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Stephanie DeVito, former executive director of the Auburn Downtown Business Improvement District, was the subject of three complaints to the organization's board of directors by colleagues last year. The complaints are among several records of her final year of employment the BID provided to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» last week in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

The records also show that the BID board hired a consultant to investigate the complaints against DeVito last October, weeks before she was elected to the county Legislature.

The complaints accuse her of creating a toxic work environment that caused two colleagues anxiety and led another to resign from the board; working as few as three to five hours a week in her office; using her position to advance her campaign for Legislature and personal interests; and spending BID funds at her discretion, without transparency or accountability.

The investigation corroborated many of the accusations, leading the board to place DeVito on a performance improvement plan in December. She resigned after the board's personnel committee filed a February report concluding she had not satisfactorily followed the plan. The report recommended either continuing the plan with more conditions, or terminating her.

ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» obtained the records of DeVito's employment as a result of a lawsuit the newspaper filed against the BID.

Word of a complaint against DeVito, reportedly discriminatory in nature, was first received by ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» in the fall. Subsequent Freedom of Information Law requests were denied by the BID, which said the law does not apply to it because it is not a government organization. ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» sued for a determination that it is one, and the BID conceded as much during negotiations.

In a statement emailed to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», DeVito responded to the complaints by saying, "These opinions of a select few are exactly that."

She went on to call the complaints a "witch hunt" to attack her "squeaky clean" record because she was running for Legislature.

"This was all politically motivated to protect special interests and true conflicts of interest that were occurring that had nothing to do with me!" she said. "I was the sacrificial lamb!"

'Relationships have been abused'

DeVito was hired as executive director of the BID in 2015, coming to the organization from economic development nonprofit Cayuga Strategic Solutions.

The BID, which from downtown Auburn property owners, produces events there and works to enhance it aesthetically and economically. Since 2018 the organization's offices have been located at the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center, where its staff shares space and often works together with the staffs of the center and the Cayuga County Office of Tourism. 

Last spring, three of those colleagues submitted complaints about DeVito to BID board President Dawn Schulz. Two, whose identities were redacted, described a pattern of bullying that dated back years. 

Each colleague said the executive director told them she has "eyes outside the office" and "little birds that report back to her," according to the investigation report filed by GTM HR Consulting. DeVito told one of the colleagues she saw them dancing with another person at a local bar, and told the other where they went to lunch. One colleague called the remarks "creepy." 

DeVito also made comments about the clothing worn by her colleagues, once saying a sweater one of them wore was see-through despite it not appearing to be.

Both colleagues said such remarks took a toll on their mental health.

"To be completely transparent, due to the ongoing toxic dynamic with Stephanie, I have personally suffered work-related mental anguish and anxiety for 5+ years," one said in their complaint. "I've been treated unfairly, bullied, talked down to, undermined and micromanaged. ... Relationships have been abused and broken with other BID staff (and) tourism office staff."

One example of that micromanagement, the colleague said, concerned the metallic hand sculpture recently unveiled outside Bambino's Pizza on South Street. The business owner voiced his unhappiness about the sculpture to DeVito, so she attempted to have it paused even though it had been approved by the city's Public Arts Commission and she had no such authority.

GTM's report determined, "It is more likely than not that the executive director did engage in mistreatment (or disrespect) of Auburn BID employees." The report noted the investigator personally witnessed DeVito make comments about a colleague dressing "sloppy" and having "issues with drugs and alcohol." She shared a story about two colleagues attending a party as well.

DeVito responded to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», "I have never bullied anyone and as a matter of fact I am known for the opposite. I am known for the encourager, motivator, optimist and leader that makes a team shine and not herself! ... If anyone has been bullied it has been myself, however I never complained about it or looked at it in that fashion at the time as I don’t look to place blame or make accusations." 

The amount of time DeVito spent in her office was another subject of the complaints by her colleagues. 

One colleague estimated the executive director spent three to five hours a week there, and did not offer to help with BID events like its Memorial Day Food Truck Rodeo and Music on the Mall summer concert series. DeVito didn't even attend several of those events, the colleague added. When the colleague said this to her, she responded, "You don't need me." 

The other colleague said DeVito was "not pulling her weight." When she attended meetings, she was distracted by her phone and left early. The executive director was just as elusive by phone, not listening to voicemails nor returning calls promptly, including ones from downtown property owners. At the time of GTM's report, it said, she had more than 99 voicemails.

DeVito, who made a salary of $58,500 a year as executive director, said she worked most of her hours outside the office, meeting with Auburn officials and property and business owners. She cited her seat on the boards of other community organizations, such as the Booker T. Washington Community Center, United Way of Cayuga County and Auburn YMCA-WEIU.

"My position was a community-driven position," she told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½». "I was (always) engaging in partnerships, representing on boards with community organizations to help grow our downtown." 

GTM concluded that while "it cannot be corroborated that the executive director is not dedicating her resources to fulfilling the duties of her position," she was "absent."

"Staff feel as though they are taking on many of the executive director responsibilities," it said. "However, this may be attributed to the lack of communication, collaboration, oversight and leadership."

Conflicts and costs

DeVito became even less engaged in her responsibilities as executive director of the BID after she announced her candidacy for Cayuga County Legislature in December 2022, her colleagues said.

They accused her of making BID decisions for political gain as well. One colleague said DeVito tried to pause the South Street sculpture to "draw attention to herself as the 'protector/savior'" of Auburn.

In its report, GTM determined DeVito violated BID policy by not obtaining the board's permission to run for office. The consultant also corroborated that she spent three work hours on Monday, Oct. 30, at the county Democratic committee's headquarters, and that campaign meetings and photo shoots took place at her Equal Rights Heritage Center office during work hours.

Arguing that her campaign for Legislature did not create a conflict of interest, DeVito provided ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» with a copy of a letter from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. It said the Hatch Act — which restricts employees of federally funded government agencies from certain political activities — does not apply to her because the BID does not receive such funding. 

GTM looked into another potential conflict of interest between DeVito and Brian Muldrow, a fellow county legislator and former member of the BID board.

According to the investigation report, last spring the executive director attempted to donate $3,000 to a microloan program of Muldrow's Minority Professional Association. The board's diversity, equity and inclusion committee discussed and declined to approve the donation, but DeVito later asked a colleague to sign a blank check that she used to send the money anyway.

When confronted by the other committee members, the report said, DeVito and Muldrow told them the donation had been approved.

Muldrow told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» this week he doesn't remember the committee declining the donation, and said he was unaware DeVito asked for a blank check to make it.

"I would never have accepted a check that was voted down," he said. "I don't want $3,000 that bad."

The donation violated BID policy, which doesn't allow the executive director to issue checks of more than $2,500 without board permission. DeVito said she thought the limit was $3,000. As soon as Muldrow learned of the violation, he said, he offered to return the check with three months of interest. The only people who stood to gain from the money, he added, were young entrepreneurs.

The check was one of many concerns raised by the third colleague to complain about DeVito to the BID board last year, Cayuga County Office of Tourism Director of Marketing & Sales Claire Dunlap. She was a member of the board and its DEI committee until resigning in June after being "personally bullied and attacked" by DeVito and Muldrow, she said in her resignation email.

"I am no longer comfortable being a part of this organization," she said.

Dunlap said they targeted her "integrity, intentions and as a person." The GTM report said that prior to her resignation, she told Muldrow at an executive board meeting that he had no business being there, as he was not a member of it. He and DeVito subsequently "attacked" Dunlap and accused her of "having conversations outside of the board" and its committees.

Asked about Dunlap's accusations, Muldrow told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that around that time she had called him, "very aggressively," and asked him what DeVito was doing with her time and the status of various BID programs. He also recalled a disagreement between them about the merits of DEI training for downtown business owners, which she supported and he opposed.

"I said you can't just go in and train people how to behave," he said.

"There was tension galore," continued Muldrow, who would leave the BID board in December. "I just didn't want to be a part of it because it was so messy." 

Dunlap went on to tell Muldrow he was too "event-focused," he said, something she repeated in her complaint to the board.

Instead of doing DEI work, she said, the committee was simply informed of decisions about BID events that had already been made by DeVito and Muldrow. Those events included last summer's Chicken Wing Festival, which had barely been mentioned to the committee when a press release was distributed saying it was the organizer, Dunlap said. 

Another colleague agreed that DeVito and Muldrow operated "in a bubble of their own," causing distractions and disruptions. He communicated for her so often, the complaint continued, that it seemed like the BID had two executive directors. After DeVito postponed the festival from June 24 to Aug. 5, Muldrow broke the news to other board members in an email.

"The DEI board is questioning every step of this event," he said. "I think we need to balance the board with more like-minded people."

GTM concluded that the festival did not align with the goals of the DEI committee, which "lacks clear guidance and processes."

The consultant also determined the "extremely close" relationship between Muldrow and DeVito was a conflict of interest for him, but not for her. He gained personally from it, GTM continued, through the $3,000 check that he'd later return. No gain for her could be found. Still, his many business interests downtown did make that relationship "cause for future concern."

Conflicts of interest were one of the causes of DeVito's financial mismanagement of BID, her colleagues said.

They accused her of regularly moving budget line items "to accommodate an outside organization where there may not be aligned with the best interest of the BID or (Equal Rights Heritage Center)," as well as presenting inaccurate financial information to the board and running the BID unsustainably, leaving it no money for events or cost-of-living raises for staff last year.

Examples of DeVito's mismanagement in GTM's investigation report include paying interest on a loan out of the wrong account, which required significant time to fix, and suggesting the use of $1,800 from the BID's office supply budget to pay for a Juneteenth speaker. A colleague said their objections to the latter were dismissed, but the money was later taken from the events budget. 

"Problematic" as it was that interest was paid from the wrong account, GTM said, that didn't rise to the level of misconduct or financial mismanagement. Nor did DeVito's attempt to use office supply funds to pay for the Juneteenth speaker. Such decisions can be made at the discretion of the executive director so long as they aren't unlawful or against BID policy, the consultant added. 

Clearer misconduct took place with payroll, GTM said. BID and Equal Rights Heritage Center employees were not provided wage statements, and non-salaried employees were not paid for all the hours they worked. DeVito, who told the consultant that the organization had no compensatory time policy, was deemed responsible for these violations of state and federal labor law.

In response to the accusations of financial mismanagement, DeVito told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she was "always fiscally responsible" and all her decisions were checked by the bookkeeper and approved by the board.

'Further action is needed'

After its investigation, GTM recommended that the BID board review its policies, create a personnel committee and place DeVito on a performance improvement plan.

"It is evident that her leadership skills are lacking," the consultant said in a Nov. 3 report. "She may spend a majority of her time engaging in outside activities (serving on boards, meeting with community members, partnering with downtown businesses), however, she lacks in the management aspect of the role. ... In addition, she is disrespectful and acts superior."

DeVito told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she never received copies of GTM's reports from the board despite multiple requests. 

The performance improvement plan, which DeVito did receive, addressed most of the complaints about her. She was required to obtain approval for any personnel decisions or expenditures, regardless of amount, and to work full-time at the Equal Rights Heritage Center. She was also required to provide the board details on her work as a Cayuga County legislator.

In a February progress report on the plan, the personnel committee said its execution was "prolonged due to what appeared to be insubordination and a lack of sense of urgency by (DeVito)." 

The committee reported another potential conflict of interest as well, concerning The Atrium on Genesee multipurpose development in the former KeyBank downtown. After DeVito said she was showing it to prospective tenants, the committee suggested she be investigated for possible receipt of a stipend from a third party. The project is a partnership between Muldrow and a Yonkers developer.

DeVito told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she "never received a penny" for her work with the development.

The committee went on to note continued failures by DeVito to comply with payroll and other human resources policies. It added that the BID's employee handbook had not been reviewed in years, which was the executive director's responsibility. Overall, the committee "provided multiple opportunities to (her) for discussion that were not taken advantage of," it said.

For those reasons, the committee recommended the BID board either continue DeVito's performance improvement plan with several new conditions, or terminate her. 

"Further action is needed to ensure the integrity of the BID and protect not only the (board) but most importantly their employees," the committee said.

DeVito resigned the following month. At the time, she told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she wanted to pursue new opportunities "that are more aligned with my career for the future." Her resignation letter, and terms, were not available in the employment records provided by the BID. A subsequent Freedom of Information Law request seeking access to them has been filed. 

BID Assistant Director Jesse Kline has been leading the organization since DeVito's departure.

In her statement, DeVito said she remains committed to her work as a community leader and Cayuga County legislator.

"I stand proud of who I am and the work I have done and continue to do and I can have peace knowing the truth of what has truly transpired," she continued. "I am a warrior and will always prevail!"