Parents urge removal of Parks and Recreation coordinator, allege bullying and retaliation

At the June 3 East Grand Forks City Council meeting, several parents urged the council to remove Parks and Recreation coordinator John Witick, saying his conduct toward youth and volunteers has driven players and families away.

Matt Hanks, who identified himself as a parent and longtime youth coach, spent more than 20 minutes outlining a written complaint and asking the council to remove Witick from his city position. "I'm here tonight to formally request that the city take action to remove John Witick from his position with our park and recreation department," Hanks said, then described a year-long pattern of "bullying, retaliation, dishonesty, and mismanagement" that he said affected his children and other participants.

Hanks alleged specific incidents including repeated locker-room bullying he says staff failed to address, an episode in which he said Witick falsely attributed comments to another parent, a claim that his son was excluded from teams after protesting, and that Witick required team attendance at a Pride event the night before an important tournament without consulting parents. Hanks also said tryouts for summer Babe Ruth baseball lacked transparency, that some coaches were not present at evaluations, and that hiring decisions favored insiders.

Other public commenters echoed those concerns. Anna Dumis said the behavior "has been going on for five plus years" and criticized the department for blaming children instead of holding adults accountable. Parker Carlson said his family moved to East Grand Forks for the sports programs and described witnessing coach misconduct and bench altercations, urging stricter vetting and enforcement.

Council members responded by asking staff to collect information. One council member said, "If one quarter—one quarter of this stuff in here is true, it's way too much," and recommended the council consider an investigation by an outside firm. Mayor Mark Olstead asked City Administrator Reed Hutton and Parks staff member Jeremy King to meet and work toward a council briefing.

City Administrator Reed Hutton told the council his office had begun gathering facts, had met with the primary complainant and others, and "we'll certainly continue to do that work and bring a report back to council when the time is appropriate." Hutton said he could not promise the item would be on the next work session because compiling the information would take time and that HR procedures would be followed.

Jeremy King, speaking as a department head, said the department had also heard supportive messages about Witick and that "from a department head perspective, John has been doing a great job," adding that there are "two sides to the story."

The council did not take disciplinary or staffing action during the meeting. Members signaled they wanted a fuller staff report and discussion at a future meeting and discussed whether to use an outside investigator. The meeting record shows staff were directed to gather facts and return to council with findings; no formal vote on personnel action was taken that evening.