I occasionally hear from critics that I make too many things ‘public’. Why aren’t I trying to communicate with the administration or colleagues? The fact is that I do that. Whether I want to or not. 😀 My life as an elected in a very public and very hostile work environment sometimes remind me of that movie The Truman Show.
Just to recap, since declaring a State Of Emergency in March 2020, the City Manager will not take my phone call. He will not schedule in person or Zoom meetings. That’s on record.
However, he does continue to do all that stuff with other Councilmembers. I know this because they say so publicly. That is obvious favoritism. And that seems to be against the ICMA code of ethics, which says that “a manager should always treat all members of the governing body equally and impartially.”
Equal opportunity cranky…
This means that all my communication is limited to 1email. OK, fine. However: even with all that, it’s email, right? I can address a message specifically to City Manager Michael Matthias. And I can say in the subject or body “this is just between us” or “g2g” or “please do not forward”. But generally speaking what then happens is… he forwards my email to the entire City Council. Happens all the time.
So very quickly I developed a simple rule: I almost never say anything, even in private, that I wouldn’t care if it was repeated. Some people might use that constraint to be become completely bland. My response was to go equal opportunity cranky.
Just to be clear, I don’t think I’ve ever received a message from another CM automatically forwarded for my viewing pleasure. And frankly, I would not want to. I think each CM should be able to have private conversations with the City Manager–so long as everyone agrees to abide by the rules of the road, eg. RCW 35A.13.120.
You can suggest all you want…
RCW35A.13.120 makes it clear that a Councilmember cannot give orders. However, you can make all the suggestions you want. When you’re not on the dais, you’re just another member of the public making a public comment. I guess one could suggest that a City Manager might forward all ‘suggestions’ to the full Council out of an abundance of caution–a show of transparency. But again, since I have never seen a similar email from any other CM, who knows.
But I do know that other CMs make suggestions all the time. Here’s just one where the Deputy Mayor describes in detail that he was a key driver in the City Manager’s to add four new police officers to the City’s Draft Proposal for ARPA funding.
Just to be clear: Neither Councilmember Martinelli or myself had any awareness of that proposal until we watched that Candidates Forum. Which makes Deputy Mayor special, I guess. 😀
The problem…
Now don’t mistake me: the position I am in is not something I would want for any Councilmember. But it is what it is until we have a Council that will not tolerate favoritism. Unfortunately, favoritism works to the advantage of the favored. To put it bluntly: it is not in Deputy Mayor Mahoney’s interest (or any of the majority) to have all Councilmembers treated equally.
So the question becomes, why would the City Manager do stuff like forwarding my emails? I often ask and I hope you will too. 🙂
You want transparency? I’ll show you transparency!
But I’ll give you an example I sent today and let you decide:
To: Michael Matthias <MMatthias@desmoineswa.gov> Wednesday July 28, 2021 11:01AM Just this once... 3g2g... [Please find out the percentage of employees who are vaccinated.] If you don't know, it's probably below 70. And if so, you should research mandating vaccinations. My company used to do customer service programs--like converting sales people to apps like SalesForce. For decades those were PAINFUL. People would always threaten to organise and quit en masse. There's been a ton of studies on corp. group behaviour crap like this--getting people to do something they aren't thrilled about. And the curve of vaccination uptake and resistance is consistent with that. Well-meaning organisations go out of their way to make an unpopular policy 'voluntary' -- to sound 'sensitive' and 'ease' people into it or whatever. But this actually makes certain personality types dig in. People start off -mildly- pissed off about the policy and the more time they get to mull the idea, the more militant they become. So the corp. finally gets fed up and makes the policy compulsory... and a whole bunch of people show up for a meeting and scream and threaten to quit. And.... Basically, nobody quits. I can send you studies if this isn't already in the Trash. If you did this: a) you (possibly) save lives directly b) you set an example that ripples out to the wider community... hopefully it gives other businesses/governments cover to do the same. c) people would hate you... but hey... what's new, right? :D My guess is that if the PD alone could do a PR indicating 100%---that right there would move residents to get the shot. ---JC
(The number ’70’ refers to the vaccination percentage of City employees. The City Manager wrote telling me he does not know the percentage.)
You read that right. I would be thrilled if our City made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all employees for which it has the authority.
Speaking of which: remember that pandemic?
The thing is: I actually broached the subject almost a year ago from the dais and here. Back in the February, the Chief Of Police reported a reluctance by many (mainly younger) officers towards getting vaccinated. He stated that the vaccination rate was 50%. I suggested that the City should ‘strongly encourage’ officers to get vaccinated. I said that vaccine hesitancy would be a real problem. And I told the administration that it would send a strong message to the public if City employees–and especially the Police–were vaccinated. I wanted our City to be a model in that regard.
I was immediately criticized for this stance by both my colleagues, the administration and the Police Guild. However, I am certain I made the right call then and now.
I understand the concern for personal freedoms. But dying from COVID-19 now strikes me not so much as ‘tragic’ as just plain willful. It reminds me of how people used to scream against seat belt or drunk driving laws as some major threat to democracy.
g2g
The only reason I asked it to be “g2g” is not because because I wanted to hide anything, but rather because, as I say in the email, all the research shows that the only way to implement a program that will be unpopular for a small number of people is to have a ‘heavy’ take the blame. And it should not be someone the public engages with, like the Chief Of Police or the Guild or the Council. Do I wish we could vote for this sort of thing? Absolutely. But occasionally, there are certain important things that aren’t politically possible otherwise.
And this is the reply…
From: Michael Matthias <MMatthias@desmoineswa.gov> Thursday July 29, 2021 3:55PM The reasons I forwarded your communication to City Council are as follows: First, you are suggesting policy/protocol changes. As you know, policy direction to City Administration requires a majority vote of the City Council, I felt City Council needed to be informed about your proposal. However, in this specific case, related to the COVID pandemic, and acting under the existing Emergency Proclamation, all City actions are vetted through our Emergency Operations Center. We have been at the forefront responding to the pandemic, continuing to require 100% masking for all who come to City Hall. We were early to close down and we are remaining cautious and vigilant. Knock on wood, we have had zero fatalities and zero infections at City Hall. I felt it was worth advising City Council that you feel we are not fulfilling our responsibilities to our employees because (your words) we are acting in a manner that is designed to sound "sensitive," and "ease" employees into responding. Throughout the process, going back to the start of the pandemic you have been critical of our EOC and emergency efforts. I felt that City Council deserved to hear your current critique based on some corporate assumptions that do not apply to a public institution. Be advised, that we will stay the course, under my leadership. Mandating vaccines is an approach that will shortly end up in the courts. We have prepared based on the possibility of a resurgence in COVID, which is occurring. We will not open our facilities prematurely. All employees and visitors (very rare these days) to City Hall must undergo a health screening (including temperature check) and must wear masks. We welcome thoughtful suggestions, however, emergency operations and policies are formulated and executed by our Incident Commander, Assistant Fire Chief Dave Mataftin and our Emergency Operations Center (I chair the EOC policy committee). I hope this gives you some insight into my thinking and will hopefully encourage you to support and not continue to demean our efforts.
I guess I’d buy into that whole ‘public institution’ jazz if I hadn’t already seen this notice: Highline College Vaccination Mandate for returning students Fall 2021. But… whatever.
To: Michael Matthias <MMatthias@desmoineswa.gov> Friday July 30 2:31PM I appreciate the detailed follow up. I have never doubted Shannon's abilities or her department's commitment to safety. And I struggle to read my suggestion as being any kind of negative critique of anyone's performance. My understanding is that employee policy decisions are at your discretion. If I am in error on that, please help me to understand this particular distinction. Whether administrative or legislative, it's still an idea worth considering. Based on my experience, it will take corporations and organisations setting an example to bring the pandemic to closure. I believe that my suggestion could be a meaningful step in that direction and is worth exploring. Infections are rising and there's the larger community to be considered. YMMV
Anyhoo, the public see the dialogue at the City Council Meetings. And this is a slice of my world off the dais. Which is basically, more of the same. 😀
1Now, all Councilmember communication is (theoretically) subject to public records requests. Any member of the public can request any emails from any CM or the City. Most people don’t bother, but they could.
3Guy to guy for you non-slangy people. As in: “just between us guys”.
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