Ex Head of U City Forestry, Parks, Recreation Resigns New Post; Blames City Manager of U City

Nancy MacCartney, the former head of Parks, Recreation and Forestry for is pointing the finger at City Manager Lehman Walker for reportedly forcing her to quit her current employment with the Parkview Gardens Association.

MacCartney retired from U City in December 2010. She stayed on as a paid consultant for the city. In April 2011, she signed a contract to serve as the grant administrator for the Parkview Gardens HUD/DOT Community Grant Challenge. The aim of the grant is to improve the Parkview Gardens neighborhood, fostering better connections to the metro and bike routes as well as developing afforable housing.

One of her tasks was to be intermediary between U City and the Parkview Gardens Association.

On Sept. 22, MacCartney submitted a resignation letter to the Parview Gardens Association, stating she was "forced" to resign "due to the extremely hostile environment," created by City Manager Lehman Walker.

"His repeated personal attacks include false accusations, demands for my dismissal, bullying attempts at altering my employment contract, and denial of my First Amendement free speech rights.

MacCartney ended her resignation letter by stating, "I will no longer accept Mr. Walker's beligerence."

When contacted by University City Patch for comment concerning MacCartney's resignation and her claims he was the cause, Walker responded:

"Ms. MacCartney was working for Parkview Gardens at the time of her resignation. I would suggest you direct your inquiries to Parkview Gardens. I do not comment on personnel issues."

In a letter dated August 1, 2011, from Walker to Washington University, one of the project partners, Walker writes that "the City of University would like the Grant Administrator Nancy McCartney [sic] be removed from her responsibilities for the Parkview Gardens Sustainable Communities Planning Grant."

In his letter, Walker said MacCartney had approved a report for posting on the project website without having first sent a draft/final report to any city staff/liasion for review prior to submitting the final document to the Federal Departments.

"Since the City of University City is held accountable for the grant this was totally inappropriate and contrary to previous instructions to Ms. McCartney [sic]," wrote Walker. "The City of University City feels strongly that we cannot work with Ms. McCartney [sic] and want her removed from any involvement with the Parkview Gardens Sustainable Planning Grant," he added in his letter.

MacCartney claims that Walker sent a similar letter the Parkview Gardens Association.