Former Lewiston library director files suit

Former Lewiston City Library Director Alexa Eccles has filed a federal lawsuit against the city over her termination in 2018, alleging sexual harassment, a hostile work environment and violation of her due process rights, among other charges.

The Library Board of Trustees put Eccles on administrative leave in April 2018 after mounting patron complaints about dwindling services and collections at the library, and other issues like a high rate of employee turnover.

Coeur d’Alene attorney April M. Linscott filed the lawsuit in federal court for the U.S. District of Idaho on Friday, following an earlier claim for damages that exceed $1 million. The Idaho Human Rights Commission reviewed the case in 2019, then dismissed it with a right to sue in January.

“I think that when there was quite a bit of press about Ms. Eccles in the past, she was in a position where she was unable to respond at all,” Linscott said. “Through this litigation, she is going to be able to tell her side of the story.”

Lewiston City Attorney Jana Gomez said the city attempted a mediated settlement with Eccles after the Human Rights Commission concluded its process, but the effort did not succeed. The city has hired Spokane attorney Christopher J. Kerley to handle its defense of the claim.

Kerley did not return a call from the Lewiston Tribune seeking comment Wednesday.

In the lawsuit, Eccles makes a litany of allegations against city councilors and city employees for incidents that she claimed stretched back to when the city hired her in 2012.

That year, Eccles said she was sexually assaulted by then-City Councilor Dennis Ohrtman, according to the lawsuit. She said she reported the incident to the city’s human resource director. She claimed that Ohrtman again made advances on her in 2016.

Ohrtman denied the claims when contacted Wednesday.

“To my knowledge, all of her previous claims have been investigated and discredited,” Ohrtman said.

Eccles also claimed that around the time she was hired, two city employees made derogatory comments to library staff about female appearances, and made inappropriate gestures toward her. She claimed another city employee physically assaulted her in 2013, and she had to endure comments from city councilors and library board members over the years about whether a woman was suited to be the director.

“Ms. Eccles’ ability to do her job was hampered by the repeated sexual discrimination of City Council members, the Library Board, and City employees and contractors,” the lawsuit claimed.

Eccles replaced Library Director Dawn Wittman, who served in the position for almost 13 years. The library board hired Lynn Johnson as Eccles’ replacement in December 2018.

Eccles also claims that her rights to due process were violated, including the denial of several procedures like a pre-termination and post-termination hearing, a notice of all claims made against her, an opportunity to respond to those claims, an impartial decision-maker, the opportunity to confront her accuser, and the ability to cross-examine witnesses.

The library board put Eccles on administrative leave in April 2018, and fired her at the end of September that year. At the time, Gomez said there was a good reason why so much time elapsed between putting Eccles on leave and her eventual termination.

“There was a thorough process that was followed,” Gomez said.

The city has not yet answered the lawsuit, which names the city, the library board, the four members of the board who voted to fire her and Lewiston City Manager Alan Nygaard as defendants. That answer is due by May 15.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.