The Human Resources Division manager whom the City of Evanston Black Employees Action Group alleged mishandled complaints of discrimination submitted her resignation on March 3, seven days before the city hired an outside consultant to conduct a full review of her division.

Megan Fulara, Human Resources Division manager in Evanston, submitted her resignation March 3. Credit: City of Evanston

Megan Fulara, the former HR division manager, was one of just two then-current city employees named in the action group’s November 2022 report, which details more than 60 examples of alleged racial discrimination dating back to 2005. The report accuses Fulara of mishandling HR complaints.

In February, the action group and City Manager Luke Stowe prioritized three actions. The third was to hire a consultant to investigate misconduct allegations against Fulara and Deputy City Manager Dave Stoneback, who is the other manager named in the action group’s report.

“We will have a full review of Dave [Stoneback] and Megan [Fulara] and HR and Public Works leadership and so forth,” City Manager Luke Stowe said in February. “And we’ll go from there, and based on the findings of that review then there’ll be accountability as appropriate.”

In January the city began discussions with GovHR, a woman-owned HR and diversity and inclusion consultant, and “formalized the engagement” on March 10, said Jessica Mayo, the city’s Community and Employee Engagement coordinator, via email April 5.

The RoundTable reached out to Fulara by email to ask why she left the city and about the allegation made about her in the action group’s report. Fulara responded in an email sent to both the RoundTable and the city’s legal team:

“My last day with the City of Evanston was March 17th,” Fulara wrote. “I had been interested and seeking employment with my new employer since late last year. GovHr is a highly reputable company and I am glad the City has chosen to partner with them.  I look forward to participating as needed.”

Fulara began working as the human resources director for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning in March.

At the City of Evanston, Mary Dankwa, assistant HR manager, is serving as interim manager while the city searches to fill the position.

“The HR Division Manager position will be publicly posted in the coming weeks,” Mayo said via email on April 5. “Staff at all levels and backgrounds of the organization will be involved in the hiring process for this position.”

Consultant GovHR will be reviewing “HR policies, practices, and other HR-related matters,” Mayo said.

The RoundTable reached out to the action group for comment, but it didn’t respond by deadline.

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Gina Castro

Gina Castro is a Racial Justice fellow for the RoundTable. She recently earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism where she studied investigative reporting....

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  1. Clearly there are skills missing at the City of Evanston and my hope is the report will not just tell Evanston what is wrong but gives us some tools to solve the cultural problems. The equity will be in the actions. Good reporting Gina….

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  2. Absolute train wreck of a person based on what I’ve heard from every city employee I’ve spoken to. Petty, ignorant, resentful. Exactly what you don’t want anywhere near an HR department, so no surprise the geniuses running the city government hired her.

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