What will the repercussions of all this be at the ballot box in April?
You could argue these agreements and the commission's apparent lack of knowledge of them proves the city commission didn't micro manage enough.
Others suggest that the micromanaging has led city employees to resign, feel threatened and created unneeded conflict that leads to the chaos inside city hall we have right now.
The other thing to consider is, that if Archer failed as a city manager and was reckless with taxpayer funds with these agreements, who is responsible for Archer? Smith and Kuhn and McDonald hired him to replace Doug Russell. Archer stayed in the job for more than two years.
My perception at the time was that Archer was promoted to city manager because the three amigos felt he would work well with their hands on style. For whatever reason, that didn't turn out to be the case.
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16 comments:
I think the "dysfunction" that you are eluding to in your post. Probably can't be easily explained by placing the blame on whoever you dislike! (ex. the three amigos.)
Like it or not the Public Sector can't escape the "creative distruction of capitalism" anymore than can the Private Sector! Although the Public Sector will always work to prolong the status quo! (Obama is a good example of protecting even expanding the Public sector in times of duress.)
The part that you always conveniently leave out of your posts? Is the willingness of people and even groups to use Government as a means to personally benefit. (Either monetarily or through the use of greater influence or control.)
The roll of the Public Sector is one of Service! It is especailly important to perserve and maintain the services they provide. (You can't allow the Public Sector to go through the same gyrations as does the Private Sector! It can ,however, be made more efficient. (Shrink in size!)
Both Sectors work hand in hand to create a healthy atmosphere which can result in security, investment (risk taking) and Growth.
Unless those who are leaders (in both Sectors) realize/fulfill their respective roles.
That critical balance of "Power" as shared by Both the Private and Public Sectors can't exist!
I think the point is that now that we know that there has been a gross misuse of funds and the public has finally realized that so much power placed in the wrong hands can damage so many and have far reaching impact.
Notice how suddenly Lane has nothing to say. Didn't he just appear in the newspaper all talkative... now he has no comment. I'm sure he had a great Christmas with his 18,410 check that was electronically deposited into his account.
The city manager has far to much power, we are not a for profit corporation, we are a non-profit muncipality. So is it all we can do scream about waste of the tax dollars after the fact
I don't know if Steve was the right man for the job at the time. But I think his choice of trusted staff was his downfall.
We need to heal we will not trust as a taxpayer for a long time. The fact that it was all hush hush and a big secret should have been the first clue that it was wrong.
I hope that this commission does it's work and research to secure that his doesn't happen again, and to stop the hemorrhaging of our tax dollars to employees that are not deserving.
I am sure there are many more secrets that will come out over the course of this investigation.
Is there an investigation?
I hadn't heard that part. Who is being investigated? What are the formal charges? Are they state charges or federal. Have we been embezzeled? It does kind of feel like embezzlement but surely they did consult with a lawyer to find out what they could get away with from the Municipality.
How would the Municipality investigate Randy Leach now that he has left the state? Same question applies to the Public Works Director.
The other two guys are still here and their spouses are yet drawing public funds, tax payer dollars from Cowley College and USD 470. What a treat for those two!
I would like to know what we are buying off with these separations. Are we buying the manager and department heads silence? Makes you wonder why there is a gag order. And whose secrets are they trying to keep? If it is the commission's secrets I can understand why they have to fire nearly everyone. I hope someone leaves without being bought off so we can finally find out what these big secrets are.
Anonymous said... I hope someone leaves without being bought off so we can finally find out what these big secrets are. January 10, 2011 1:52 PM
The sad news is you all are still looking for some reason to villify the City Council. Can't you see, the big rift is that those elected officials were finally drawing a line in the sand and saying, "enough of this wish list spending with your tax dollars."
Let's release our consipiracy theories long enough to at least evaluate what's right in front of you.
Imagine this. The Council retreats because the public and the press complain they are micro-managing. For another three or four years, the City Manager brings in his buds at generous salaries.
When they meet with resistance at their million dollar spending binges, they get angry and the City Manager (Archer) says, "Here's 70 or 80 thou to help heal your bruised ego. Now be sure you don't tell anyone about this. If you have any other friends, send them my way. I'll take good care of them."
This is from the same people who labeled the citizens as irresponsible gamblers who would rather support the casinos than pay their bills.
We don't need casinos. What we need to is get a friend in as City Manager and then have him hire us. Couple years pay and then $100K to leave and just be quiet. Much better odds and payoff with Archer, I would say.
What is missing in all of this is the other side of the story. It seems easy for the commission to say whatever they want KOWING that the other side can't say anything! There has to be a reason they were forced to resign and pay them to what appears to be to keep quite!
Has the travaler tried to contact Leach or Baugher to see if they will talk! This all seems very one sided and we need "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say.
Why do you think the commissioners put themselves first over city? Their actions don’t seem to show it, like the pig thing; it’s the law, how come you never print that. Along with that; I understand that Archer required the gag order be added, not the commission. Why don’t you interview Commissioner Kuhn and ask him about these and other actions you have problems with? You know he’ll speak his mind or is that a problem?
Just so you know, the commission would have voted in front of the public and the camera if they had made those deals.
It was your city manager whose signature issingularly on those agreements.
It's available on this website. Read it before you embarrass yourself trying to blame the elected officials for the actions of Mr. Archer, please.
If you all only knew the truth about what was happening at the City. You have a commission that rules through personal attacks and intimidation of City Staff. Why do you think they invited a law firm down from Wichita on several occasions to get them out of their messes?
January 13, 2011 1:12 PM
It's not the commission that we have had to seek help from the personal attacks and intimidation, it is from certain Department heads and certain people in the administration.
Why is there such a dysfunction as to require law firms to mediate between employees, department heads and commission? Why does the commission have so many executive sessions? Something is secret and nobody is talking. The only sounds I hear are commissioners blaming other people (Archer, Massey, et al...) as we have read in the paper. Someone needs to open this up during a commission meeting. Make it public. Get it on TV. Air out the dirty laundry so we can make the right choices in this election. Either we need to clean house in the commission, or have the commission clean house at city hall. But we can not make that kind of decision without the details. We deserve the information we need to make an informed choice in this election!
Heard Lane Massey said his goodbye's on Friday and he is no longer working for the city of AC. 10 days after Steve!
You overlook a culprit in this series of black box stabbing. The host of this web site is the local news. You all are arguing based on what is presented as news.
Fact: over the last couple of years, one particular department head has been deliberately misinforming the City Council in order to prompt them into approving his requests.
That person recently resigned from his position as Director of Adminstration.
Fact: One person willfuly neglected several state regulations with regards to public safety and the City's ability to respond to emergency situations. That person resigned and left the state.
Fact: One person blatantly violated specific state and or federal employment laws regarding the worker rights, treatment and promotion/retention. That person left the City with several employee litigations pending within his department. he too has left the state.
Fact: In response to the directive of he elected officials, the City Manager opted to openly defy his bosses (Commissioners) and reign in the misconduct and void of integrity by "rogue" leaders who touted their authority and shunned their accountability. Ultimately, for his refusal to address those misconduct problems, the City Manager was asked to resign.
Fact: A spurned and angry City Manager took one final stab at the commission, without any regard for the taxpaying citizens, inked a secret deal with the Director of Administration giving away well over $50 thousand and leaving a clear path for the rancid Director of Administration to ocme back and bleach the taxpayers for even more money through the courts.
At the end of the day, it seems their conduct in leaving validated the allegations of misconduct and affirmed that the citizens were correct in placing their trust in those rats.
Assuming this gets posted... Any more questions for you voters?
Edit: affirmed that the citizens were correct in placing
Should read: Were correct in NOT placing their trust....
Why are the commissioners afraid to sign their names here?
TO: January 17, 2011 7:12 PM
I have a few questions since you ask. Where do you get your "FACTS"?
I hve scene nothing that has ever benn reported in the paper or released from the city that stated these things did in fact happen. If your "facts" come from rumors or other people then it is hear say and not Facts.
It seems very easy for the commission to speak their minds without the Facts of all the parties involved unable to speak.
My guess is there are a lot of "FACTS" missing from these stories that we will never know. What does seem common in all of these aggreements is that the City was scared of being sued and offered gag orders and money to prevent being sued. I wonder why? It is clear to me that Baugher and Leach documents were all drafted by Law firms representing the City. There just seems to be alot of "FACTS" missing.
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