A lack of communication from City Manager Ted Rogers with the Collegedale commissioners led to the request that he resign or be dismissed at the Monday commission meeting. The mayor and each commissioner expressed the feeling that Mr. Rogers fails to keep them informed about city business. In the end, the longtime city manager was able to keep his job.
In addition to strife between the commission and the city manager, there was discord on the commission also. At one point Vice Mayor Tim Johnson said he had removed Ethan White as a "friend on Facebook," and they had not spoken for some long period of time.
It was Commissioner White who started the somewhat heated discussion.
After reading a letter from Traci Bennett-Hobek, the city’s director of parks and recreation, and talking to other city employees, he said he discovered that they have been under orders from the city manager not to discuss anything with the commissioners without talking to him first. “They are terrified of retaliation, and that is unacceptable,” said Commissioner White. That, plus the fact that the city manager has made all the decisions himself, are reasons that the commissioners know very little about a large park that has been in the works for two years, it was stated.
Ms. Bennett-Hobek has been terminated for reasons that were undisclosed to the public, but the cause was given as behavior unbecoming. Commissioner White said at the same time, Police Chief Brian Hickman was put on paid leave for the same cause, when he kept the details of a crash from the city manager for 10 days. Commissioner White said it appears there are two sets of procedures for different employees.
At the last planning commission meeting Commissioner White said he discovered that Ted Rogers had made “unilateral” decisions about a new park in Collegedale. Two years ago, the McKee family bought property from Southern Adventist University and deeded it to the city of Collegedale. The family wants to build a park on the land with the city have the responsibility of maintaining it. One reason the process had taken so long, said Mayor Katie Lamb, is that the family first had to decide what the park, now named Little Debbie Park at the Commons, would be. Then they needed to decide how it would be used before it could be designed.
Knowing that there would be many changes to the park before building it was the reason that Mr. Rogers told the commissioners that he had not shown them the plans and how far along it is in development. No one on the commission has seen the design, yet construction is planned to begin in April. Since its inception, the plans have become something very different. Originally it was to be a low maintenance asset for the city, said Commissioner White, and now it has grown to the point that yearly maintenance could be $100,000.
The city manager said he apologized that he had not kept the commission as informed as he should have. The city has been represented in meetings about the park because elements of a city park have to conform to certain rules, regulations and guidelines. He said that he had only agreed “in theory” that they build the park and that Collegedale would maintain it. He said he and his staff had been “busting our chops to get the scope of the park to something that we could live with. There are some things they want that they are not willing to negotiate about." As it has grown, said the city manager, he asked them for assistance in the maintenance.
The city manager acts on behalf of the commission and represents himself as the executive branch, said Commissioner White, "but he derives his authority from us, and serves at our will. It’s up to us for to take action. At what point do we take a stand? Enough is enough,” he added before moving to terminate City Manager Rogers and remove him immediately with cause.
"I am OK with change," said Vice Mayor Johnson. He said the communication is the matter of most concern, and it is not just about this one issue, he said. He also said more respect should be shown to the commissioners. “Ted has done a great job for 15 years, but his communication sucks,” said the vice mayor. He said, "To get two years into the park and for the commission to know nothing about it, and discovering the high cost of maintenance which Collegedale will be responsible for, is unacceptable." He also said the commissioners need more facts about the firing of the park’s director. “It’s not his decision,” he said about how much to spend and what to build. “He’s been bossing us around for quite some time, and it’s time to stop it,” he said. “ He said that he "liked Ted as a city manager," and thanked him for what he has done for the city financially, but he said “sometime change is good,” and that he believes it is time to move on. He suggested offering the city manager a resignation package.
Commissioner Debbie Baker and Phil Garver agreed about the problems with communication that are lacking. Commissioner Baker said that she felt letting the parks director go was justified, but the city manager’s position should be handled separately. “People make mistakes,” she said and they should have a second chance., and all the facts are still unknown. She said that in the past there have been attempts to fire both the city manager and Chief Hickman, and during the recent election things got out of hand, but that she did not want to be vindictive. She said an independent report is being done on the situation with the chief to prevent bias. The city does need better communication "but not a power struggle," she said.
There are two sides to every story, said Commissioner Garver. He, Commissioner Baker and Mayor Lamb all agreed that whenever they had asked the city manager about something, they got the answer.
Commissioner Garver said that the city cannot control how McKee spends its money. He said he believes that it was out of line to come here and talk “cold turkey,” about asking for a resignation. That is required by the sunshine law, responded Commissioner White. He asked City Attorney Sam Elliott what the city’s responsibility was since the deed for the property had been signed over to the city. Since it does increase costs to the city, the commission would need to vote on it, especially since there are restrictions on the deed, said attorney Elliott. He said that the land was not accepted unless the commission accepts the dedication of the park. If the city does not accept it, the property would go back.
The city was represented in the meeting where there was the transfer of property on April 3, 2019, said Mayor Lamb, but the commission has not been informed in between then and now. Both the mayor and Commissioner Garver said they fell as if this is a vendetta against the city manager, and that they could not support asking for his resignation.
Commissioner White’s motion to remove City Manager Rogers immediately with cause failed for the failure to get a second. Vice Mayor Johnson’s motion followed, which was to accept the city manager’s resignation with three months of severance and three months of insurance, also failed on a vote of three for and two against.
In his report after the vote, Vice Mayor Johnson asked for $400,000 to $450,000 to be included in the 2021-2022 budget to be used for building a greenway. “Are we going to accept that without seeing any plans?” asked Commissioner Garver. We’re giving you a blank check before the projects are presented to the commission," he said. This was not on the agenda, said the mayor, and it could have waited until the April meeting. The motion to request the money be planned for the next year’s budget passed with the vice mayor, Commissioners Baker and White voting for and Commissioner Garver voting against with Mayor Lamb abstaining.