Dickten says harassment ‘didn’t happen’

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

VIENNA

Dan Dickten, Western Reserve Port Authority aviation director, said Thursday he never harassed either of the two former female employees who received payouts from the port authority’s insurance company.

“It was not proven nor will it be proven because it didn’t happen,” Dickten, in a statement, said of allegations contained in letters to the port authority from an attorney representing both women.

Dickten said the letters “contained nothing more than wild allegations and misinformation that were never proven.”

Language in both agreements also says the agreement is “the compromise of a doubtful and disputed claim,” that the port authority “specifically denies any violation of [the woman’s] rights,” and is being entered into “merely to avoid litigation and buy ... peace.”

On Wednesday, the port authority approved a settlement with former employee Andrea Hoffman that paid her $30,000 to drop legal action her attorney threatened to file against the port authority board.

The agreement also resolves additional claims Hoffman lodged against the port authority alleging wrongful termination from her job.

Hoffman was port authority marketing/business development coordinator from February 2014 to April 2016, when she was told her position had been eliminated.

The settlement followed a letter written by Hoffman’s attorney, Bryan Ridder, to the port authority Oct. 22, 2015, alleging that Hoffman was subjected to on-the-job sexual harassment.

The letter alleged Dickten told Hoffman that certain board members felt Hoffman should “wine and dine” influential airline personnel in order to increase the number of flights they offer at the airport.

The complaint also alleged that Dickten told Hoffman that certain members of the board “want her to ‘do the dirty dog,’” which Ridder said was “an unmistakable directive for her to use her sexuality, rather than her marketing expertise, in performing her job.”

In Dickten’s response, he said: “I maintain there was no wrongdoing on my part, harassment nor otherwise, and that Ms. Hoffman was never told nor was it suggested by anyone on our board that she use her sexuality to perform her job.”

Dickten has been aviation director at the airport since March 2010. In that job, he has handled the day-to-day operations of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, including negotiations that have increased commercial air service and upgrades to the facilities.

In July, however, the port authority approved a $40,000 insurance settlement with former port authority administrative assistant Lauren Iaderosa, who complained of being harassed sexually and in other ways while on the job.

The complaint didn’t name Dickten, but an official said it was aimed at him. Since then, officials have suggested that the allegations involved others.

That agreement and the one involving Hoffman contain a provision preventing the women or the board from issuing any communications that disparage the other party or harms their reputation.

A few days after the Iaderosa settlement was made public, Dickten issued a statement saying that attorneys who investigated the matter concluded that “there was absolutely no proof that I harassed anyone,” including Iaderosa.

Dickten said the reason the port authority settled with Iaderosa was because it would have cost “upwards of $250,000 to win in court.”

Port authority board member Ron Klingle indicated in July that the agreement prevented him from discussing the allegations by Iaderosa, but said, “There’s nothing that has happened that I have seen or that the board has seen that would give us any reason to dismiss him.”

On Thursday, he said of Dickten: “I feel exactly the same as I did before. Dan is a terrific individual and an excellent airport manager. He has done nothing to deserve any of the negative publicity that he has received over these matters.”

Jack Sullivan, longtime airport director of operations and maintenance until late last year, said his job placed him in the same office as Dickten “10 hours a day, five days a week,” and harassment of employees never happened.