The St. Louis County Board is expected to a approve a payment Tuesday of $65,000 to a former board secretary who claimed she was sexually harassed for 10 years by former Commissioner Dennis Fink.
The county attorney has recommended approval of the payment, says the Duluth News Tribune.
The proposed settlement of the lawsuit filed by Betty Sislo was reached in a conference led by a federal magistrate.
The paper said:
Sislo first filed a complaint in 2007 alleging that Fink engaged in harassing behavior, including verbal comments of a sexual nature, overly personal comments regarding personal appearance and “ogling.”
The lawsuit claims Fink would call Sislo into his office to “show her off” to other men; that he would call her at home for no work-related reason; that he told her she “looked really foxy today”; that he asked her whether he could use her bikini in his re-election ads; and that he asked her to recant her allegations.
The suit also claimed the county failed to take action to protect Sislo from the harassment and eventual retaliation.
Fink couldn't be reached for comment this week, but in 2007 said he'd done nothing wrong:
"If there is any reason for being defiant, it’s because I have had an impeccable reputation and have never committed any kind of an injustice that would warrant such an attack,” Fink said at the time. “It only leads me to believe that there is some sort of political motivation.”