Harwell takes parks department to task

By Janet DelTufo, Assistant Editor

Former Vice Mayor recall candidate Paula Hartwell has twice now gone in front of the Wickenburg Town Council to claim she has been blacklisted by the Town’s Community Services Department.

Hartwell, who in the past has taught classes part time through the community services department (parks and recreation), claims she is now being unjustly denied the opportunity to teach new classes.

Community Services Director Steve McKay recently addressed Hartwell in a letter regarding her request to teach.

“We regret to inform you that your hiring status was listed as non-eligible for rehire from a past term of employment with the Town of Wickenburg that ended with the last paycheck of July 28, 2004,” McKay said. “The reasons cited in the paperwork at that time were customer complaints and not showing for scheduled recreation classes.”

Hartwell, however, says this information is not true and has requested from the town a copy of every complaint in her file for the year 2004.

Along with this request, she has submitted a letter to the council from a former student (Dave Wade) who said she was always on time and always tried to make the class fun. The letter was in reference to a dance class from a few years ago.

Hartwell has also made the issue personal by bringing forth claims against McKay and his assistant Tonya Forbrook. Hartwell said when she first approached Forbrook about teaching again, she was told that all the current slots were booked and would be booked for several upcoming terms.

“In my letter given to the council, it stated that I had turned into Tonya classes that I would like to teach in the fall of 2007, and I was told by Tonya that classes were booked from fall 2007 through fall 2008,” Harwell said. “She also said that there was no room at the Community Center and that the town cannot insure an extra teacher. I even called Rose (Community Center manager) and she said the Community Center was wide open for classes.”

Hartwell also went on to cite a letter from resident Clarence Heatherly, who was able to arrange to teach a class after Hartwell’s failed request.

“If you look at the summer schedule, you will see nothing that shows a vibrant parks and recreation program growing,” Harwell said. “McKay knows this and has allowed it to happen. They both (McKay and Forbrook) only care about picking up their paychecks on Friday.”

According to Town Hall records, Hartwell taught for the town many years ago for a very short time, and she completed three class in the spring of 2004 and one class in the summer of 2004. Additional classes of Hartwell’s were advertised and were not filled because of a lack of participation and were cancelled with refunds issued.

Harwell taught or had advertised to teach a variety of classes, including dance, decorating and landscaping. She had complained that she had been required to collect registration fees, when she had never been required to perform that duty when she taught previous courses for the cities of Phoenix, Peoria and Glendale.

McKay said Hartwell was only asked once to collect registration fees in 2004, and that this policy was changed shortly thereafter. He said instructors are currently allowed to collect late registration fees. However, those fees are to be submitted to Town Hall the following business day.

According to McKay, Hartwell’s termination form has been approved not only by his department, but by the town’s human resources analyst and the town manager, who also acts as the town’s personnel director.

McKay said that although Hartwell had classes advertised for the spring of 2005, she did not complete any of the classes, even those with enough students registered.

“Those students were refunded, and Paula Hartwell was terminated in 2005,” McKay said. “She had not actually taught a class for the town since June/July of 2004. And the termination paperwork states that the ‘Instructor did not show for scheduled recreation dance class.’ This reason was cited because complaints were received from students that Paula Hartwell did not show for classes that students had paid for and were at the designated spot waiting for class to begin.”

McKay said that Hartwell did not call to inquire about classes this year, and that the town had not advertised for instructors. He said she drew up a list of desired classes and dropped that list off at Town Hall, just expecting that those classes would appear in this season’s program.

“The town’s fall and winter program was already completed and was scheduled to be advertised in approximately two weeks,” McKay said. “The program truly was already full, and the upcoming spring program is also already truly full. The community services department has learned from past experience not to publish adult classes during the summer months, as there is poor turnout for adult programs. The department focuses on the youth programs in the summer. Paula Hartwell was called with this information.”

The town offers classes three times a year during fall/winter, spring, and fall. McKay said the fees are paid directly to the instructor, minus 8 percent to cover the costs of marketing and advertising.

“The Town has had wonderful cooperation from the Chamber of Commerce, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg Unified School District and the Del Webb Center for the Performing Arts,” McKay said. “With this cooperative effort, we are able to provide more educational classes for adults and quality programs for children. These organizations all work together to be sure to provide quality classes and to minimize scheduling conflicts to allow the public to take multiple classes without having to choose one program over another.”

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