WILMINGTON — The former director of the City of Wilmington’s now-defunct equity and inclusion director has filed a lawsuit against current and former top city officials, claiming they created a hostile work environment and discriminated against her as a Black woman. The former employee also alleges some of the same officials lied to the public about a third-party investigation into the Wilmington Police Department.
READ MORE: City of Wilmington paid $75K for third-party investigation of police department management
Kimberly Carson served as the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion director for roughly a year, from May 2024 to when she was fired on May 8, 2025.
The lawsuit alleges Carson was removed from her position on false claims, including a “pattern of excessive tardiness, unprofessional communication, and dismissiveness toward colleagues and leadership.” The city also accused her of harassing colleagues, “dominating” conversations and publicly humiliating colleagues through inappropriate comments.
Now Carson is suing the city for racial discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, disparate impact, and constitutional violations — including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Article I and 19 of the North Carolina Constitution — along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks monetary relief.
Her attorney, Gary Shipman, released the civil complaint to all media on Feb. 26; it names former City Manager Tony Caudle, City Attorney Meredith Everhart, Assistant County Manager Mary Vigue, Human Resources Director Clayton Roberts, former Human Resources Talent and Development Manager Adam Hall and Human Resources Assistant Director Kim Sampson.
“This case is not about Carson’s personality; it’s not about her tone; it’s about her race, and the fact that she is a strong-willed leader who is also black,” the lawsuit states. “This case is about whether the City may selectively investigate and/or discipline African American employees of the City; whether racial stereotypes may justify an investigation and termination; whether Carson, as DEI Director, can be punished for identifying discrimination and the visual impairment of her white supervisor; and whether City leaders may weaponize internal investigations to silence dissent and hide racism.”
The internal investigation referenced is the 2024 examination into harassment and mismanagement allegations made by Wilmington Police Department officers against the department’s leadership, particularly former chief Donny Williams. Williams retired in June 2025, nearly a year after the city contracted with U.S. ISS, a firm specializing in public safety consulting and internal personnel investigations, for $75,000.
The city declined to release the ISS report after the investigation concluded in October 2024 and thus details about its contents remain slim.
In the lawsuit, Carson claims ISS was also hired to investigate a different “long-term African American female employee,” though the employee goes unnamed.
Port City Daily asked Shipman who this employee is and whether she still works at the city, along with other questions about the lawsuit. Shipman replied he and Carson were “not going to have any further comments beyond what’s in the complaint.”
Per previous reporting from WHQR, the city’s initial contract with ISS, approved on May 9, stated the company was hired to “initiate a personnel misconduct investigation into alleged violations of City and Police Department policies,” including harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
At the end of May the city amended its contract with ISS. It omitted specific references to the police department and services related to improving management. The city declined to discuss the changes in the contract, but email records and conversations with city officials, including Mayor Bill Saffo, indicate WPD remained the main subject of the investigation.
Carson, who stated she was asked to view the report by Caudle in November 2024, said ISS billed $50,000 for the WPD investigation and $25,000 to look into the other Black employee. The lawsuit states Everhart “knew it was a lie” to tell the public and press the investigation cost $75,000 in total without disclosing the purported added cost and investigated personnel.
Additionally, Carson claims the ISS investigation was compromised from the beginning due to the company’s ties to one of the WPD’s deputy chiefs, Alex Sotelo.
The lawsuit alleges Sotelo’s husband was formerly employed at ISS and is “friends with the owner.” Port City Daily asked Shipman to provide evidence supporting these claims but did not receive a response by press.
Beyond what she said is a conflict of interest, Carson says the report itself was biased because it only interviewed “a few” officers. She says Chief Williams suggested 15 people the agency should talk to, but none of them were interviewed, and because of this small sampling of opinion, Chief Williams disapproved of the report’s public release.
Carson describes the report as an “indictment of Chief Williams, shockingly one-sided, and full of conclusions that were not otherwise justified by the ‘facts’ revealed therein.” The lawsuit goes on to say the report is “jaundiced” and “completely worthless.”
Port City Daily asked the city if another employee was investigated by ISS and if the city paid $25,000 for this effort; no response was received by press.
Relationship with top brass
The lawsuit also describes a breakdown in the relationship between Carson and city leadership, particularly Everhart and Deputy City Manager Vigue.
Carson claims she witnessed Vigue intoxicated in the workplace frequently, adding in one meeting Vigue was “nodding off” and slurring speech. She also said she discussed Vigue’s behavior with several colleagues, all of whom expressed concern but did nothing to address the problem.
Preceding Carson’s time at the city, Vigue was arrested for a DUI in June 2023, though the charge was later dismissed and expunged. Carson claims she was expected to keep “secret,” Vigue’s continued substance abuse at work, though Carson allegedly reported the issue to Caudle in 2024. The lawsuit said the complaint went nowhere.
Additionally, Carson says she never received in-depth training on her role, including a meet-and-greet of city departments, a department culture review and performance expectations. Despite the inconsistencies, the lawsuit said Vigue’s one performance review of Carson was good.
Allegedly, Vigue described Carson as having done a “great job embracing the city’s core values” and noted she “communicates well and holds herself and others accountable.”
The lawsuit states an investigation into Carson was launched one month after the comment. The lawsuit alleges Vigue was the source of the complaint triggering the investigation, despite her positive review of Carson.
Carson also describes a tense meeting with Everhart, where Roberts, Vigue and Deputy City Attorney Sean Evans were also present. The meeting was set to discuss DEI in employment matters, and according to the lawsuit, a hostile Everhart “interrogated and belittled” Carson for 45 minutes before Carson left the meeting.
Carson describes the meeting as being in the “Star Chamber” — an English court in the 15th and 16th centuries composed of privy councillors and judges originally charged with controlling unruly nobles. Under Charles I, it became known for its secret proceedings, lack of juries and use of torture.
Carson claims Everhart mocked Caron’s professional background, referring to her judicial experience — including 11 years working for the Iowa Judicial Branch in talent and leadership development — as a “hobby.” The behavior didn’t stop despite Carson’s protestations, the lawsuit alleges, prompting the DEI director to exit the meeting
The DEI director said none of the meeting’s other attendees stepped in, though Hall allegedly expressed concern about the conduct in the weeks following. The lawsuit also says Deputy City Manager Thom Moton reached out to Carson, but Moton suggested Carson modify her tone and approach.
“These descriptors reflect racialized stereotypes commonly imposed on African American women in professional settings,” the lawsuit states. “Similarly situated white department heads were not criticized or disciplined based upon subjective “tone” or “perception” complaints.”
The lawsuit states Everhart’s hostility continued into the Community Relations Advisory Committee, of which Carson was a member.
Carson says Hall and Sampson — the latter of which had already filed a complaint against Carson that was dismissed — notified Carson that she was the subject of a workplace investigation. The lawsuit stated the complaints came from “unidentified individuals regarding Carson’s performance and harassment of staff.”
The lawsuit describes the investigation as a “fishing expedition” for complaints against Carson, notifying city employees of the investigation into her. Carson says she was treated “notably different” in the department from that point forward.
Carson filed a grievance of her own on March 3. It stated the city employees — the same as named in the lawsuit — failed to uphold the city’s core values, along with its ethical and legal standards, leading to a “hostile work environment, retaliation, discrimination, and severe breaches of workplace integrity.”
On March 7, according to the lawsuit, Carson received a letter from Caudle stating her complaints were “not grievable.”
The lawsuit states the letter was an “attempt to silence her and prevent her from bringing to light what she uncovered about:
- “Systematic racism within the City of Wilmington
- Conflicted and biased investigation of Chief Williams
- Gross misuse of public funds to investigate high ranking African American employees of the City
- Substance abuse by Vigue, including during work hours and at work functions
- Refusal by the responsible City Employees to take appropriate action
- Weaponization of HR processes”
Almost two months later, Carson was fired.
Though not made public, the status of the DEI position came up at city council’s May 16 budget session. Caudle said the director position had been vacated, and the equity and inclusion office’s specialist position had been eliminated as part of budget cuts.
Despite pushback and questions from council members Salette Andrews, Kevin Spears and David Joyner at the time, Caudle said the city would morph the DEI director position into a human resources position more “focused on internal service delivery issues.” The topic did not come up again at subsequent meetings. The equity and inclusion office is not listed as a department on the city’s website.
Port City Daily asked the city for a comment on the lawsuit. According to spokesperson Dylan Lee, the city “has not been served a formal notice of a lawsuit and therefore cannot comment.”
The full lawsuit can be viewed below:
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