By Linda Bentley | AUGUST 26, 2015

Prinzhorn to bid town adieu

His resume was already beefed up several months ago to include the town of Cave Creek in his work experience

CAVE CREEK – Utilities Manager David Prinzhorn has announced to Town Manager Peter Jankowski last week he intends to terminate his employment with the town.

According to Jankowski, Prinzhorn has not yet provided the town with his resignation in writing detailing why or when he intends to depart.

Jankowski stated Prinzhorn is overseeing a couple projects he would like to see completed before Prinzhorn leaves but gave no indication as to a timeline.

Some council members were taken aback during the Aug. 11 council retreat when Prinzhorn made a snide remark about council acting on a possible settlement in the lawsuit brought by former Town Manager Usama Abujbarah the following day, indicating a vote for settlement could potentially impact his budget as well as his ability to complete projects council deemed safety issues.

Prinzhorn was hired in January 2014 by Interim Town Manager Rodney Glassman, who was swept into that post by recalled former Vice Mayor Adam Trenk and his recalled slate of fellow councilmen when they acted unilaterally to terminate Abujbarah.

However, it appears Prinzhorn has been considering quitting for some time.

His resume was already beefed up several months ago to include the town of Cave Creek in his work experience, and, with little more than a year of employment under his belt with the town (at that time), Prinzhorn stated as an objective: “To secure a long-term and rewarding position with an organization that would benefit from my 35 years of comprehensive water, wastewater, and environmental engineering and utilities operations, maintenance and management experience.”

Under his “current experience” with the town, Prinzhorn states he is “diligently fostering and mentoring a team-oriented environment that focuses on staff development, quality customer service, and transparent collaboration with internal staff and external customers.”

There are several anomalies in his resume the most glaring of which is listed under “Professional References.”

While Prinzhorn lists two former co-workers from Hydrosystems, Inc. as references, despite his resume listing employment dating back to 1980, it doesn’t reflect him ever having worked at Hydrosystems.

It appears Prinzhorn was accused of sexual harassment during his employment with the town but the affected employee(s) didn’t want to pursue a complaint for fear it might affect their own employment.

Jankowski said he spoke to Prinzhorn about the issue but then effectively swept the incident(s) under the rug and brushed it off as a “misunderstanding.”

Mayor Vincent Francia asked during a recent council meeting how sexual harassment incidents are handled by the town and asked if council should be informed.

Jankowski stated he was the person who handled personnel matters. He said although Barbara Allen is the human resources person, she basically just handles the paperwork.

Town Attorney Bill Sims said any allegations of sexual harassment should immediately be forwarded to the town’s risk pool insurance and stated council should not be involved and should only be informed after the investigation is completed.

Although Jankowski doesn’t know yet why Prinzhorn has decided to quit, he said they both want it to be on good terms.