- Accusations of "browbeating" and "attacks" on City staff fly at City Hall.
- Council Member Greg Stuchell calls on Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino to resign.
- Paladino says questions and debates are not attacks, and citizens' concerns require a response.
- WATCH THE VIDEO for a recap of the exchanges and comments from City staff, Council, and Mayor Pro Tem.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"I'm going to ask whoever is browbeating these people to really take a second look." — City Council Member Greg Stuchell
"They're taking policy discussions and interpreting them personally." — Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino
There have now been two high-profile and highly-public resignations in city management in just the last two months — the latest spilling into a City Council meeting...with no shortage of finger-pointing.
"I am just sick of the fact that we lost two excellent managers, and both of their reasons were the same," said Stuchell at Monday's meeting.
City Manager David Mackie to Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino: "You round up the folks, and you bring them in here, and you send out the emails, and the next thing you know: there's someone being attacked. The City staff sees this."
Mackie is saying he's losing capable staff as a result of what he called, in a written statement, a "damaging, demoralizing, and ultimately unsustainable" culture.
The latest loss is outgoing City Engineer Kristin Bauer. I reached out to her by phone on Tuesday to find out more.
She said: "Since the election in November…things have kind of taken a toxic turn with regard to how staff is being treated, and how ordinances and the City Charters are being interpreted and, in fact, disregarded..."
In her resignation letter, Bauer says some on the Council seemed "willing to change voted policies on a whim to suit whatever complaint comes to them".
These criticisms are directed at Council members and Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino.
Council Member Stuchell took them a step further: "Mayor Pro Tem, under your leadership, I'm going to ask you to consider resigning your pro tem position."
Paladino tells me he doesn't remember having ever talked to the City Engineer outside of City Council, and says Council's questions to City staff don't mean lack of trust.
"The Council works very closely and accepts and takes the recommendations from the City staff in almost all circumstances," says Paladino. "The idea that there is this constant and prolonged opposition to everything they do is simply absurd."
As for citizens' demands...
"We have to respond," he says. "Not just to give citizens whatever they want, or arbitrarily change rules, but responding thoughtfully to their concerns."
While he has no plans to resign, Paladino says his term as Mayor pro tem ends after elections later this year.
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