Kenai Peninsula Borough settles sexual harassment case involving former mayor and gubernatorial candidate

The Kenai Peninsula Borough and former mayor and gubernatorial candidate Charlie Pierce agreed to pay $237,500 to settle a sexual harassment case filed against them by a former borough employee, according to an agreement approved by the borough assembly Tuesday night.

Pamela Wastell, a former executive assistant to Pierce, filed a lawsuit against him and the borough in October — in the midst of Pierce’s campaign for governor — saying he sexually harassed her when he was Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor, and that the borough failed to protect her.

In a written statement from Wastell released by her attorney Tuesday, she said she is pleased that she “was able to settle my lawsuit, but there’s not enough money in the world to go through what I have.”

“... I had almost ten years invested in my career at the Borough, and I had a great plan. I was going to retire in five years. That was taken from me nine months ago when I reported that I was being sexually harassed and terrorized by Charlie Pierce, the person that was not only my boss but also held the highest political position within the Borough,” Wastell wrote.

“He told me he had the power and control, and everyone knew it. Due to his previous history at the Borough including his firings of other employees, there was a lot of fear. I was afraid too. So where was I to go? There was not an HR director in place at the time to safely report it to as he had designated his right hand, chief of staff and previous close friend and co-worker from a previous employment as the acting HR Director.”

In a joint statement from the borough assembly and Mayor Peter Micciche, who won a special election to replace Pierce, they said the decision to settle the lawsuit out of court “was given considerable thought and time by the assembly and Mayor Micciche.”

“Prolonged litigation will result in the expenditure of more public funds, and not serve to bring finality to a trying and difficult time,” they wrote. “Neither the assembly nor Mayor Micciche are happy with all aspects of this settlement, but we also recognize that years of litigation on this matter is not in the best interest of the borough, or the taxpayers.”

Wastell’s attorney, Caitlin Shortell, said in a statement that the settlement “will partially compensate (Wastell) for her substantial damages and allow her to move beyond devastating sexual harassment and the loss of her borough career.”

The vast majority of the settlement sum will be paid by the borough from public funds. Under the agreement, Pierce must pay $31,250, but that sum will be paid through an insurance policy held by the borough through the Alaska Municipal League Joint Insurance Association rather than by Pierce directly, according to Pierce’s attorney, Richard Moses.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Pierce referred questions about the settlement to Moses, who said that Pierce and his wife “are currently living a retired life and plan to continue doing that indefinitely.” Moses declined to say if Pierce still resides in Alaska.

Moses said that “no fault was found against the borough or Mr. Pierce. No admission of fault or liability was made by either of those two defendants, either, so at present, none of those allegations have been proven.”

The settlement agreement is not the first the Kenai Peninsula Borough has reached with former borough employees who claimed to be mistreated by Pierce.

In 2019, the borough’s former human resources director, Sandra “Stormy” Brown, filed a lawsuit accusing the borough and Pierce of gender discrimination, disability discrimination and creating a hostile work environment. The borough agreed to pay Brown $150,000 to settle the case.

The borough later agreed to pay $117,000 in 2021 to a subsequent human resources director. In exchange, the employee agreed he would not “make any further allegations of ‘illegal acts’ by Mayor Pierce” and would “withdraw and rescind any allegations of bullying.”

Wastell’s attorney, Shortell, said that during litigation, several individuals contacted her law office and Wastell to report information that corroborated Wastell’s claims of sexual harassment by Pierce, who assumed office in 2017 and served as borough mayor until resigning in 2022. He said at the time that he was resigning to focus on his campaign for governor. Pierce made few appearances during last year’s campaign and garnered less than 5% of the votes in the four-way race.

The borough still faces a separate ongoing suit alleging workplace harassment, filed in January by a borough employee with the Kachemak Emergency Services Fire Area. In response to the legal actions taken against it, the borough has launched a new policy to prevent sexual assault.

Micciche, the current borough mayor, said he plans to propose amendments to borough code concerning misconduct in office in an “effort to bolster code language with regard to alleged misconduct by borough employees and elected officials, including potential personal liability for such conduct.”

Shortell said she hopes the new policy leads to a better work environment, “but a policy is only as good as the people who are implementing the policy.”

“My client very much hopes that it’s a better working environment for employees of the borough because she came forward and didn’t just stay quiet about this, even though she really constantly questioned her decision to come forward because it was so damaging to her,” said Shortell.