Sean Keane finished his time as Oak Park’s parking and mobility services manager last week and he will now follow the village’s former development services director north to Wilmette.
While expressing gratitude for his time in Oak Park, in his departure, Keane echoed frustrations with what he described as a “toxic” work environment over the past year.
Keane had worked for the village for about seven years, the last four of which he spent leading Oak Park’s municipal parking administration office — the division of parking and mobility services. He will start in a new village planning role for Wilmette on June 23, working under Emily Egan, the former village development services chief.
Egan approached Keane with the opportunity, he told Wednesday Journal in an interview.
“Shortly after she arrived in Wilmette, she presented me with this opportunity,” he said. “She was an excellent leader, and I really enjoyed working with her and I can’t wait to work with her again.”
Overall, Keane said he really enjoyed his years working for Oak Park’s village government.
“It was an honor to make an impact in the Oak Park community,” Keane said. “The relationships and collaborations I’ve built have been deeply meaningful and will stay with me moving forward.”
However, Keane said that over his final year of employment with the village his work environment at village hall grew to be “toxic,” which directly led him to begin seeking employment elsewhere. He said the issues stemmed from village management’s failure to resolve personnel conflicts associated with former Oak Park Economic Vitality Administrator Brandon Crawford, who was fired from the village on April 25.
“I would be remiss not to acknowledge my disappointment in the recent inaction by leadership to promptly and adequately address serious personnel concerns related to former Economic Vitality Administrator Brandon Crawford,” Keane said. “The failure to intervene in a timely manner allowed a toxic environment to persist, with negative impacts that extended throughout our department and the broader organization.”
In her exit interview following her Feb. 7 resignation, Egan also described dealing with a “toxic work environment” and not feeling supported while navigating conflicts with colleagues, according to documents associated with her resignation and obtained by Wednesday Journal via FOIA.
“Lack of support and/or belief of my side of the story when my supervisor was attempting to listen to the challenges for myself and within my department due to specific interpersonal issues,” Egan wrote in an exit interview questionnaire about her least favorite part of working at village hall.
In documents associated with Crawford’s dismissal, village leaders described repeated conflicts between him and Egan. The village had hired an “executive coach” to help Crawford and his coworkers collaborate productively, to unsatisfactory results, according to the documents.
“The village also made several attempts to create role clarity, resolve internal conflicts and enhance your ability to succeed, including providing you with an executive coach, removing you from the Development Services Department via special assignment and physically relocating your office, and permanently changing your title and removing you from the Development Services Department,” Crawford’s termination letter said.
Oak Park recently announced the hiring of John C. Melaniphy as a new assistant village manager of economic vitality. The village is now accepting job applications for two economic vitality administrator roles and for Keane’s replacement in the parking and mobility services manager position.
Keane said that he believes that the village’s decision to promote Craig Failor to the Development Services Director position following Egan’s departure was a wise move.
He also said that he hopes that Oak Park leadership will do a better job of managing staff conflicts in the future.
“Oak Park has a lot of opportunities, and a lot of work to do,” he said.
