Investigation sustains harassment complaints against P.G. councilmember.

Pacific Grove Councilmember Luke Coletti has been sharply critical of City Manager Ben Harvey in public meetings since Coletti was elected in November 2020. In July 2021, Coletti was the lone vote against a new contract for Harvey, saying he believed the city manager was not competent. “I cannot agree to a contract with this employee,” Coletti said. Six other councilmembers approved the contract.

Coletti often refused to address Harvey by name, including in email communications between the two, acquired by the Weekly through a California Public Records Act request. The emails show a pattern of Coletti demanding information from Harvey and other staff members as well as requesting they complete tasks. Under the city’s charter, councilmembers may request information, but directing tasks should go through the city manager who is hired by the council to manage city employees.

In January, Harvey filed a harassment complaint with the city’s human resources director. The city entered into a contract with Ellis Investigations on Feb. 11 to investigate the complaint, not to exceed $40,000, according to documents provided to the Weekly via an anonymous source.

By July the city had spent nearly all of the $40,000, reported in a confidential memo sent by P.G. City Attorney Brian Pierik to councilmembers on July 18. He said the total could go as high as $45,000 to $50,000. Pierik also recommended they hire a special counsel to advise them about the results of the investigation.

In September, Pierik invited councilmembers, excluding Coletti, to come to City Hall to meet him in a conference room to read the 100-page draft report with 150 pages of attachments. They handed copies of the report back over to Pierik. (The Weekly has not seen the report.)

Harvey’s three allegations against Coletti were sustained, according to an email sent on Oct. 10 from Harvey to the special counsel, Jenica Maldonado of Renne Public Law Group. (The allegations are not specified in the letter.) He asked what steps the city was taking to remediate the situation, and wrote that unless the City Council adopts a new code of conduct, he didn’t see how Coletti’s behavior would stop. “[Coletti] is creeping back towards his old familiar patterns of disrespect and abuse,” Harvey wrote.

Harvey says he is not the source of the documents and cannot discuss the complaint or results of the investigation. Mayor Bill Peake also declined to offer a statement. Coletti did not respond to a request for comment.