her former position made that position a prime candidate for elimination during the reorganization.


24
Appellants have also submitted affidavits with attachments for the purpose of showing the objective reasonableness of their actions in not appointing Ms. Lewis to other top-level positions after her demotion.  Mr. Burkett asserts that because of Ms. Lewis' long history of service to the City, he attempted to find some other satisfactory employment for her within City government.  In the letter Burkett sent to advise Lewis of her layoff, he also offered her the position of Health and Safety Manager, a position that she accepted and currently performs.  Burkett maintains that he personally considered Lewis for many of the higher-level openings mentioned in Lewis' complaint.  To that end, Burkett spoke tothen Mayor and City Councilman Kelly Ohlson and council members Gerald Horak, Lawrence Estrada, Ed Stoner and Barbara Rutstein, and other various members of city staff and department heads concerning Lewis' qualifications.  As a result of his discussions, Burkett concluded:


25
I was made aware that although Ms. Lewis had performed satisfactorily as a clerk, then secretary and later as city clerk, she was perceived as not having performed very well as council liaison and as assistant city manager, due to a perceived attitude problem and weakness in communications and interpersonal skills in dealing with City Council and city staff.  In particular, I was told that Ms. Lewis had a tendency to "talk down" to or "tell off" City Council members if they asked what appeared to Ms.