City workers confront mayor

By Nate Smith, Staff Writer

The presence of city employees, current and former, made for a contentious city council meeting Monday.

Current city police officer Sgt. Todd Church and recently fired Assistant Parks Superintendent Kip Kelley asked questions of Mayor Larry Haag and the council in the face of the council passing its 2010 budget.

At issue was keeping city employees. In solidarity, 12 city police officers and many city employees packed the council chambers to hear Church and Kelley speak. Kelley was fired Monday by Haag after his position was eliminated for 2010. The rest of Kelley’s salary for this year will be put into budget reserves.

Kelley was part of a four-man crew at the park department and said there will be one less worker there.

“I’m the worker (Haag) got rid of,” Kelley told the council. “I was not a secretary. I was a working manager. The (current superintendent Dan Neely) you have now is a secretary so you will have two workers.”

Haag, in introducing a budget amendment to the council, announced the elimination of Kelley’s position.

“In today’s budgetary situation, I feel it’s necessary to cut one management position out of that four-person team,” Haag said. “It’s all on fiscal responsibility.”

Kelley, who was the park superintendent under former Mayor David Abel, said the elimination was personal and made under the guise of budget restraint.

Church spoke during the meeting of fiscal responsibility and asked if a full-time officer and a dispatcher would be hired. An officer quit the force in July and a dispatcher was fired.

Church was then told by Chief Steve Riney that Haag asked him Monday afternoon to advertise for a full-time officer and a part-time dispatcher.

“How convenient,” a member of the audience said.

The veteran of the force asked Haag why not hire an officer in the face of all the purchases that have been made for the mayor, including a late-model truck with a bed liner and remote start. Haag did not respond.

Church also asked Haag why Haag’s daughter, Amy, was paid by the city for lifeguard training when other lifeguards had to pay for the training themselves. Haag would not respond. Also, Church said while Amy Haag’s position was approved on July 27 by the Board of Public Works and Safety, she was hired on July 15 and paid on July 20, according to city records at the clerk-treasurer’s office.

“I’m not anti-pool, but if we can’t keep city employees, why go for it?” Church said.

No city employees have been hired due to budget constraints, Haag said this year. The council did pass the 2010 budget Monday evening that saw no raises for city employees.

Church said the pool construction budget ran over $47,608 while Kelley’s position, with benefits, was about $50,000.

Church also talked about Haag’s handling of city employees. At an earlier meeting with the officers and Haag, the mayor used foul language and yelled at officers.

“If you get belittled by someone who sets the example for the city, who do you go to?” Church asked council members.

According to other officers at the contentious meeting, Haag had said that officers need to be forceful, using an expletive to express himself. Also, Haag had called Church an insulting name and told Church to “shut up.”

“If you are cussed at, if you are called names, we have no recourse,” Church said.

While speaking, City Attorney Jeff Norris said the issue was a personnel matter and best handled in an executive session.

But Councilman Joe Fleck, who is a former police officer, said the council should hear criticisms if the mayor will not listen. Church had asked to be on the council agenda for Monday’s meeting, but was taken off. Thursday, the Times-Herald received two agendas for the council meeting, one with Church on it and the second one without.

After Monday’s meeting, Haag admitted the earlier meeting with officers had been heated and he had apologized to Church in a later meeting.

Haag did not comment on some of the accusations made during Monday’s meeting, he did say it was a tough decision to eliminate Kelley’s position.

“This was purely a decision to cut an assistant superintendent’s position out of a four-person crew (at the parks department),” Haag said.

While most of the budget ordinances passed by unanimous votes, the ordinance for city salaries was voted against by two councilmen, Ralph Brummett and Allen Brown.

Both Brown and Brummett said the council had received the revised budget ordinance just before the council meeting and said the public should be aware of it before it was voted for.

“I don’t think it gives the public or me enough time to think about it five minutes before the council meeting,” Brown said. “So you have no way to investigate for cutting the person if it is fiscally responsible.”

The ordinance passed 5-2

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