I called people and did internet research on Fischer all day yesterday. I believe that I know why she resigned. You will have to be patient and follow the bouncing ball on this one. Please note: all persons with whom I spoke wish to remain anonymous; and I received no information of any sort from anyone regarding any city council executive session. Since much will not be verified it is up to you to decide if the reason offered for her resignation has any merit. This reasoning is based upon deduction or for want of a better term, gut instinct and my experience as a Glendale city councilmember for 16 years.
I already related some of the internet information that I or anyone else, for that matter, could find on the internet about Fischer. There was a job buyout in North Las Vegas, Nevada before she moved on to Glendora, California as a Deputy City Manager. She left Glendora after a few years and was hired as City Manager at Maricopa, Arizona. I have already related the circumstances of her job moves in a previous blog. It seems as if Fischer never stays too long in one place and there seem to be difficulties surrounding her moves which she may have instigated and some of which she may have perceived as being instigated against her by others.
She was hired by Glendale in July of 2013. What remains troubling to this day is that Councilmember Gary Sherwood publicly stated that he met with Fischer prior to her hiring and essentially conducted a private job interview. He became her greatest cheerleader and publicly advocated for her hire.
City hall has walls that talk. During the past 18 months there have been anecdotes of her tirades and her apparent desire for absolute control. Several heard recently now make sense. It seems that Fischer confronted Councilmember Tolmachoff in the hallway and apparently accused her of being a troublemaker. Some folks related that she also talked about suing the Glendale Star and Chamber CEO Robert Heicht for defamation of character for publicly relating her recent temper tantrum in a local restaurant. Of the most recent vintage was her apparent belief that certain councilmembers were not on her side. Her plan was seemingly to bring them down through what she assumed she would discover in her request for their emails.
All of this information leads me to believe that soon-to-be former City Manager Brenda Fischer offered her resignation rather than be fired because she appears to have crossed an ethical line in requesting her bosses’ emails. There is no nefarious plot to uncover.
The City Manager, City Attorney, City Judge and City Clerk are appointed by the city council. They serve at the pleasure of that body. They have the power to hire and fire the persons in those positions. One simply does not request hard copies of bosses’ emails and expect not to suffer repercussions. If nothing else her action violated the International City Managers Association Code of Ethics. You will have to decide if her action was ill conceived and inappropriate and if it merited her termination.
Here’s what may have occurred and based upon recent events are more likely true than not. After the councilmembers were notified (this is usually done by the City Clerk) of Fischer’s request for emails an executive session was scheduled. Fischer would have been advised of the topic, namely her action requesting councilmember emails. Someone had to have advised her that it seemed quite possible that there would be a majority of 4 councilmembers seeking her dismissal.
Rather than apologize or defend her actions apparently she decided not to attend the executive session and to have her resignation delivered to that body in lieu of firing. Based upon council dynamics it is likely that Councilmembers Sherwood, Chavira and Aldama were not willing to accept her resignation. Perhaps they hoped they could persuade one of the councilmembers to stand with them. Apparently that was not going to happen and the majority, Mayor Weiers, Councilmembers Hugh, Turner and Tolmachoff were steadfast in their willingness to accept her resignation. I suspect the conversation during that executive session was lively indeed. It’s ironic. Now that Fischer has resigned all sorts of people are opening up and sharing their experiences.
We knew the result of that executive session when Mayor Weiers made the resignation announcement. So, a note to all of you media types out there. Don’t bother requesting the thousands of emails generated by those three councilmembers. There’s no smoking gun within them. No, Fischer, apparently to avoid firing for what could be viewed as an imprudent and unethical action chose to resign.
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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Let’s see. Sherwood, supported in his election by the Fire Union, “somehow” meets this candidate married to a firefighter and no doubt Union member privately. Advocates for her publicly before others are interviewed, coupled with a recent out of the blue phone survey relative to Glendale officials performance and I’m supposed to think the Union wasn’t involved in floating the idea of FOIA-ing Fishers employers emails.
Vintage.
Dawn, whats the blue phone survey? John
I should have been clearer in how I said that John. There was a relatively recent unexplained phone survey relative to Glendale’s official performance and citizen satisfaction. Came out of nowhere.
You wonder why Glendale has so much trouble with city managers. Ed lasted much longer than he should have with as many issues as he had. How Brenda got appointed was a miracle that Sherwood pulled off. Now maybe we can get someone that looks and acts professional. Hopefully good people like Jon Froke will come back. Thank you Mayor Weirs, Lauren Tolmachoff, Bart Turner and Ian Hugh for taking a stand for doing the right thing. Let us know if we need to replace or recall any others. Now is the time to clean house.
It’s apparent Brenda Fischer, who supposedly enjoys “swimming with the sharks” couldn’t handle a little criticism in the end. I can’t say how much good she did for the city in her tenure however it never appeared there was an open door policy as she professed. It seemed to be a carry over from the Ed Beasley days and everything was very secretive if you were working under her. Why did numerous very qualified people quit in City management during her tenure? I suspect it was due to it being a toxic work environment within the city and you always had to watch what you said and to whom. When watching city council meetings I get the impression it’s us against them in reference to staff against city council. Childish and unprofessional. Granted, she took on a job that was thankless and monumental. I only hope the next City Manager is someone that totally embraces the city, lives here and has the good of the city and employees uppermost in their mind 24/7.
The thing you have to watch out for when you “swim with sharks”, is that sometimes…you get eaten by them. Brenda is gone…now, hopefully, there will be joy in Mudville again!
It is time for Council to clean house. The debacle with the Chamber, the Library & Ms Fischer’s actions are embarrassing for the City. These actions have caused yet another black eye on Glendale. Keep Sherwood away from any future City Managers since his questionable hiring with this City Manager. WE ARE WATCHING! And, please, do a NATIONWIDE search for the best & brightest!
A wonderful way to clean house would be to complete the recall Councilman Sherwood. I also note with interest Ms. Fischer’s media background discussed in your prior blog. Makes one wonder who was REALLY behind the recent one sided power point sales pitch presented by Glendale Staff Members Erik Strunk and Michael Beck on the “great benefits” of selling the Foothills Library to MidWestern and moving it into the FRAC building. The Glendale residents aren’t buying any of this and it seems asking one question only opens more and more questions about who is really watching out for Glendale, its assets, and its residents. It hasn’t been Brenda Fischer.
I contend that Mr Strunk and Mr Beck were simply the messengers. And, in fact, me opinion is they were most likely told to put a positive spin on this debacle.
Another interesting tidbit is that on September 2, 2014 in Workshop session on Sale of City Property and Facilities presented by Jack Friedline, Interim Public Works Director, Staff categorized all properties into three categories. 1.Sufficiently Utilized Property Serving the Community, 2. Property with Potential Public/Private Partnerships which is where Libraries fell under and staff did NOT “recommend any action on these facilities at this time as these could impact operations and programs” and 3. Vacant/Underutilized/Privatized Properties with market value. the 3rd category include Bank of America Building; Downtown Parking Garage & Promenade; Desert Mirage Golf Course; Glen Lakes Golf Course, Future City Court Site; Bead Museum Building; St Vincent DePaul Thrift Store; Thunderbird Lounge & Adjacent Retail Space; Water Services Lot. Staff recommended that Council direct staff to further evaluate these properties and bring back an asset dissolution plan.
So, interesting, as to where libraries fell and what has happened!! Very deceptive on top level City Management’s part since they knew about the offer from Midwestern in Feb 2014.
Spot on blog, Joyce. I suspect you are most accurate about this whole mess. Good research!