Employee Issues, Lawsuits Plague the City of Ojai
Connecting the stories of the City's former Transit Operations Supervisor, Financial Director and Recreation Manager, two of whom are suing the City.
Greetings readers! One chapter in a long-simmering City of Ojai story came to a close on Wednesday with a carefully worded, mutually agreed upon press release.
“As part of the resolution, the City of Ojai and Anthony Palacios have agreed that this joint statement accurately reflects the circumstances of the separation. Neither the City nor Anthony will be providing additional comment regarding matters related to the employment or the resolution.”
Obviously — there’s a lot here, between the lines. But before we dive into the context, let me introduce you to Anthony Palacios, a Ventura County native and U.S. Marine Corps veteran. Palacios was appointed as the City of Ojai’s Transit Operations Supervisor in September 2024. It’s a part-time position.
I had the opportunity to talk with Palacios earlier this week. I asked him what he’d like Ojai residents to know about him.
“I’d like the people to know that I’m very driven person in helping those that aren’t as fortunate as others,” Palacios said. He explained that he was drawn to work on the Ojai trolley program because it serves “three of the biggest groups that need the most help, which is the elderly, the people that are impoverished, and also we have people with disabilities. I’m also a disabled veteran and that’s very personal for me. So I thought I could make a difference and that’s what brought me here.”
Unfortunately, Palacios’ work as Transit Operations Supervisor did not last long.
By April 22, 2025, he was on leave from his position, according to attorney Nancy Gray. Palacios resigned that position, according to the City’s press release, more than a year later: April 29, 2026.
Ok? Here’s what I can tell you:
Ojai City Council-watchers began hearing Palacios’ name during the May 13, 2025 Ojai City Council meeting, when a group of Ojai trolley riders questioned his absence. Take a look:
After lamenting issues like interrupted trolley service at “random times throughout the week when there are no drivers available,” and a lack of service on Sundays1, lifetime Ojai resident Winnie Major turned her comments to Palacios and his unexplained absence.
“We’re hopeful, especially after you hired Anthony as the trolley supervisor. It seemed promising. He would often ride the trolley with us and ask for our input. He’s a very kind and helpful man, and we thought things were looking up. But now Anthony has disappeared, and we just want to know what’s going on.”
Another speaker, Joe Puglia, accused Ojai City Manager Ben Harvey of mistreating Palacios, “How you have treated this veteran tells me you are not fit for leadership,” he said.
City Council-watcher Larry Steingold observed, “All these people are here for the trolley. Why? This is self-inflicted.”
(Now former) Assistant City Manager Carl Alameda provided (a bit) of insight into the situation, stating that the City had recently hired an Interim Transit Supervisor.
The next morning, Alameda appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where he pleaded “not guilty” to 11 felony counts of embezzlement and 23 counts of insurance fraud related to his former position as Assistant City Manager in La Cañada Flintridge. May 13th marked Alameda’s final City Council appearance. He was terminated from his position May 16th.
Anyways — Palacios’ name continued to pop up in public comments during subsequent City Council meetings. By summer, the City had another employment issue on its hands: former Recreation Manager Matthew (Matt) Davis filed suit against the City of Ojai on July 16, 2025, alleging whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination.
According to his complaint, Davis was “terminated” from his position on February 14, 2025. (Ouch.) I’ll also note that Davis filed an amended complaint on April 16th of this year, which is also included below. Stick with me, folks, I promise this will become relevant!
Let’s get into a few of the allegations in Davis’ amended complaint:
“In April 2024,” the complaint reads, “[City Manager] Ben Harvey specifically directed [Davis] to identify operational issues within the [Recreation] department.”
Davis alleges he made “his first protected complaint” to Harvey regarding alleged improper use of funds for the City’s gymnastics program in May of 2024. According to the complaint, Davis made subsequent “protected complaints” regarding bad behavior amongst Recreation staff.
Recall: Harvey came on board as Ojai City Manager at the end of January 2024.
Davis alleges that in the aftermath of those complaints, he became the victim of a “coordinated pressure campaign” involving the individuals he had reported. The complaint reads, “although the City initially supported [Davis’] findings, that support diminished as external pressure increased.”
Let’s stick with the gymnastics issue, because readers may recall the way in which this issue exploded politically. (Suffice it to say that the City of Ojai learned the gymnastics community’s political power — we’ll get there.2)
Davis’ complaint continues, “Despite the City’s initial support for [Davis’] protected activities, by September 2024, Harvey ordered an unprecedented staff survey of [Davis’] leadership.”
The complaint further alleges that the board of the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group began to “publicly threaten, harass, and pressure the City to fire [Davis]. This campaign began after it became public that the City was going to scale back the gymnastics program… The group made salacious accusations including that [Davis] harassed and intimidated staff. This campaign overwhelmed the City Council, which caused it to reverse its prior decision and accuse [Davis] of not providing them crucial information."
The complaint continues, “The retaliation reached its peak in November 2024 when, following continued public attacks against [Davis] at a City Council meeting, Harvey issued [Davis] an ultimatum to either work directly with the individuals who had been publicly harassing him, including the same individuals whose threatening and assaultive conduct [Davis] had reported as creating unsafe working conditions, or resign.”
Davis’ complaint refers to a (packed) November 19, 2024 Ojai City Council meeting, in which gymnasts of all ages, parents, and community members spoke in favor of maintaining the long-standing gymnastics program.
Finally, according to the complaint, “On November 26, 2024, [Davis] signed and returned [a] severance agreement to the City. The City immediately issued a press release announcing his resignation but never provided Davis with a countersigned agreement. Instead, Harvey informed [Davis] that the severance agreement was no longer valid and unilaterally imposed new terms requiring [Davis] to work remotely through March 2025 without severance compensation. Harvey indicated that political pressure and public controversy surrounding [Davis’] protected disclosures motivated this reversal.”
A case management conference for Matthew Davis v. City of Ojai is scheduled in Ventura County Superior Court for July 7th at 8:35 a.m.
Less than two months after Davis filed his suit, another former employee filed suit against the City of Ojai. Former Finance Director Pam Greer filed suit in Ventura County Superior Court on September 10, 2025, alleging retaliation, and seeking $1 million in damages3. (Stick with me folks, this will all come together.)
Again, I encourage folks to read the full complaint.
Let’s run through a few key details:
After Harvey came on board as City Manager, Greer alleges she “realized she was dealing with a different kind of city manager, one who had no respect for rules as they applied to him,” after allegedly pushing back on Harvey’s request for reimbursement of hotel and housing expenses, Greer’s complaint says, she got “on [Harvey’s] bad side.”
Greer further alleges that she was subsequently “excluded or minimized” in meetings with City Councilmembers regarding financial matters, and that Harvey repeated “false and defamatory” statements about her work. Greer’s complaint also states that Harvey required her to report to Assistant Manager Alameda, which according to Greer was a change in practice.
The complaint continues, “Harvey then began, though a variety of means, to systematically cause staffing shortages for [Greer] and the Finance Department, leaving the Finance Department understaffed without support… By June 2024, Harvey had decreased the size of the Finance Department from five to three staff positions, which required [Greer] to work excessive hours, sometimes 12-20 hour days.”
Greer also alleges that, “Harvey encouraged disrespect for the Finance Director’s authority and condoned, supported and promoted… illicit and improper City accounting practices.”
Then, Palacios enters the narrative:
“Next, in late Summer 2024,” Greers complaint reads, “Harvey hired Anthony Palacios as Operations Supervisor of Transportation, designating him as a ‘part-time’ employee. But Palacios consistently worked 40-hours or more per week; and Harvey gave regular written approval of his timecards reflecting his full-time work… Neither Alameda nor Harvey took any action to remedy this City violation of law.”
“The denial of these legal rights became pointed around Veteran’s Day,” Greer’s complaint continues, “Palacios, as a disabled USMC veteran, had asked Harvey and Alameda for the day off. He reported them denying his request — while laughing at him. When [Greer] heard about the incident, she told them that Palacios, who was working full-time, was entitled to a paid day off for legal holidays—especially this one, since he was a veteran. Harvey and Alameda ignored her pleas.”
Then, Davis enters Greer’s complaint:
“On October 14, 2024, the local newspaper, the Ojai Valley News (“OVN”), exposed that Harvey had arranged and conducted a secret and illegal City Council closed session meeting four month earlier, in June, to cut the City’s Gymnastics Program in half. With the OVN’s exposure of the cuts, both the secret closed session and Program cuts became a public scandal.”
Greer’s complaint continues, “To deflect from his misconduct, Harvey accused Gymnastics Program parents and Recreation Dept. staff of misappropriating or embezzling City funds… Soon after OVN’s exposure of the gymnastics scandal, Parks & Recreation Dept. Manager Matt Davis publicly assumed blame. But Davis had only been in the job a few months, and he had no authority to set closed sessions or to cut Program funds… Matt Davis resigned — in disgrace.”
Greer next alleges that Harvey instructed her to prepare a severance package for Davis, even though, Greer says, Davis was not eligible for severance pay. Greer believes the payments made to Davis — in the form of administrative leave and paid sick leave — “were illicit ‘hush money’ in violation of state law for Davis ‘taking the fall’ for Harvey in the Gymnastics Program scandal.”
We’re almost through the legal complaints, folks. There are two more details in Greer’s narrative I want to highlight.
The complaint continues, “In January 2025, due to the efforts of City Operations Transportation Supervisor Anthony Palacios, the City won over $1 million in federal/state/county grants for its trolley service. Palacios then reiterated his longstanding request to the Assistant City Manager and City Manager to obtain a City truck (even a used one) to fulfill his job duties… Harvey refused Palacios’s requests, forcing him to continue using his own personal truck, for which the City did not compensate him… Harvey then directed the Grant funds to buy a new truck for a different department, Lindy Palmer’s Department of Public Works… [Greer] now had to point out to Assistant City Manager Alameda that spending trolley grant funds on (Palmer’s) Public Works department violated a variety of laws… City Manager Harvey nonetheless proceeded with the purchase for, and transfer of, a new truck to Lindy Palmer and Public Works.”4
Second and final detail: the complaint also states, “Whenever [Greer] provided financial reports for publication, Assistant City Manager Alameda would submit to [Greer] ‘revised’ and ‘additional’ information from City departments up-to and during printing and posting of documents, including the Budget Book. He would insist that [Greer] incorporate the changes. Even one of his changes, however, would result in numerous other changes and inevitable discrepancies. In presenting reports containing such errors, City management made [Greer] look incompetent.”
Given the charges against Alameda (he has pleaded not guilty) and the City’s documented weak financial controls — this seems an important detail.
Just as important: the City of Ojai filed an answer to Greer’s complaint on October 27, 2025 in which the City “denies generally and specifically each and every allegation contained in the Complaint…”
That document is attached below.
Greer’s employment was “terminated” on March 3rd, 2025. “Harvey represented and attributed the termination to [Greer] not finishing one of the audits,” her complaint states.
A mandatory settlement conference in Greer’s case is scheduled for January 12, 2027. If that fails, the case will go to trial on February 1, 2027.
“We are currently focused on the February 2 trial date,” Greer’s attorney Jon Drucker said.5
I’ll note that I did reach out for comment from City Manager Ben Harvey, but did not receive a response.
I also requested comment from Ojai’s five City Council members regarding the resolution of Palacios’ employment. “I am glad there has finally been a resolution,” Mayor Andy Gilman said. No one else is talking.
And don’t forget, folks: there’s another City of Ojai issue on the Ventura County Superior Court docket: Councilwoman Leslie Rule’s fight for indemnification rages on.6 I’ve attached the complaint below for anyone who wishes to refresh their memory.
A hearing in Leslie Rule v. City of Ojai is scheduled in Ventura County Superior Court for May 6th at 8:35 a.m. I’ll certainly be there.
In closing: folks, I love reporting on local legal fights about as much as I enjoy writing about pickleball. These issues are newsworthy because of the way in which they suck up public resources: specifically, our money and our time.
That’s all for now. As always, thanks for being here.
Until next time!
I’ll note that at present, there is trolley service on Sundays.
A lot of Ojai children make their way through the gymnastics program, and have as long as I can remember. In fact, your author was 1999’s “Most Cooperative Beginner Gymnast.” (I wasn’t very good at gymnastics).
That figure comes from Greer’s July 15, 2025 claim for damages.
Palmer serves as Public Works Director.
Recall: Drucker is a defendant in David Byrne, et al v. Leslie Rule et al, the case for which Rule is requesting indemnification. Drucker represented Rule from 2023-2025.
AKA — the City’s responsibility for legal fees related to Rule’s service in public office.
Thanks for putting all of the out into the public's access.