Ex-staffer’s suit accuses Tiburon of unlawful firing, conspiracy

Former Tiburon Building Official Clay Salzman is suing the town for wrongful termination, alleging he was fired in December 2021 for refusing to sign off on an incomplete project at Sam’s Anchor Cafe and was the victim of a “civil conspiracy” among town officials and the restaurant’s owner to push the approval through.

The suit, filed by Salzman and his wife, Ingeborg, Nov. 16 in Marin Superior Court, seeks unspecified punitive damages in asserting Salzman was terminated primarily because he resisted pressure over a period of about 18 months, starting in June 2019, to approve the occupancy permit for a major remodel of Sam’s Anchor Cafe, located at 27 Main St. Salzman has said he did not believe elements of the project were up to code for disabled persons and that the town repeatedly placed him on leave so it could use other officials to sign off on cheaper, easily defeated fixes.

The suit also asserts, without evidence, that the preferential treatment given to Sam’s was part of a larger pattern of behavior among town officials of shepherding through permit approvals for applicants who carried influence within the town, with Salzman saying he had suspicions that, in some cases, illegal payments were being made to town officials in exchange for permit approvals.

The lawsuit comes after the town failed to respond to a $500,000 administrative claim Salzman filed in June 2022. The Salzmans are seeking a jury trial.

Town Manager Greg Chanis, Community Development Director Dina Tasini, Building Permit Clerk Chelsee Navado and Administrative Services Director Suzanne Creekmore, along with Sam’s and its owner, Conor Flaherty, are all named as defendants in the suit, which also alleges infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium, meaning a loss of social standing, love or moral support.

Chanis, Tasini and Navado all declined to comment, and Creekmore could not be reached by The Ark’s press deadline.

Flaherty did not respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment.

Town Attorney Ben Stock said Nov. 20 that the town had not yet been served in the lawsuit; however, he said that because of the pending litigation, “we’re going to save our comments for the courtroom.”

Salzman declined to comment, except to reiterate the claims in his lawsuit, in an email to The Ark. His attorney, David C. Anderson, said in an interview that Salzman felt “ambushed” by his firing after working for the town as its top building official since 2014.

“He is sort of the enforcer of the rules, and yet the enforcer of the rules ends up being fired for enforcing the rules,” Anderson said, adding: “It’s not the way business is supposed to be conducted in the private sector and most particularly in the public sector.”

Suit stems from dispute over dock issue at Sam’s

The lawsuit mostly adheres to the allegations outlined in last year’s administrative claim.

Flaherty applied for necessary permits for a major remodel of his restaurant in early 2019. As part of that permitting process, Salzman said he emailed Flaherty in June 2019 and informed him he needed to level the restaurant’s boat dock by installing additional floats underneath, which would also reduce the steep grade of the gangways for required disability access. Sam’s also needed to fill gaps between planks of the main deck to one-half inch or less to ensure wheelchair casters don’t fall between; to eliminate protruding knots in the walking areas of the deck planking to not create trip hazards; and to install Americans with Disabilities Act-related and other approved signage.

As that project neared completion in late 2020, Salzman said he emailed the contractor a reminder that the gaps between deck boards needed to be less than a half-inch for disability access, and the contractor replied to acknowledge the email later that day. But Salzman says that when an inspector examined the deck on Nov. 16, the larger gaps were still present. Salzman reviewed the inspection report and responded by email the following day with comments about the deck and gangway.

Salzman claims he was then ordered by Creekmore, the administrative services director, to take immediate COVID-19 leave and “to refrain from his usual work duties and to remain at home” until Nov. 23, 2020. The suit notes Salzman “did not have symptoms or signs of illness, and his COVID test was negative.”

During Salzman’s leave, Tasini, who is his boss, scheduled the final inspection of the Sam’s project.

Salzman in the suit asserts the leave order and inspection schedule were not only intentional to ensure the project was pushed through, as Tasini and others “were aware that he would not approve the project without compliance of the deficiencies,” but that in a highly unusual move, Tasini and Tiburon Town Councilmember Jack Ryan accompanied Flaherty and then-inspector Doug Haight, allegedly to pressure Haight into approving the project without consulting Salzman.

Sam’s had — at least temporarily — repaired the deck gaps ahead of that inspection by filling them with thin pieces of wood, but Tasini reportedly instructed Sam’s to place “No Public Access” signs at the top of the gangways to create a non-public area that didn’t need to comply with disabled-persons requirements. Under the requirement, no one would be allowed to use the gangway and docks to access Sam’s from the water.

The inspection report, signed by Haight that day and obtained by The Ark, states the permit was approved on the condition that “gangways and floats (are) closed to the public and customer access and signs posted stating this.”

Ryan, who now is wrapping up a yearlong term as mayor, declined comment on the suit in a text message to The Ark, directing questions to Stock. However, he previously disputed the claim he was there to apply pressure, saying he was simply there to observe the process and fulfill a campaign promise to ensure government officials delivered on services after Flaherty called him and complained that Tiburon “was not doing what it should be doing in the case of their building permits.”

Salzman alleges Haight was not certified to sign off on the permit and didn’t have Salz­man’s approval to do so, according to the suit; however, Chanis previously said Haight was able to sign the final inspection but was not certified to specifically review the project for compliance with state and federal disability access laws.

Salzman was certified to do that, and Tasini instructed him to complete that inspection on Dec. 8, 2020, according to an email previously obtained by The Ark. Salzman took Haight back to Sam’s, reportedly as a training opportunity, and discovered the disabilities-compliance requirements — the thin wood in the deck gaps, the chains and “No Public Access” sign — had been removed.

Salzman again refused to sign off on the project as a result and emailed Tasini on Dec. 15, 2020, about his frustrations, telling her he had never had someone sign off on an incomplete project in his absence.

That same day, Chanis placed Salzman on administrative leave pending review of his job performance. A day later, the town contracted a certified access specialist to conduct an accessibility inspection, and Sam’s was again found to have eight gaps in the deck, with no wooden slats filling them. The specialist said the chains were insufficient and ordered Sam’s to install a metal grid with a “No Access” sign to be locked during business hours and block the public and customers from accessing the gangways and floats more permanently. The orders appeared to confirm that the repairs that were previously in place and ordered for Haight’s initial approval had since been removed or were insufficient.

After the administrative claim was filed, The Ark used a half-inch bolt to determine the gaps again remained and no wooden full slats were in place, while the gates remain open and unlocked with the gangways and floating docks accessible during business hours.

Seven months after the project’s approval, Tasini issued Salzman a notice of intent to suspend him Aug. 12, 2021. Salzman, however, requested what’s known as a Skelly hearing to contest the intended suspension; under the rules of such a hearing, the town was required to appoint a Skelly officer, who must be an impartial and uninvolved individual and is tasked with making a recommendation on whether the disciplinary action should be sustained, modified or revoked.

However, when Salzman appeared for his hearing on Sept. 14, 2021, he discovered Tasini was his Skelly officer. The only other person present was Eli Flushman, then the assistant town attorney. Salzman left, asserting Tasini — who had been central to the conflict and had issued the notice of intent to suspend — could not be impartial, according to the suit.

Eight days later, on Sept. 22, 2021, Creekmore, the administrative services director, placed a two-day suspension notice, scheduled for Sept. 28-29, on Salzman’s desk.

The suit alleges Salzman was unaware of the notice, but The Ark previously reported in June 2022 that a Town Hall employee present but unauthorized to speak on behalf of the town said Creekmore had tried to speak with Salzman privately and hand the documents to him then; Salzman declined, refusing to take the documents in the process.

Anderson confirmed this account, saying Salzman refused because he felt that accepting any documents could create legal implications for future action.

Salzman then showed up to work Sept. 28, 2021. He saw Tasini twice that day, and the suit alleges she did not speak to him and did not tell him he wasn’t not supposed to be at work.

Salzman was eventually escorted from Town Hall by Tiburon police officers and was given a notice of intent to terminate upon his return from the suspension on Sept. 30, 2021. He received a formal termination notice Dec. 9, 2021.

Conspiracy, mental distress among claims

The suit claims Salzman was the victim of a “civil conspiracy” by the named defendants, asserting that their “personal, business, political and other self-interests” prevented him from performing his duties as the town’s building official so that Sam’s, and Flaherty, could “avoid, circumvent, ignore and otherwise evade” Americans with Disabilities Act laws.

The suit also asserts that during the course of his employment, Salzman became aware of a number of permit applications that were not being properly or entirely complied with on inspection, yet final permits were being issued by Tiburon officials without his legally required approval and sign off.

“Such applicants typically were wealthy business owners, commercial and residential property owners, wealthy homeowners, elected officials an