Lakesha Mosley, a former city of Gary employee, claims that Lavetta Sparks-Wade, director of parks, harassed her during her time working for the department. Mosley also alleges that Sparks-Wade received payments for a summer youth coordinator position that she didn’t work.
Another Gary employee backed Mosley’s claims. Both had said they never saw Sparks-Wade perform work for the summer employment program and hadn’t seen the position posted.
Sparks-Wade on Friday declined to speak about the allegations.
Erika Blackwell, chief communications officer for the city of Gary, responded to the harassment allegations in a Nov. 19 email but declined to comment on the ghost payroll claims.
“At the city of Gary, we work hard every day to create an environment where everyone feels safe,” Blackwell’s statement said. “We are committed to fostering a positive and inclusive culture. As a general rule, we thoroughly investigate all (human resources) complaints, and we don’t discuss personnel issues externally.”
Gary Common Council members were told during an April 23 Ways and Means committee meeting that the summer youth coordinator position would have been filled by someone aged 19-22.
Sparks-Wade was paid $7,000 for the position out of American Rescue Plan Act funds. In the council’s Oct. 29 special meeting, seven council members voted against retroactively paying Sparks-Wade for the position. Councilwoman Marian Ivey, D-At Large, and former Councilman Mark Spencer, D-At Large, abstained from the vote.
It’s unclear if the council’s vote prevented Sparks-Wade from receiving the funds as she has told co-workers that she’s refusing to pay it back.
All meetings are available to watch on the Gary Common Council’s Facebook page.
Council Parliamentarian Linda Barnes-Caldwell, D-5th, told Sparks-Wade at a Sept. 19 Ways and Means committee meeting that she was confused how the director had time for both positions. Sparks-Wade had said at the committee meeting that the department has a small staff that oversees the city’s parks.
Barnes-Caldwell asked Sparks-Wade if she received extra salary for the youth program, and the director told the councilwoman to talk with Gary Mayor Eddie Melton.
The salary for the youth program was added months after the council had approved lowering Sparks-Wade’s salary from about $80,000 to $70,000. At the Jan. 23 meeting, Sparks-Wade said the average salary for a parks superintendent in Indiana is more than $91,000 and said the Hammond director makes $114,000 each year.
Council President Tai Adkins, D-4th, said that according to various sources, the average salary is “substantially lower,” and that Hammond’s salary is an outlier.
“We are excited that you are excited about this role,” Adkins said to Sparks-Wade. “We hope that, even with the salary level that the body is willing to consider, that you continue to take pride in every effort that you can bring up to par. Then we will look forward to the performance at that level and have discussions moving forward related to that.”
Councilman Darren Washington, D-At Large, said he didn’t understand how Sparks-Wade could be paid without council approval.
“I thought that if that happened, they needed to come before council for approval,” Washington said at the September meeting. “I’m just asking because I was chair of human resources last year, and a similar thing happened, so I didn’t know that you could take money from one department and put it toward the salary of a director.”
Celita Green, city controller, told Washington that the money was not added to Sparks-Wade’s salary and that she had to work for it. Because the money was from ARPA, Green said it couldn’t be added on to another salary.
A Gary employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said they saw Sparks-Wade’s timesheets, and they didn’t make sense. The timesheets would say she worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the parks department but also as youth coordinator from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The employee also said she never saw Sparks-Wade work with any children in the program.
Mosley worked as an administrative assistant in the parks department and said Sparks-Wade never had her post the youth services coordinator job. Posting job openings was one of Mosley’s responsibilities.
After the council voted against retroactively paying Sparks-Wade, she told Mosley that she wouldn’t have to pay the money because it came from ARPA funds, Mosley said.
In addition to issues with Sparks-Wade’s payment for the summer youth program, Mosley said her former boss harassed her from May until her Nov. 4 termination.
Mosley planned to leave the parks department but was waiting for incentive pay that employees would receive if they’d worked through Dec. 6. She spoke with human resources about Sparks-Wade on Nov. 4 and felt her boss retaliated against her.
The last time Mosley spoke up with the parks department dealt with a man named Tracey Peterson, who lives in Gary. Peterson would jet ski at Miller Beach, which he was told was legal up until this summer.
When he was told he wasn’t allowed to do so, Peterson went to a Parks Board meeting to explain the situation.
“The board was really receptive to it,” Peterson said. “And (Sparks-Wade) said, ‘OK, we’ll look into it.’”
Peterson went back to the beach and wasn’t allowed in, so he went to another meeting and brought pictures to explain his situation, which Peterson believes upset Sparks-Wade. One week later, Peterson went back to the beach to jet ski and was told by police that he was trespassing and banned from the beach.
Another week later, Peterson returned to the beach and had been arrested for suspicious activity.
Mosley said Sparks-Wade told people in the office that Peterson had pulled a gun out on an employee, which Peterson denied. Mosley confronted Sparks-Wade about it and said she was told to stand by Sparks-Wade’s side because she was an employee.
Sparks-Wade had approached Mosley about working for the parks department earlier this year, Mosley said, adding that she had previously been harassed while she was employed as a citizen service assistant from October 2023 to February. City employees had to undergo harassment training after, Mosley said. Mosley said a woman harassed her but didn’t provide a name.
“(Sparks-Wade) sold it to me like she saved me, like people from the administration office didn’t want me over there,” Mosley said. “She sold it to me like she was fighting for me to be in that position, so I was grateful.”
Not long after she started, Mosley said Sparks-Wade would ask employees personal questions that the former employee felt were inappropriate. Sparks-Wade allegedly made comments about Mosley’s appearance, criticizing her hair and weight.
The anonymous Gary employee also said they’d heard Sparks-Wade harassing Mosley.
“I’m walking down the hallway, and I can hear (Sparks-Wade) screaming at (Mosley), and she was belittling her over some minor paperwork,” the employee said.
Mosley wasn’t the only one targeted, the employee said, and it would depend on who was on Sparks-Wade’s radar. The Gary employee made a complaint to human resources about Sparks-Wade.
“After I filed the report, I felt that she knew,” the employee said. “Then it was like she was trying to nitpick, to find ways to get me removed.”
