The city of Vallejo has agreed to a $1.85 million payout to settle a four-year-old wrongful termination lawsuit involving two former high-ranking city officials, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney.
The settlement is on top of a $1 million payment the city already gave to a third employee who was involved in the same whistleblower lawsuit, which claimed the trio was fired back in 2020 in retaliation for raising questions about former city manager Greg Nyhoff’s leadership.
The trial was originally scheduled to start sometime this month.
“My colleagues and I raised concerns to multiple Vallejo City Council members about serious misconduct by City Manager Greg Nyhoff,” said Slater Matzke, the city’s former special advisor to Nyhoff. “Instead of thoroughly investigating these legitimate concerns, city leaders colluded to execute a plan of retaliation against those of us who came forward to stand up for the people of Vallejo.”
The suit alleges the trio were fired after trying to bring to light Nyhoff’s various alleged backroom dealings involving a Mare Island land and development deal, among other things.
The three accused Nyhoff of “graft and corruption” and of “negotiating against the city’s interest” and alleged they were retaliated against when they tried to bring their concerns to light.
Neither Nyhoff nor Vallejo city officials immediately responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
“Not only did (Vallejo officials) fail to investigate any of our claims that Nyhoff was illegally watering down development deals in favor of private developers, they then helped Nyhoff retaliate against us for speaking out,” said Will Morat, former assistant to the city manager.
In March, the city agreed to pay $1 million to Joanna Altman, another former Nyhoff assistant. Altman was part of the same lawsuit as Morat and Matzke.
Nyhoff resigned in 2021 with a $577,536 severance package amid myriad lawsuits against the city and accusations that he created a culture of discrimination and harassment at City Hall.
He is currently the interim city manager for Mount Pleasant, a town of 16,000 people in northeast Texas.
“This substantial settlement is acknowledgment that my clients did the right thing by bringing corruption to light in the City of Vallejo,” plaintiffs’ attorney Randall Strauss said in a news release Wednesday. “Hopefully, the people charged with running Vallejo for the public good will learn from this experience and take whistleblowers seriously in the future.”
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