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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

Nov 15

20

The twins return

Posted by Joyce Clark on November 20, 2015
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

It has been 17 years and 323 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

Ed Beasley is no longer the Interim City Manager of Ferguson, M0 as of today, November 20, 2015. Here is the link: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/11/19/ferguson-city-council-thanks-interim-city-manager-for-service/ . He spent 5 months on the job. The city has hired De’Carlon Seewood whose last employment with Ferguson was as Assistant City Manager from 2001-2007.

Does anyone believe that Andre Anderson, appointed as Ferguson’s Police Chief, would stay after his mentor and good friend, Beasley, left? That would be no. Here is the link: http://www.kmov.com/story/30569427/fergusons-interim-police-chief-announces-resignation . Anderson is also headed back to Glendale to resume his position as Commander. By the way, the City of Glendale never answered the question regarding Anderson’s pay. To this day, the public does not know if Glendale subsidized his pay while he worked in Ferguson.

FROM THE RUMOR MILL THIS FRIDAY: No one has done more to aggregate power to himself lately than Brent Stoddard. Stoddard is the Director of Intergovernmental Relations in the Glendale organization. One of his duties is to manage the city council offices. Lately he has hired some new people to staff the councilmembers. It’s safe to assume that their loyalty will be to Stoddard and no one else. Stoddard was rooting for John Pombier of Mesa to get the job of city manager. Stoddard already had a working relationship with Pombier and would have continued to lobby for an appointment as an assistant city manager. Several people have also shared that Stoddard speaks on a regular basis with former Mayor Scruggs and it is he who shares all things Glendale with her. Others speculate that Stoddard is already in the Mark Burdick camp in his quest to become the next mayor of Glendale.

Government service rests on successful politicking and politics is nothing if not wonderfully Machiavellian.

© Joyce Clark, 2015

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Jun 15

25

Beasley may have company in Ferguson

Posted by Joyce Clark on June 25, 2015
Posted in City of Glendale  | Tagged With: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

It has been 17 years and 174 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

Andre Anderson Courtesy CBS 5 News

Andre Anderson, Courtesy of CBS 5 News

Andre Anderson, a Glendale police department commander, may soon be heading to Ferguson, Missouri to join Ferguson’s new Interim City Manager Ed Beasley. He would become Interim Police Chief at the request of Beasley.

This is not the first time Anderson has sought the job of Police Chief. In February of 2013 he was one of two finalists for the position in Casa Grande, Arizona. Here is the link: http://www.trivalleycentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/city-cuts-police-chief-fieldto/article_d157e5ea-80f1-11e2-8cda-001a4bcf887a.html .

To say that both face challenges would be an understatement. While the racial makeup of the town is 67% black only 3 police officers (6%) serving the city are black. The racial imbalance is stark. Here is the link: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/17/andrea-mitchell/ferguson-police-department-has-50-white-officers-t/ .  If Anderson joins his pal, Beasley, both will have to exhibit a level of sensitivity and maturity that neither may possess. Are they up to the task of restoring confidence among the officers who serve and protect that community?

Ferguson’s police department has been investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice that resulted in a long list of changes to be made. These changes will be costly. There are also a plethora of lawsuits to be settled. Ferguson’s 2015 annual budget issued in July, 2014 is $20,238,000 with a General Fund budget of $13,518,250. Here is the link: http://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/1701 .

In the past Fiscal Year of 2014-15 the city’s Fund Balance dropped by $4,086,700 from approximately $15M to $11M. What will their Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget look like (beginning in July of 2015) in the light of the riots that occurred earlier this year? I suspect the city is insured to a certain extent. Some costs will be covered but it appears that new revenue streams will be needed. Let’s hope Beasley has learned his lesson and will not “rob Peter to pay Paul” as he did in Glendale to cover the annual $25M in extortion required by the NHL to keep the Coyotes in Glendale.

© Joyce Clark, 2015

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.