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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

It has been 17 years and 83 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

Well, well well, Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni resigned today, March 25, 2015. It appears it will be effective April 22, 2015. Frisoni started her career in Glendale in the Communications Department, eventually rising to become Director of that department. While Ed Beasley was City Manager she was identified by many as a member of his “inner circle.” She was not charged with any culbability in the past audit of the Risk Management Trust Fund. She was appointed Assistant City Manager by former City Manager Brenda Fischer. At the time of her appointment Frisoni did not meet the minimum qualifications for the position. The only rumor floating on the street is that Frisoni may hook up with Brenda Fischer to form their own consulting/PR firm. It’s speculative to say the least but not an unreasonable speculation.

Now all that leaves is Assistant City Manager Jennifer Campbell. We all wonder if she is still AWOL at Glendale City Hall on Fridays and if she is still teaching at Glendale Community College. Pulling down two pay checks is sweet.

Today the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee voted out H.R. 308, Representative Trent Franks Keep the Promise Act of 2015 reintroduced in the House of Representatives as HR 308 on January 13, 2015. This was Representative Franks’ original bill, now renumbered as a result of its reintroduction. It would prevent the Tohono O’odham from building its casino in Glendale.

That’s enough good news for one day, don’t you think?

© Joyce Clark, 2015

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March 19, 2015….17 years and 78 days without a West Branch Library

Please note: From now on my header will contain the length of time West Glendale has been waiting for its long promised library.

It’s only been a few weeks since former City Manager Brenda Fischer resigned and her “publicists” remain hard at work. I have no doubt there will be more positive stories planted in the local media about the “great job” Fischer did in her 17 months in Glendale.

On March 13, 2015 Eric Jay Toll authored an article entitled “The two sides of the Fischer-Weiers split” in the Phoenix Business Journal. Unfortunately unless one has a paid subscription one cannot read the entire article as the website only posts a paragraph or two. As luck would have it, my neighbor does subscribe and gave me his copy.

There was one very notable quote in the article. “Brenda Fischer was good to employees, and she was good for business in the city,” said Glendale Firefighters Association President Joe Hester. “When she left, it was an extreme disappointment. I’ve worked with a number of city managers and she was the first one I’ve worked with who was fully transparent, operated with integrity and had a word that could be trusted.”

Is Joe Hester implying that Interim City Manager Dick Bowers is not “fully transparent,” does not “operate with integrity” and his word is not to “be trusted?” After all, Hester states categorically that she was the first city manger that he worked with who embodied those qualities. Dick Bowers, former City Manager of Scottsdale for many years, is a person with an impeccable reputation of the utmost integrity, transparency and trust. If I were Mr. Bowers I would be none too happy with Mr. Hester’s remarks.

Hester has only been President of the Glendale Firefighters Association for a few years. As president of the union he did not work with Dr. Martin Vanacour, Glendale’s City Manager from 1985 to 2001. If he worked with Glendale’s next City Manager from 2001 to 2012, Ed Beasley, it was for a very brief time prior to Beasley’s departure. So who did Hester work with? That leaves Horatio Skeete, City Manager for about 4 or 5 months in 2012; Dick Bowers for approximately 8 months in 2012 to 2013; Brenda Fischer for 17 months from 2013 to 2015; and now Dick Bowers again. It appears that the number of city managers with whom Hester has worked is three. His characterization of a “number of city managers” would lead one to believe that there have been scads of them. Hmmm.

Then again, of course Mr. Hester was delighted to have Fischer as Glendale’s city manager and why not? Ms. Fischer’s husband was, and may still be for all I know, a firefighter in Henderson, Nevada. It is understandable that Ms. Fischer’s natural bias would be in favor of the firefighters. Wouldn’t Hester feel he had a sympathetic ear when it came to firefighter goals and issues?

Mr. Hester also stated that Ms. Fischer was “good for business in the city.” Perhaps he should have checked with Robert Heidt Jr., President and CEO of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce. I don’t think anyone has forgotten Ms. Fischer’s temper tantrum directed at Mr. Heidt at the Yard House restaurant…a very public place.

Mr. Toll’s headline for his article, “The two sides of the Fischer-Weiers split” implies that Mayor Weiers was responsible for her leaving. Not so. Ms. Fischer was capable of causing it all on her own. Her actions including promoting Julie Frisoni as Assistant City Manager when she was unqualified for the position at the time; her very public berating of the Glendale Chamber President; her perceived advocacy for one councilmember’s (Gary Sherwood) agenda; and her brazen request for three sitting councilmember’s emails were more than enough to sour a majority of council on her leadership.

Many have come to the conclusion that Ms. Fischer orchestrated her own demise as Glendale’s city manager.

© 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.

Please note: I just received confirmation a few minutes ago that Jon Froke will not be resigning and will remain the city’s Planning Director. Thanks to Interim City Manager Dick Bowers for reviewing this situation and reversing the former City Manager Fischer’s decision.

Why is Planning Director Jon Froke resigning suddenly under mysterious circumstances? Here are the circumstances known to date. First, be advised this is not about Ms. Barbara Lentz. She is an unwitting participant and it could have happened to anyone. She is in no way to be considered as having done anything wrong.

On October 28, 2014 Ms. Lentz was appointed to the General Plan Steering Committee representing the Sahuaro district (Councilmember Gary Sherwood’s district) by the city council. Typically if an appointee is present that evening that person takes the Loyalty Oath at the council meeting. When an appointee is not present the Loyalty Oath is taken at the first meeting of the committee to which the person has been appointed. Apparently Ms. Lentz was not present that evening. On December 3, 2014 Ms. Lentz attended her first General Plan Steering Committee meeting and took the Loyalty Oath at that time. A regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was held on January 8, 2015. In the minutes of that meeting roll call identifies the following commissioners as present: Johnston, Hirsch, Lenox, Berryhill and Lentz. Ms. Lentz voted as a Planning Commissioner that evening. Without Lentz there would have been no quorum of the commission and the meeting would not have been held.

Now the mystery begins. How did Ms. Lentz sit as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner that evening? A review of council minutes for the two months preceding her sitting as a Planning Commissioner shows that city council did not appoint her to that position. How did she get there? City council minutes confirm her appointment as a General Plan Steering Committee member, not as a member of the Planning Commission.

There were three items on the Planning Commission’s agenda of January 8, 2015. One item, a Conditional Use Permit passed on a 3-2 vote with Ms. Lentz’ voting in the majority. The other two agenda items were passed unanimously by the 4 regularly seated Planning Commissioners.

Mr. Froke was not in attendance at the January 8, 2015 meeting. That is not unusual. If it were an agenda item of major significance or one that may be considered complex or contentious he would have been there. The items on that night’s agenda fit none of those criteria. In his stead Ms. Tabitha Perry of the Planning Department and Liaison to the Planning Commission was in attendance. It is also typical to have someone from the City Attorney’s office be in attendance to advise on any legal matters. Ms. Deborah Robberson, Chief Deputy City Attorney was in attendance.

Why didn’t Ms. Robberson and especially Ms. Perry, as the Planning Commission’s Liaison, raise an objection to Ms. Lentz’ seating that evening as a Planning Commissioner? Did they not know that Ms. Lentz had not been appointed a commissioner? If they did not know, why not? Ms. Perry as the Planning Commission’s Liaison is expected to be thoroughly conversant with all areas surrounding the Planning Commission. How could she not be aware that Ms. Lentz was not appointed by city council as a Planning Commissioner?

From here on the information is sketchy. It seems that former City Manager Fischer had an investigation into the whole matter which appears to have resulted in the resignation of Planning Director Jon Froke and the appointment of…you guessed it…Ms. Tabatha Perry as Acting. The very same Tabatha Perry who apparently didn’t have a clue as Liaison for one of her areas of responsibility. The first question that comes to mind is, did Councilmember Sherwood influence or urge former City Manager Fischer to ask for Mr. Froke’s resignation? Sherwood appears to have been quite unhappy with Froke’s performance on some of his pet issues. None of this makes any sense right now. If it was Fischer’s desire that a Director take the fall, shouldn’t Michael Bailey, the City Attorney, have received the same investigative treatment? After all, his designee, Ms. Robberson, was also present at this weird Planning Commission meeting and did nothing.

Jon Froke has been the consummate professional and a loyal employee of the city for many years. He listens…not just to the developers with a project but to the concerns of residents and does his best to balance both points of view. I will be the first to admit that I do not know “the rest of the story.” I would hope that Interim City Manager Dick Bowers would review the entire situation and that his findings would result in a return of Mr. Froke to his position of Director of Planning for the City of Glendale. It appears from the outside looking in, that an injustice has occurred and only Mr. Bowers can resolve it.

© 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.

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

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.

Yesterday, February 12, 2015 Glendale City Manager Brenda Fischer submitted her resignation. What happens now? Fischer and the city council will meet in Executive Session to negotiate a mutually agreeable date for her departure. City Council will then appoint an Acting City Manager while a search is done for a replacement.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? A cut and dried process but when politics are involved things are never quite that simple. The city council is split with Hugh-Turner-Tolmachoff vs. Sherwood-Chavira-Aldama. Mayor Weiers is the deciding vote. There is a dearth of talent at city hall these days with many able administrators either having left or having been forced out. Why not think outside the proverbial box? Why not borrow a talented administrator from another Valley community? Glendale has done it before when it asked Dick Bowers, former Scottsdale City Manager, to assume the role of Acting City Manager. The first name that comes to mind is Charlie McClendon, former City Manager of Avondale. Charlie worked for Glendale many years ago, possesses Glendale historical memory and has an outstanding record as Avondale’s City Manager. I was gently reminded that Charlie is now in Cathedral City, California. Despite that I would still consider him.

Don’t expect council to appoint either Assistant City Managers Jennifer Campbell or Julie Frisoni as Acting City Manager. Rumor has it that Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni may not be around much longer now that she has lost her protector and mentor, Fischer. The city Finance Director, Tom Duensing’s and the city Attorney, Michael Bailey’s, names are floating out there as possible choices for Acting City Manager. Each has baggage and is identified as part of the Fischer “team.”

Many were surprised to learn of Fischer’s resignation. They should not have been. Take a look at her work history. She worked in Henderson and North Las Vegas, Nevada for about 15 years primarily in media relations but not as a City Manager. When she rose to greater positions of authority as a Deputy City Manager in Glendora, California and City Manager in Maricopa, Arizona it appears that she never remained in those positions for more than 2 years.

An April 11, 2011 post was discovered commenting on her leaving Glendora from someone called “Mother-In-Law” (Brenda’s mother-in-law? Who knows?) saying, “Brenda and I talked about her problems with certain officals (sic) or a (sic) least that’s what they call themselves that, we concluded it was a dead end job in Glendora, Ca. city hall.” Fischer left after 2 years. In Maricopa, Arizona, Fischer initiated an investigation for alleged harassment against a Maricopa councilmember and left that employment within 2 years.

Issues seem to arise when she is employed in an upper management position. Will that be the case in Glendale?  As reported by Darrell Jackson in the Glendale Star of February 12, 2015 Fischer made a FOIA for all of the emails of three councilmembers: Hugh, Turner and Tolmachoff from November 5, 2014 to February 10, 2015. This is highly outrageous and exceedingly unusual. Fischer serves at the pleasure of the city council. She is appointed by them. Requesting the emails of one’s employers may have been the last straw. That should have been enough of a reason to cause her firing.

There appears to have been a slew of other “last straws” lately. Her performance as a leader of the City of Glendale was lacking when she displayed a temper tantrum at the CEO of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce publicly at the Yard House restaurant. She bears the responsibility for the “Library War” debacle. Even if she did not initiate the idea (the jury is still out) of a proposed sale of the library, she allowed it to move forward. Councilmember Gary Sherwood was largely responsible for her hire. He inserted himself into the hiring process by meeting privately with her and advocating for her at a council workshop. His current problems with an ongoing AG’s investigation about alleged Open Meeting Law violations and a renewed effort to recall him may have created difficulties for her.

Did she find something within her email request that spooked her or did council learn that she was looking for something to use against them? After all, she appears to have only requested emails from the three councilmembers she perceived as her enemies. Her annual performance review would have been in a few months. Was she concerned that she would be fired? Did Mayor Weiers drop a hint that he had the four votes necessary to cause her firing? Did she decide that resignation was face saving as opposed to firing?

This is a story unfinished. There is more to discover. You can bet that the media will continue to pursue the real reason for Fischer’s sudden but not surprising resignation.

© 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.

Confirmed from several sources: City Manager Brenda Fischer has resigned, effective on a date mutally agreed upon by her and the Glendale City Council. In part, her resignation letter stated, I feel I have “accomplished all of my goals at this time.”

More to follow in upcoming blog.

© 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.

On May 23, 2013 the Glendale Star ran a Letter to the Editor by Ms. Barbara Garland.  First, a disclaimer: I have known Ms. Garland for over 20 years. She is not just a former constituent of mine. She is a friend. She is not a gad fly who writes Letters to the Editor about anything and everything. She has been a positive contributor to our community. Her service on nearly every city board and commission as well as Glendale Civic Pride and the fire department’s Crisis Response Unit has occurred over that 20 plus year span. Ms. Garland works to better Glendale.

That the Glendale Star ran her Letter to the Editor despite their obvious positive bias toward Councilmember Alvarez’ agenda is surprising.

Norma Alvarez

Norma Alvarez

Ms. Garland made some interesting observations in her Letter as she refers to Councilmember Alvarez’ latest district meeting which was “by invitation” only. In my 16 years as councilmember I never, ever, held a district meeting “by invitation.” All of my meetings were open to one and all. If Alvarez was limiting attendance because she was holding it in her home then she should have changed the location to accommodate any and all who wished to attend.  It becomes more troubling if she was limiting attendance to screen participants and thereby ensure that only those who supported her agenda attended. It also calls into question Alvarez’ call for transparency and open meetings. Where is her outreach to those who do not share or support her point of view?

Ms. Garland calls for Alvarez’ resignation because, among other things, she has said, “She is ashamed to be on city council.” Ms. Garland has a point. Alvarez’ performance as a councilmember receives a failing grade. Her lack of attendance has been an ongoing issue. It was abundantly obvious that when Ms. Alvarez conference called into council workshops and meetings there was someone in the background coaching her. Ms. Alvarez will often state during council meetings that she doesn’t understand and then proceed to offer her opinion.

What is perhaps even more disconcerting is that once council has voted on a policy issue that becomes the public position of the city and is to be supported by its elected officials. If an elected official continues to hold an opposing position on a council majority decided issue, there are guidelines to do so. Either she hasn’t bothered to familiarize herself with the guidelines or she is deliberately ignoring them. A perfect example was her recent opinion piece in the Glendale Star. It was submitted and signed as “Councilmember Alvarez.” It was in direct opposition to majority approved city council policy on the issue of the proposed casino yet not once, did she say that it was her personal opinion or that she was writing as a private individual and not speaking for, or on behalf of, the entire council. That phraseology is standard when a councilmember is expressing a personal position rather than a city position.

Merely disagreeing with a councilmember’s position on the issues is not sufficient cause for resignation but lack of effective representation and leadership is. Is it time for Councilmember Alvarez to resign as Ms. Garland suggests? Yes, it is.

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