Tyeastia Green, Burlington's Former Racial Equity Director, Demands $7.5 Million From City 

click to enlarge

• File: Courtney Lamdin
• From left: Kiah Morris, Tyeastia Green and Ferene Paris in 2023

Burlington's former racial equity director is demanding the city pay her $7.5 million, alleging she faced a "racially motivated campaign of denigration" during her tenure that continued well after she resigned in March 2022.

Tyeastia Green's allegations are spelled out in a 14-page letter from her attorney and in emails to Burlington city officials, which Seven Days obtained through a public records request. The letter was dated April 3, two days after Green's former boss, mayor Miro Weinberger, left office.

While Green and Weinberger clearly had differences, the letter details the depth of their falling-out. At one point, Green alleges, the then-mayor yelled at her on a phone call; soon afterward, he asked her not to resign because he worried it would make him look bad, the letter claims.

The wide-ranging missive accuses city officials of attempting to suppress Green's right to free speech and undermining her work; defaming her in media interviews; and coordinating a smear campaign with the City of Minneapolis, where Green worked after leaving Burlington.

In recent weeks, Green's friends and supporters launched an open-letter campaign to pressure the city to act. In addition to the payout, Green has demanded a public apology and payment of her legal fees.

Last week, however, city officials indicated that a financial settlement is off the table but that they're open to "a restorative process," the emails show.

"I'm hopeful that we can start working on that," Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak told Seven Days in an interview, in an effort to learn "where we can improve and understand where things broke down."

Contacted by Seven Days, Weinberger denied Green's claims, saying they were unfounded. Green declined to be interviewed.

The "demand letter" is an attempt to avoid "costly, prolonged litigation," Green's attorney, Ashley Hill, wrote to city officials. But Green could ultimately decide to take the matter to court.

"The City has not initiated any meaningful conversation with my client about any potential remedies or resolution," Hill said in a statement. "The harms articulated are ongoing."

Weinberger appointed Green in early 2020 to lead a new city department: the Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging. "Breaking down the barriers of institutional racism and implicit bias requires hard, detailed, and sustained organizational work," he wrote in announcing Green's hiring.

But Green's demand letter describes a strained relationship with Weinberger, including previously unreported details about what went on behind closed doors at city hall. It also further documents some public spats between Green and Weinberger, including one that began in early 2021.

Eight months after a controversial vote to reduce the size of the police force, the city council hired a Virginia-based nonprofit, CNA, to assess Burlington police operations. The council tapped Green, who is Black, to oversee the process. But Weinberger instead appointed a white department head, who he suggested would be more "neutral."

Green alleges that Weinberger waited more than a month to tell councilors about the switch because he was running for reelection and knew the optics could harm his campaign. Public backlash was indeed swift, and Weinberger put Green back in charge, issuing a public apology and acknowledging his "bias."

Tensions rose again when Police Chief Jon Murad failed to send data to CNA on time, delaying the report's publication by several weeks. Green's letter says her professional reputation took a hit when she had to ask the council for more time to submit the report.

After a draft was finally completed in fall 2021, both Weinberger and Murad convinced CNA to make several changes to the report before it was made public. Green wanted to attach a memo to the final version outlining her concerns about the process, but Weinberger wouldn't let her, the letter says.

The mayor continued to undermine Green's work when he assigned production of her department's marquee event, Juneteenth, to Burlington City Arts, relegating her to "an advisory role," the letter says. Green, however, appealed to the council's Board of Finance in fall 2021 with a proposal to hire two event planners, keeping Juneteenth in her purview.

"She did not want another public removal akin to his earlier CNA debacle," Green's attorney wrote.

Controversy over the CNA report resurfaced in early 2022, when Green confirmed at a police commission meeting that Murad and Weinberger had made changes to the draft. Weinberger called Green the following day and yelled at her "much like an angry adult would yell at a child," according to the letter. He also said he couldn't reappoint her to her job that June.

Green submitted her resignation and hired an attorney. Weinberger apologized and asked Green to stay because, the letter says, "he was worried about the optics of Ms. Green's abrupt departure from the City." She declined.

Soon after, Green landed a job in her home city of Minneapolis. There, in a similar position, she produced an event for Black History Month that went over budget and attracted far fewer people than expected. She left the post in early 2023, and Minneapolis leaders launched a financial audit of the failed event. The news got back to Queen City officials, who decided to audit Burlington's previous Juneteenth events.

That audit, published in July 2023, found that Juneteenth in 2021 — a well-attended festival curated by Green — was run by the book and came in under budget. But it alleged "mismanagement or carelessness" leading up to the 2022 event, which was organized by former city staffer Casey Ellerby after Green left Burlington. Green would later hire Ellerby to plan the Minneapolis expo.

Green contended that Burlington's review was driven by racial bias and, in media interviews, accused Weinberger of practicing white supremacy. Mulvaney-Stanak, who was a member of the Vermont House at the time, wrote a letter in August 2023 to the mayor and council, arguing that the audit revealed "a racist double standard" when other, white department heads weren't similarly scrutinized.

At a heated meeting around the same time, city councilors passed resolutions pledging to review antidiscrimination policies and to consider the report's negative impacts on Green.

In the demand letter, Green's lawyer says the audit was biased because it was performed by a law firm managed at the time by Ian Carleton, a friend of Weinberger's and his one-time pick for city attorney. Further, the letter alleges, Burlington and Minneapolis officials coordinated their probes "to orchestrate a campaign of gross defamation" against Green, "causing irreparable harm to her personal and professional reputation."

The letter also accuses City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District), a Weinberger ally, of perpetuating a narrative in media interviews that Green was responsible for budget overruns related to the 2022 Juneteenth event. And it says a city consultant last year asked for images of Green and Ellerby to be edited out of promotional Juneteenth videos "because they are being investigated for fraud."

The letter cites text messages and emails as evidence for many of the claims, but Green declined to provide them to Seven Days, saying her attorney advised against it.

Shannon turned down an interview request, saying she couldn't comment on legal matters. Weinberger declined an interview and instead provided an emailed statement that denies the allegations in Green's letter. "I'm not aware of any facts that support them," he wrote.

"I am proud of the work of my administration in creating the REIB department and of the work Ms. Green and I were able to accomplish together, particularly during the City's COVID response, and the launch of Juneteenth as a municipal holiday and city-sponsored major celebration," Weinberger continued. "My hope is that the mission, vision, and capacity of the REIB department endures because it was and remains incredibly important for Burlington."

According to public records, the city and Green's attorney discussed the allegations on a phone call in the spring that ended without agreement. Green's attorney followed up with an email on May 15 demanding the $7.5 million settlement and alleging the city violated terms of a separation agreement that her client signed in 2022 "under duress."

Attorneys for the city called Green's claims baseless, noting that she signed the separation agreement while being represented by an attorney. "Our position is that Ms. Green released any and all claims against the City," wrote Michael Leddy, an attorney with Burlington firm McNeil Leddy & Sheahan who is representing the city. He later added: "At this time, there will be no counter offer."

Green has not sued Minneapolis, though she did file a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which helps enforce federal antidiscrimination laws, according to her letter. Green has also accused city leadership there of creating a racist and toxic work culture.

In Burlington, local advocates have sent a flurry of letters to city officials, demanding justice for Green. The writers — including former state representative Kiah Morris; Vermont Racial Justice Alliance executive director Rev. Mark Hughes; and former city council president Max Tracy — collectively ask the city to resolve her complaints.

Some of the missives call out Mulvaney-Stanak directly, saying that by not addressing Green's claims, she's reneged on campaign promises to fight racial injustice. The mayor's recent decision to not fill several positions, including the director, in the racial equity department in order to help close a budget gap also rankled activists such as Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland Area NAACP and one of the letter writers. Green, too, emailed Mulvaney-Stanak, imploring her to hire a permanent director.

"It kind of hits a little bit different when you thought you had an ally," Schultz said in an interview. "Racial justice looks like owning up to the past ... so that you can truly move forward in every way."

For Ferene Paris, justice includes a financial settlement. Paris, a close friend of Green's who participated in Burlington Juneteenth events and the Minneapolis expo, said Green is unemployed despite applying for 400 jobs in the past year. Money woes led her to put her house in Minneapolis on the market, according to Paris.

Green deserves damages and for her legacy to not be erased, Paris said. She's hoping Mulvaney-Stanak will remember the letter she wrote in support of Green just a year ago.

"Myself and many people are asking [the city] to please do better and to please do right, because at the end of the day, Tyeastia doesn't deserve all that's come towards her," Paris said. "She's never going to be the same person again."

In an interview, Mulvaney-Stanak defended the cuts to the racial equity office during a tough budget year. She pledged to keep at least four full-time staffers, making it more robust than similar departments in other towns or in state government, she said. Under Green's leadership, the office had as many as 14 employees.

As for advocates' criticisms that she's been inconsistent, Mulvaney-Stanak said she "doesn't disagree" with anything she wrote in her 2023 letter in support of Green. That letter called for "self-reflection and restorative practices," which are what the city has agreed to do to resolve Green's grievances, Mulvaney-Stanak said.

Paris, for one, thinks the city is waiting for Green and her supporters to run out of steam.

"None of us are stopping," she said. "History will again remind people why you should be listening to Black women. We're gonna fight this to the end."