I keep an eye on the power brokers and political organizers who shape our government. I am a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and have covered politics and government in Northeast Ohio since 2012.