Now the working environment in Finnmarks municipality is completely destroyed, and several of the top managers are on sick leave, says a new notice.
The first notice was written in August last year. At that time, Nilsen was still deputy mayor. The whistleblowers believe that Nilsen attacked them with false claims and unfair criticism of the proceedings.
Nilsen continued in the same tone towards the municipal director, they write:
“Marius Nilsen, on a very thin basis, directed criticism at the current municipal director and asked him to consider resigning from his position. This meeting went on for almost 3 hours with a continuous loud aggressive appearance,” the notice says.
Marius Nilsen himself tells NRK that he has decided not to say anything about the case.
Nilsen left politics and was hired as the new municipal director in November, three months after the notice had been sent.
The whistleblowers are all four managers at the level below the municipal director.
“On a personal level, this goes beyond our mental and physical health,” they write.
High level of conflict
Gamvik municipality has been characterized by a high level of conflict for a long time. In August, the mayor postponed all meetings to calm the situation.
The four whistleblowers believe that nothing has happened since they sent the first warning in August.
Therefore, it was repeated at the end of January.
“At the present time, the management team is characterized by sickness absence and a lack of job satisfaction”, they write, and demand that the notice be processed.
The responsibility lies with former state secretary and county mayor Ragnhild Vassvik, who is now mayor of Gamvik.
Vassvik tells NRK that she outsourced the matter to an external expert: Leif-Vidar Olsen, who has been municipal director in Hammerfest, among others.
The problem has now been forwarded to lawyer Kristine Slotnæs at Brækhus Advokatfirma.
– I hope that the investigations and conclusions will be made soon. I don’t have a time frame, but I want to make sure that it is done as soon as possible, says a rather tight-lipped Vassvik to NRK.
Ragnhild Vassvik is a former state secretary and county mayor. Now she is the mayor of Gamvik and is in the middle of a harrowing whistleblower case.
Photo: EILIF ASLAKSEN / NRK
– Can you say something about how you perceive the content of this notification?
– No, I do not want to comment on it further, but it interferes with the top management of Gamvik municipality. So it is important to get clarification about these things and get a proper investigation.
– Now you chose to employ Nilsen as municipal director after he had been notified. What do you think about it now?
– I have no intention of commenting on that, says Vassvik.
Up in the control committee
The control committee in Gamvik called in the mayor to provide information on the case on 18 January, i.e. before the notice was repeated.
Committee leader Tonje Marie Kristoffersen wanted to make sure that the notice was dealt with according to the book, and learned that it had been left to external parties.
– Regardless of who is notified in a municipality, there must be a system that is safe for everyone. The control committee must be able to have some sort of role in seeing that it is actually done correctly, says Kristoffersen.
Directors on a conveyor belt
A long series of municipal directors have come and gone in Gamvik in recent years. The politicians’ relationship with the administration in general has been strained.
Øyvind Korsbergknown as a former parliamentary representative for the FRP, came in March 2019. Already in August of the following year, he resigned and went to a similar job in Balsfjord.
Then former Tysfjord councilor Oddbjørn Nilsen set for the job. He withdrew the application when the Labor Party and the Center Party expressed distrust – that is, long before he had started.
Instead came Tor Arne Solvoll in the autumn of 2020. In May 2022, it became known that he was close to the day with nine months’ back pay.
Neither Øyvind Korsberg, Tor Arne Solvoll nor Jan Magne Kåsa Stensrud had a long career as municipal director in Gamvik.
Photo: NRK and PRIVAT
For a few months, the municipality had an acting councillor.
Jan Magne Kåsa Stensrud came on 1 December 2022, but ended this autumn. Stensrud does not want to say anything to NRK about why he resigned after nine months, but according to the four whistleblowers, he was exposed to gross discrimination from Marius Nilsen.
“The attacks, the harassment and the unfair criticism we have experienced from politicians have also been largely directed at former municipal director Jan Magne Stensrud, who chose to resign from his position”, they write in the latest notice.
In November was Ellen Beccer-Brandvold nominated as the new municipal director, but she resigned when people in the municipality mobilized against her. Marius Nilsen was not even on the applicant list. He was proposed at the municipal council meeting – and got the job.
Nilsen has a long history of politics in Gamvik. He was mayor in the period 2007–2011, after the Labor Party received 66.8 percent of the vote. Five years ago it became known that he had resigned from Ap and joined the Center Party, for which he had now been elected.
2024-02-09 09:33:59
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