Members of the public attend a special meeting of the board of commissioners of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority to consider the character, misconduct or competence of the executive director Chad Williams is adjourned, Tuesday, July 30, 2019. Parker hired an outside legal firm to investigate Williams, who was not present at the meeting.
Friday, Aug. 2, 2019 | 2 a.m.
The head of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority insists that he did not sexually harass or have a sexual relationship with his secretary. But he does admit to having engaged in “flirtatious texting” and frequent, friendly, one-on-one dinners with his subordinate over an approximately two-month period.
Housing authority executive director Chad Williams defended his conduct in an interview Thursday, two days after the housing authority’s board nearly fired him over an investigation into complaints of misconduct from two employees.
The first complaint, from a secretary at the housing authority, alleged that Williams sexually harassed her. The second, from a former housing authority employee, claimed age discrimination on the part of Williams.
The housing authority hired an independent law firm in March to conduct an investigation, which concluded in July. A 15-page report detailing the findings has not been made public by the housing authority’s Board of Commissioners.
The report cleared Williams of sexual harassment, Williams said. He admits to having spent time outside of work with the employee who submitted the complaint and to having frequently texted her on their personal phones. Those texts eventually turned flirtatious, Williams said, but the two never had a sexual relationship and never exchanged sexually explicit texts.
“We probably had dinner like four times, between September and no later than the second week of November,” Williams said.
Having joined the housing authority as executive director in June 2018, Williams said he became acquainted with the employee in September 2018. She previously worked in a different department before she was named “executive assistant to the executive director.”
Williams said he and the employee had never spoken one-on-one prior to him offering her the new position within the agency. He hired her because she was going through a traumatic personal situation and he felt she would be better off in a different department with a different department head, Williams said. After reviewing her resume, he offered her the job.
When she moved to his office in early September, Williams was going through a breakup with his ex-fiancée, he said.
“I was literally crying at my desk and this employee came in and asked me what was wrong. I told her what had occurred. I don’t know anyone here in Vegas. I didn’t have anyone to talk to,” said Williams, who moved to Las Vegas from Washington, D.C., last year for the job. “We ended up going out and having sushi.”
Over the next month and a half to two months, Williams frequently had dinner with the employee after work — usually just “appetizers,” he said. He and the employee also began texting regularly, eventually in a flirtatious manner and sometimes during work hours, until early to mid-November.
“It kind of ceased when I got back home from Thanksgiving after getting a tongue-lashing from my mom,” Williams said.
At that point, he voluntarily ended the flirtatious exchanges. The employee continued to work in his office.
The employee in question accused Williams of sexual harassment in late February or early March of this year, Williams said.
The accusation came as Williams and the housing authority’s human resources department were reviewing the employee’s performance. According to Williams, the agency had put in place a performance improvement plan for her months prior because of performance concerns.
At the request of Williams, the agency ran an educational background check on the employee — something the agency did not do with any of its employees prior to Williams’ tenure, he said. The background check was unable to confirm that the employee graduated from college as stated on her resume, so Williams asked her whether the job application she submitted was accurate.
The employee refused to answer and left the building. The following week, Williams received notice from the housing authority’s legal counsel, Teddy Parker, that she had submitted a sexual harassment claim.
“I think she got scared,” Williams said, referring to the questions surrounding her stated educational background.
The investigation prompted by the sexual harassment claim ultimately “specifically cleared” Williams of the claim, he said. Housing authority commissioner Sanje Sedera affirmed that the investigation did not find conclusive evidence of sexual harassment, but it did find that Williams had violated an employee conduct policy.
The policy states that employees “must avoid any action or conduct” that could be construed as sexual harassment and should not “supervise, either directly or indirectly, any employee with whom they are having a personal relationship that may cause the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
With the investigation now over, Williams is frustrated that the report on his conduct remains confidential.
“I was cleared of sexual harassment. Release the damn report so everyone can see,” he said. “We want to talk about the policy violation, let’s talk about that. And give me the opportunity to talk about that.”
Sedera said he would like the board to release the report but that Parker must first provide the board with legal advice on the matter.
“The board has the ability to make it public, but at the same time, we have to make sure what goes out to the public does not harm any other folks,” Sedera said.
Board chairman Scott Black affirmed that the board needs guidance from Parker and from the board’s ad hoc committee, which is reviewing the investigation and will present recommendations at the next board meeting on Aug. 15.
Sedera also hopes that by that point, the report — or at least some parts of it — will be available so that members of the public can judge the situation for themselves.
