Caseyville Mayor Len Black is under fire from the Teamsters Local 50, and now possibly the Village Board, for not issuing a written apology to a Village Hall office worker.

Caseyville Mayor Len Black / Photo by Roger Starkey

A union representative met with Black earlier this year over a complaint filed by the worker who claimed Black had called her a “bitch” and said the office she worked in “smells like black people.” Black met with the employee and, in front of co-workers, apologized. The union also requested the apology in writing.

Black said he did apologize, but he did not really call the female employee the disparaging term, nor did he say the office smelled like black people.

“I didn’t say that about black people,” Black said. “I never used a racial slur or nothing, I’m smart enough not to do that. I’ll take a polygraph test.”

After fielding a complaint about a water bill, Black went into the office to gather additional information about the account. While getting the information, he remarked to the employee that it “reminded me of the old days, when they used to call you the three bitches,” Black said.

At one time, the three women who work in the office and Black were on friendly terms, “before the politics changed,” Black said. At that time, the women called themselves by the derogatory term, Black said.

The union sent a letter to Village Board members 30 days after the incident, when a written apology had not been received from Black, to inform them of the incident and its intent to file a grievance against the mayor. Board member Brenda Williams, at a meeting Wednesday, asked Black about the incident.

Black said he was willing to write a formal letter, but was waiting for the employee to first send him a letter to say that she accepted his apology.

“I was looking for a letter from her because I was man enough to apologize for something I didn’t really even say. When she sends me a letter saying she accepts my apology, I’ll send her a letter,” Black said.

Black also said that, before he received the most recent letter, which also went to the Board members, he did not realize he was to issue a written apology. “I’m not saying they didn’t say it, just that I didn’t hear them say it,” Black said.

The matter has been put on the agenda for the regularly scheduled Village Board meeting on March 19. Black said the matter may be resolved by then.

“I’ll probably write the letter,” he said.