Kyle McCabe/Summit Daily News
A public comment at the Dillon Town Council’s regular meeting Feb. 3 led to the council delaying an executive session about goals for the town manager that was scheduled for later that meeting.
Jo-Anne Tyson, who formerly worked for Dillon as its town clerk and human resources manager, made a public comment where she stated the council reviewing the goals set in Town Manager Nathan Johnson’s 2025 performance review seemed “premature” because the town did not yet have results from a recent employee survey. She also alleged the town has a “toxic environment” perpetuated by “upper management.”
Johnson wrote in an email that the anonymous survey was conducted between Jan. 20-30 by a third-party human resources company. It had an 82% completion rate, which the company stated was an “extremely strong response rate” for an employee survey, according to Johnson.
When the council got to the reports and comments part of its meeting, council member Rachel Tuyn brought up Tyson’s comment. Mayor Carolyn Skowyra asked the members if they thought the council should wait to have the discussion until it had survey results. Council member Linda Oliver was the only member to advocate for not delaying the discussion.
Oliver said there were topics that the council needed to discuss that night, but she did not specify what the topics were.
“I think that we need to go over some of the other — what’s been discussed,” Oliver said. “I think it needs to be continued tonight.”
The other council members agreed that having the survey data may be helpful for the discussion about Johnson’s goals. Skowyra asked when the results would be available, and Johnson said the end of February. Skowyra asked if the human resources company could provide the council with survey results before the next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 17, and Johnson said he would have to ask the company. Skowyra also asked if the company would present them as a memo or a public presentation.
“A public presentation,” Johnson said. “Why wouldn’t it be? What do we have to hide?”
The council asked Johnson to arrange for the company to make a presentation at the next work session, if it is able, so that the council could have the discussion about Johnson’s goals at its regular meeting later the same day.
Johnson wrote in an email that the human resources company is compiling information to make a presentation to the Town Council and staff. He added that he and the council look “forward to receiving the results to see where improvements can be made.”
Commenter alleges “toxic environment”
In her public comment, Tyson also criticized the town for having a “toxic environment.” She said she has written the town letters about “harassment, bullying, favoritism and inconsistent application of policy from upper management.”
Tyson said she resigned from her human resources position with the town in June 2025 and that the culture at the town has “gone from bad to worse.” She criticized the town for having remote human resources services instead of an in-person human resources manager. Tyson said that, in the time since she left the town, she has “provided guidance” to Dillon staff members who she said have received “no help” from the remote human resources staff.
According to Tyson, Johnson has been designated as the “on-site manager,” but some staff complaints are about Johnson, making the designation “unethical.”
“Staff has no one to turn to, and I encourage you to reevaluate the remote HR contract and recruit an on-site person,” Tyson said.
Johnson wrote in an email that he cannot comment extensively on Tyson’s statements because they relate to personnel matters, but he wrote that “there were many falsehoods in the public comment.”
A lawsuit settled in June 2024 alleged that Johnson created and the then-council facilitated a “toxic workplace culture.” The former employee, who worked as Dillon’s marketing director from about April 2015 through when she was fired in February 2022, filed the lawsuit for wrongful termination in retaliation for raising internal complaints of gender discrimination.
Lawyers for former employee and the town agreed to settle the lawsuit for $50,000 without going to trial. The lawsuit had claimed Johnson “targeted women for differential treatment, particularly older women, by blaming and disciplining them for his own failures,” according to previous Summit Daily reporting.
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