Well, let me allow the City Manager of Paris, TX tell us. I can think of three things that can be done to make McKinney the best, most successful, most cohesive and stable City it can and should be. It is to honor and enforce the Council-Manager form of government. Number two and three follow but are a distance from two and three. I’ve been writing about all three. But I want to offer another emphasis of many I will be making about No. One! This letter ran in the Paris newspaper in 2014, but it was a replay of the City Manager’s letter of 2012. It just doesn’t get any clearer than this. LFM

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It’s the city manager’s job to run the city, Godwin reminded council in 2012

Posted on Apr 22, 2014
eParisExtra.com
by Charles Richards

(Editor’s Note: As the 2014 City of Paris election approaches for city council positions of districts 1, 2, 3 and 6, it seems timely to present a transcript of city manager John Godwin’s comments during a 90-minute workshop with the Paris City Council in June 2012, shortly after he came on board. Godwin told council members it’s their role to set policy and give direction, and leave the rest to him.)

 John Godwin: Thank you. I appreciate your time. I don’t want to insult anybody’s intelligence, anybody’s level of experience, but I kind of wanted to talk about some basic things.

 Hopefully, I will get some feedback from you and have two-way communication. It’s important that the manager and the council both agree on what his job is, or else it causes you frustration and it causes me to be unemployed, and I don’t want either of those things to happen. (laughter).

City manager is kind of an odd job for whatever reason. August, hopefully, will mark 26 years for me in local government, and I have still a majority of my family members that don’t know quite what a city manager is.

 It is, for whatever reason, kind of an unknown position. People understand that a superintendent in the school district is the CEO of the school district and the school board is there to give policy and direction and those types of things, and adopt a budget.

 It works exactly the same way in cities, but for some reason superintendents are well known and city managers are usually anonymous. I tell people I’m a city manager, and they go, “Oh, you’re like the mayor,” and I say, “No, it’s not at all like the mayor.” And they say, “Well, what do you do?” I say, “Well, I run the city,” and they say, “I thought the mayor does that,” and I said, “No, the mayor DOESN’T do that.” (Laughter)

 I know you guys know this, but there are some new folks on here, too, and even some of you who have been here a while have been here only a year or two years. A lot of things that you’re used to — because it’s been that way for a whole month or for a whole year or for a whole two years on the council — isn’t necessarily the way it always is in other cities, whether that’s good or bad.

 For example, I’ve never run across a city that has a fulltime judge as an employee. That’s nothing against the judge, and that doesn’t mean it’s good or bad, and I’m not suggesting you change it. But if you assume from your governing experience that every city does that – every city doesn’t do that. Every city doesn’t have a fulltime attorney even in house,  or an assistant attorney like you do.

 Here, you approve everything by resolution, almost. And Kent (city attorney Kent McIlyar) prepares the resolution. I’ve seen bunches of those already just in the two meetings I’ve been to. That’s kind of unusual. It’s not completely undone, but that’s kind of unusual. I say all that just to say if there’s things that seem unusual or odd, or you wonder why it’s done that way, it may or may not be for a good reason. It may be just that’s the way it’s always been done.

 As a council, you always have the right to change those kinds of things – the policy things, the processes, your own processes, your own procedures. If you want to do resolutions, do resolutions. If you don’t want to do a resolution for everything, if you want to do a minute order to save time, to save Kent time, anyway, then you can do that, too. I’m not suggesting anything; it’s just something that you can do.

 It’s very important that the council set policy, you set guidelines. An example of that is, and hopefully the council knows this and agreed to it at some point in time, but I got a complaint last week or the week before last, about one of the parks not being mowed. It didn’t look good. And people don’t like to go out there because it doesn’t get mowed.

 Well, the response from the staff was, “Oh, we only mow it every other week because it’s on the ‘B’ list.” Well, I don’t know, if there’s going to be an ‘A’ list and a ‘B’ list, that’s something that the council really ought to say “Yeah, there’s gonna be an A list and a B list because we don’t have enough money or enough energy or enough whatever it is to keep all the parks pristine.”

 Now, if that’s not your policy, I need to know that. I just meant that as an example of staff should not be doing that. That’s a policy thing and staff is not supposed to make policy.

 Another example is the health department. It’s my understanding that staff kind of initiated making changes with the health department. Well, the relationship with the health department is the purview of the council, not of the staff.

 Now, once you tell us, “We want you to do so and so” with the health department or with the parks, or whatever it is, then it’s time for you to back off and let us do that.

The city manager is the CEO, the COO of the organization. Every employee works for the city manager. No employees work for the council except for the city manager – and the city attorney, only those two.

 And, just to be clear on that, and I don’t want to beat it to death, or insult anybody – the last thing I want to do as a brand new guy is to do any of that, but it’s not a matter of the typical chain of command where you’re up here, and then it’s me, and then it’s everybody else. It’s two separate chains of command. It’s you and me, and then over here is a whole ‘nother chain of command. It’s me and everybody else.

 So it’s not that they all work directly for me and indirectly for you. By law, nobody works for you except for me and the city attorney. Whereby I reserve the right if I’ve got a problem department or a concern in a department – and I’ve already done this – to go around with one of my supervisors, with his knowledge hopefully, usually, and talk to subordinates.

 You don’t have the right to do that. You don’t have the authority to do that. And that’s a violation of the Charter for you to give instructions or to interfere in the operations of the city. And that’s typical of almost every city that has a home rule charter. That’s nothing unusual or odd.

 Sometimes, in my job, people talk about how, “Well, it must be really hard to have seven bosses.” And my response to that is always, “I don’t have seven bosses. I only have one. It’s the city council. I don’t have seven individual bosses.”

 If one council member says, “Hey, John, go jump off the roof,” my response is going to be, “Put it on the agenda and get three more votes” — because only one of you can’t tell me something to do. The reason for that is not because I’m hard-headed and don’t want to be cooperative, it’s because if one of you tells me to jump off the roof and I do it, the other six are going to say, “Well, you’re an idiot. You can’t do that.”

 Also, it needs to happen in a meeting. It needs to be in a posted meeting, and it needs to be on the agenda: “Instruct the city manager to jump off the roof.” So, there’s a process. It’s a process for a reason and it’s got nothing to do with me or my preferences.

 Now, little things come along. For the sake of efficiency, I hate bureaucracy, I hate mindless rules, I hate structure that has no point to it, and as you get to know me hopefully a lot better over the next few years – I’m hoping, that’s certainly my goal – you’ll realize I’m about as anti-bureaucrat as there is. I hate that stuff. I hate that mindless, “do things” for no reasons at all.

 But there are reasons for that kind of structure, and it’s important that we both understand that and that we both follow that. But for little things, you know, that’s a different deal. Certainly it’s perfectly OK and it’s even encouraged from time to time that you ask for information from staff. If you want to know, “Gene Anderson, how much money did we spent on pencils last year?” ask him. That’s an information request.

 If you want to know how many tickets we wrote last year, ask the police chief and he’ll tell you.

 Now, I’ll instruct those staff members, when you give information to the council members, copy me on the email, or just let me know that you talked to them, so I know what’s going on, in case there’s an issue or because they tell you something wrong.

 Because ultimately I’m responsible for their behavior, and their performance, and if they don’t perform then I need to know that so I can fix it. If they’re not responsive to your request, I need to know that so I can fix it. So information requests, you’re not forbidden from talking to them, you’re not forbidden from interacting with them. They’re not going to shy away from you. If they do, let me know. They’re not supposed to.

 But they’re not supposed to take their instructions from you either, except for Kent and myself. And even Kent and myself, we’re only required – and that’s a poor choice, we’re only allowed to take instructions from you — when you meet as a group, and only when you vote.

 So to get me to jump off a roof, you’re going to have to put it on an agenda, post it 72 hours in advance of a meeting, and at least four of you are going to have to vote to make me jump off a roof. And then I may or may not do it, and then you can have an executive session about personnel about whether you want to keep around a guy who’s going to be insubordinate about roof jumping.

 Remember, as council members, people will go too far one way or another as council members. You’re still a citizen, you still have a right to have an opinion, you still have a right to say “Hey, I didn’t deserve that ticket,” or “Hey, I want to fight city hall,” or you have an opinion on this issue. You always want to try to think about what’s best for the community as a group, not just one individual.

And you’ll have people – some of your probably already have, I imagine — some people will want you to fix their single problem, and that can get you into trouble because you’re there to represent your entire district first, or however you want to put that, that’s up to you, and then also the entire community, not just one person or a friend or a neighbor.

 But you don’t give up your right to speak. I’ve had council members over the years ask me like, “Well, I can’t talk during a public hearing because, you know, I’m not a citizen anymore.” Well, yeah, you are. You pay taxes, you vote, you get to talk during a public hearing unless the mayor shuts you down for some reason because you’re misbehaving. He’s the moderator of the meeting and he controls decorum and all that kind of stuff.

 If you want information from a staff member, sometimes it can be quicker to just ask me and I’ll get it for you. Or ask Janice (city clerk Janice Ellis) and she can get it for you. But sometimes it’s quicker to just go straight to them, and that’s absolutely OK, and again even encouraged, I think.

 I say some of this because I tend to be a hands-on manager, and it’s not because of ego or because I like to be the boss. For 15 years, I didn’t want to be a city manager, and after working for a couple of bosses I couldn’t stand I thought, OK, I’ll be the boss.

My management style is I really try to be in charge. I was hired to be the CEO and I intend to be the CEO. I do need you to give me policy direction. I do need you to tell me, “Hey, you know what? We never decided there should be an ‘A’ park and a ‘B’ park,” and if that’s the case, I need to get that fixed, because somebody decided that on their own. That’s not the staff’s responsibility, so it works both ways.

 There are certain things you guys are supposed to do. If you guys are not interested in changing the relationship between the city and the health department, then it doesn’t need to change. That’s a policy thing absolutely, and the council should be doing that, not one or random staff members. I don’t know the whole story on that, but something strikes me as a little odd there just from what I’ve seen and heard just in the few weeks I’ve been here.

One of the times that you interact immediately with the staff is on council meetings, obviously, and agendas. To be blunt, there’s been some presentations in the council meetings that I’ve been to that I thought were not as thorough as they should have been.

 One of my short-term goals is to improve the information you get — not a whole lot more, but I think there should be a little more detail. Some of the information you got (for Monday’s city council meeting) I had staff members add detail before it got to you.

 An example of that was last night I had Shawn (city engineer Shawn Napier) to talk about grandfathering on the head shops, because I didn’t want anyone in the audience or on the council to go home thinking “OK, once we’ve passed that ordinance, they’re going to shut all those things down,” because they might be there 40 more years. It just means that they’re a legal, non-conforming use. We hope they’re not there that long, but that’s a possibility.

 If you want to make a change in how agenda items are presented and the documents are given – those green sheets (in the packet that each councilman receives on Fridays before each meeting), that’s something that was invented in Paris; it’s not something that came from state law or anybody else. Some city manager once upon a time just created that form. I’ve used similar forms and I think they’re fine, but if that doesn’t meet your needs, you know, let us know.

If you want more data, or a little less data – especially for the new folks, you know, maybe you want to do this for more than two meetings and see how much you need, because at some point it becomes, “I can’t read all this stuff so don’t give me so much.” Because you don’t want inundated to where it just becomes a beating every time you get a packet.

As an example of things I’ll do differently unless y’all tell me differently tonight, is public hearings. Public hearings are open and people can speak for or against an issue, and then the staff explains it.

 Well, that’s OK if you already know what the issue is about. I prefer to have the staff present what the issue is ahead of time, because what can happen is people in the audience, they see it for the first time, they don’t know what it’s about, and they get up and say I’m against this because of so-and-so. And then they sit down and staff gets up there and explain it, and they say well, I’m not against it after all. You don’t ever want to do that to your citizens, you don’t ever want to have those kinds of misunderstandings.

 So I think it’s important to have staff make a presentation and show this is what it’s about, you know, in advance, before you have a public hearing. I say that just as an example of some of the things I’d like to do a little bit differently.

One of the things I want to get some feedback from you is communication between yourselves and me. I’m used to doing two things. I don’t know how “e-maily” you guys are or, but for instance, this is something that’s happened two or three times in the last week or so. I’ll get an e-mail from a staff member that says the western half of the city is on fire and there’s a flood and six tornadoes just hit.

 What I’ll do, I’ll forward that e-mail to you. Because you need to know. Somebody’s liable to call you up and say hey, what do you know about that fire, or how come I don’t have water on my street. Because people call their council members, and I don’t want you to be in a position of having to say, “Well, I don’t know. Nobody’s told me a thing.”

 Now, for me, the best way to do that is just to send you a group e-mail. I sent you one or two in the last couple of weeks, and I don’t know if you got them or not because I don’t know how often y’all look at those kinds of things. I got one today where there was a water line blew out. I started to send it to you, and I thought well, I’d talk to you tonight and see if that works.

If there’s other ways of getting hold of you, let me know about it, but I really want you to be able to get these kind of newsy things. Something happened, there was a bad fire, or there was a bad wreck, or a water line out. That’s one of the biggest things, if a water line. We had one the other day and they fixed it and it blew out again. They fixed it and it blew out again. We had people without water for a day or two at a time. And I want you to know that, because you may get that call and you need to be in the know.

We don’t ever want to surprise you. If you guys are getting surprised, we’re not doing our job, so let me know, if I surprise you or any of my staff people surprise you. Let me know so I can try to fix that. Because that’s something we don’t want to do.

You need to have information. I can’t always get it to you right away, but with e-mail it’s pretty easy to just send a mass e-mail to all seven of you and hopefully you’ll get it. If you don’t do e-mail, if you don’t check your e-mail but once a week or something like that, let me know and we can fax you or call you. There are different ways to do that, but I want you to get that kind of information.

 The other kind of communications I’m used to doing, and I don’t want to do something that you don’t need or want, but just give you regular reports on what I’ve been up to and things that are happening in the city. I’ve done that on at least a monthly basis, and I’ve done that as often as every Friday. I don’t know if that’s the kind of the thing that would be valuable to you. And you don’t know because I’ve never sent you one. But again, I like you to know what’s going on.

Now, I don’t want you to think you’re in charge. Because I am (laughter).

But I do want you to know what’s going on, and I want you to know what I’ve been up to and who I’ve been meeting with and where I’ve been going. So I assume y’all would like that kind of thing. Is there a good frequency for me to send you that sort of thing, and finally what is the best way to send that? By e-mail, too, or when I next see you? If you have any thoughts about that, let me know.

Another thing, too, along the lines of communication is communication with the community. I don’t know how many of you look at the web site, for example – if you use the web site. I would really like to have your feedback on the web site. If you haven’t looked at it, look at it and see if you’re happy with it or not happy with it, or if there are things that you think ought to be on there that are not on there.

I don’t know if Paris has ever had a newsletter. Lot of cities have newsletters that you send to your citizens; you can stick it in the water bill. That’s a really good way to communicate with your citizens. Once upon a time, when I was young and lazy, I hated doing newsletters, but I’ve been doing them for so many years now, it’s a good tool. Again, if you don’t do it well, you’re better off not doing at all, but it’s something worth investigating. It’s a good opportunity to get information out to the people.

So many times, lack of information causes problems, for the city, for you as council members, for me as the city manager, for the staff that works for me, and you can avoid a lot of that by communicating. We’re a public entity; everything we do is the public’s business.

 Some things you keep in executive session for limited periods of time, but everything we do is public. They’re paying the bills and the public has a right to know what’s going on and often needs to know what’s going on. So I would encourage us to look at opportunities for those kinds of things. It’s just a good habit to get into, because it keeps you from getting accidentally too bureaucratic and too “Well, it’s none of their business; they’re outsiders.” Well, no, they’re not. They’re the stockholders in our organization.

To give you kind of an idea how I approach city management — especially for the new ones that I didn’t interview with back in February or March — I do try to make a lot of decisions, I do not try to belabor and beat things to death. For example, we had a dead tree in a yard, and people were arguing that we (the city) can’t cut down that dead tree. Well, yes we can, just go ahead and cut it down.

I hate bureaucracy, I hate over-thinking and beating stuff to death. Now, sometimes that means I make mistakes. I told people in my last couple of jobs, if you never make mistakes, you’re not doing your job. I don’t want just sit-on-your-hands bureaucracy. A code lien came up that’s been on your agenda – you go and mow somebody’s yard, you cut down their dead tree, or you fix up the place, and you send them a bill and they don’t pay it.

Well, human nature, you want to get your money back, they owe the city that bill, and it’s not fair that the city had to pay that and not get their money back. Well, sometimes those liens get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it gets in the way of things. And sometimes it does make common sense to say, “You know what if you’ll pay 10 cents on the dollar, we’ll get rid of the lien so you can start mowing this every week instead of us going on forever.”

Historically, I’ve just made those decisions like that on my own. But this has already gone to the council level and I wouldn’t presume to do anything like that now because it’s on your agenda and you need to make some policy decisions on that. But that’s an example of things I’ll often do, and you might not even hear about it, but if it makes the city work better, act better, feel better, make our citizens happy, then I’m just going to do it and I’m going to try to empower employees to do that as well.

Now, I’ve had two different things just today, “Well, we can’t do that. We’re not supposed to do that.” I haven’t gotten mad at anybody yet, but it’s inevitable that I will because I hate that kind of answer. So I’m just telling you all that to let you know what you’re getting into with me. Because sometimes you’ll be getting mad at me, but hopefully most of the time you’ll say, “Yeah, cut that tree down and fix that thing, and do whatever.” The problem with making decisions is sometimes you’ll make the wrong decision, but I’m a real outside the box kind of a guy, and I hate rules and too much structure and so forth and so on.

 I’ve got a lot of things I’m looking at, I’ve got a semi-action plan till the end of this fiscal year. That’s what – three and a half months? I’ve got a list of 50 things I want to get done by September 30.

 I don’t believe in just sticking with the status quo. I don’t think I was just hired to do the status quo. That may mean some reorganization. That may mean some staff changes. Don’t be surprised at anything I might do because I’m all crazy when it comes to that sort of thing. I’m real excellence-driven. I want Paris to be an excellent city.

By that I mean the organization itself. Now, if we can have an excellent organization, that makes the city as a living place and as a working place a whole lot better, too. My goal every time I work someplace is to make it the best city in Texas.

Not to be insulting, but it’s almost a shame how many people I meet almost make apologies to me about Paris. Like, “Oh, you’re still here,” and “Why would you come to Paris?” I just cringe at that, because people in Paris need to go “This is a great place, a wonderful place to work!” And that’s what I’m going to try to help you do.

Now, obviously I can’t do that by myself. I remember reading something about I was going to be brought in here to be a community leader. With all due respect, that’s not my job. My job is to lead the 325 people that work here. Y’all are the community leaders, and my job is to support you and to help you achieve your goals and visions, which we’re going to get to eventually, I promise. But that’s such a huge mindset that I wanted to throw that out there.

I’m working for Paris and I’m all onboard for Paris. I want it to be a great place, and I think that’s absolutely doable. It’s not an easy thing to do to be a great place, but it’s absolutely doable. And like I say, I’ve already got my 50 things – you can’t see them – but I’ve got my list. Some of them are small things like cutting down a dead tree, and some of them are bigger things like reorganizing departments. Trying to improve communications. Those kinds of things.

My vision is that big vision of making Paris a great place, and helping you achieve your visions.

 

I made an Open Records Request for a document that sets forth a Code of Ethics & Conduct for the McKinney City Council and all Boards & Committees. I received a very legalistic document that appears to apply to everyone except the City Council. I recall there was an attempt to create something meaningful with some teeth in the last couple of years. It started out with a councilmember taking a stab at one. I haven’t watched the video lately from back then, but it seemed like most on the Council saw no need for one. I believe it was left with the Mayor and then Mayor Pro-Tem to follow up with, which I think was code for “wooden stake and mallet time.”  I haven’t heard this subject mentioned since then unless I just missed it.

I would like to suggest one that would be solid and with the mandate from the McKinney Citizens by amending the Charter emphasize the importance and the high expectations. There are many of these from other cities on the Web, which eliminates the necessity of starting from scratch. This one was written to make it sound and feel personal as if genuinely embraced by each Councilmember. There was even a pledge form required to make it an annual and ongoing covenant between the Council and the Citizens. I excluded that part. I also added a few of my own words and phrases as you might expect me to if you follow my blogs.

Since we have the possibility of almost a brand new Council by the 2017 elections, I suggest our current City Council move immediately to make this happen. It is a no-brainer. It could be passed now and left for Citizen endorsement and enforcement at the 2017 ballot box. I cannot imagine an argument for not taking this important step. LFM

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THE CITY OF McKinney
CODE OF ETHICS AND CONDUCT
ADOPTED __________

 The people of the City of McKinney, at an election held on _________________, approved an amendment to the City Charter of the City of McKinney which states: “The City of McKinney shall adopt a Code of Ethics and Conduct for elected officials and members of appointed boards, commissions, and committees to assure public confidence in the integrity of local government elected and appointed officials.” Consistent with the vote of the people, the following Code of Ethics and Conduct is hereby adopted by the City of McKinney to ensure effective and fair operation of the local government of the City of McKinney.

I.        PREAMBLE

It is the intent of this code to achieve fair, ethical, and accountable local government for the City of McKinney. The people of McKinney expect public officials, both elected and appointed, to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the laws of the State of Texas, the United States of America, and the Charter, Municipal Code, and established policies of the City of McKinney affecting the operations of local government. In addition, public officials are expected to comply with the provisions of this Code of Ethics and Conduct established pursuant to the expressed will of the people. All persons covered by this code will aspire to meet the highest ethical standards in the conduct of their responsibility as an elected or appointed official of the City of McKinney.

This code addresses various aspects related to the governance of the City of McKinney and supplements, but does not supplant other laws and rules that prescribe the legal responsibilities of City officials. These include, but are not limited to, the Federal and State Constitutions, various provisions of the Texas Local Government Code and Other State Laws, and the City of McKinney Charter and Municipal Code. Elected and appointed officials are expected to be familiar with these laws to ensure that they exercise their public responsibilities in a proper fashion.

While it is not possible to anticipate and provide a rule of conduct and ethics for all situations that public officials may face, this Code of Ethics and Conduct is designed to provide a framework to guide public officials in their daily duties.

II.  SCOPE

The provisions of this Code of Ethics and Conduct shall apply to the Mayor and members of the City Council, and to all members of the Boards, Commissions, and Committees appointed by the Mayor and City Council, including any ad hoc committees. Further, the provisions of this Code of Ethics and Conduct shall only apply to these officials and members acting in their official capacities and in the discharge of their duties.

III. CORE VALUES

Attitudes, words, and actions should demonstrate, support, and reflect the following qualities and characteristics for the well-being of our community. The five core values and expressions that reflect these core values are as follows:

INTEGRITY/ HONESTY

• I am honest with my fellow elected officials, the public and others.
• I do not promise what I believe to be unrealistic.
• I am prepared to make unpopular decisions when my sense of the public’s best interests requires it.
• I credit others’ contributions to moving our community’s interests forward.
• I do not knowingly use false or inaccurate information to support my position or views.
• I safeguard the ability to make independent, objective, fair and impartial judgments by scrupulously avoiding financial and social relationships and transactions that may compromise, or give the appearance of compromising, objectivity, independence, and honesty.

RESPONSIBILITY/PROTECTING THE PUBLIC’S INTERESTS

•  I do not accept gifts, services or other special considerations because of my public position.
• I excuse myself from participating in decisions when my or my immediate family’s financial interests may be affected by my agency’s actions.
• I do not give special treatment or consideration to any individual or group beyond that available to any other individual.
• I refrain from disclosing confidential information concerning litigation, personnel, property, or other affairs of the City, without proper legal authority, nor use such information to advance my financial or other personal interests.

FAIRNESS/ACCOUNTABILITY

•  I promote meaningful public involvement in the agency’s decision-making processes.
• I treat all persons, claims and transactions in a fair and equitable manner; I make decisions based on the merits of the issue.
• If I receive substantive information that is relevant to a matter under consideration from sources outside the public decision-making process, I publicly share it with my fellow governing board members and staff.
• I work to contribute to a strong organization that exemplifies transparency and open communication.
• I will not meet privately with any kind of special interests seeking favor from the City unless those meetings are held in City facilities in offices and conference rooms designated by the City.
• I will not meet directly or indirectly with any form of Walking Quorum to discuss or solicit the direction of decisions being formed by other members of the City Council or any Board or Commission.
• I will encourage as much discussion as possible to be conducted by special interests in the public forums that allow all parties, including the public to better understand the need, purpose, rationale and technical information surrounding a potential City action.

RESPECT FOR FELLOW ELECTED OR APPOINTED OFFICIALS, STAFF, AND THE PUBLIC

•  I treat my fellow officials, staff and the public with patience, courtesy and civility, even when we disagree on what is best for the community.
• I work towards consensus building and gain value from diverse opinions.
• I understand and support and pledge to adhere by the Council-Manager form of government as required by City Charter. I respect the distinction between the role of office holder and staff;
• I involve staff in meetings with individuals, those with business before the agency, officials from other agencies and legislators to ensure proper staff support and to keep staff informed.
• I conduct myself in a courteous and respectful manner at all times during the performance of my official City duties.
• I encourage full participation of all persons and groups; I am aware and observe important celebrations and events which reflect the values of our diverse population.

PROPER AND EFFICIENT USE OF PUBLIC RESOURCES

•  I do not use public resources, such as agency staff time, equipment, supplies or facilities, for private gain or personal purposes. This includes taking up valuable staff time for special questions that I can send in writing and ask that they be answered during designated Council briefing opportunities.
• I make decisions after prudent consideration of their financial impact, taking into account the long-term financial needs of the agency, especially its financial stability.
• I demonstrate concern for the proper use of agency assets (such as personnel, time, property, equipment, funds) and follow established procedures.
• I am a prudent steward of public resources and actively consider the impact of my decisions on the financial and social stability of the City and its residents.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT

City of McKinney elected and appointed officials of the various boards, commissions and committees have the primary responsibility to assure that ethical standards are understood and met, and that the public can continue to have full confidence in the integrity of government. This Code of Ethics and Conduct will be most effective when the elected and appointed officials are thoroughly familiar with it and embrace its provisions.

Upon adoption of this Code, all current elected or appointed officials shall be given a copy of the Code and asked to affirm in writing that they have received the code, understand its provisions, and pledge to conduct themselves by the code. All new members of the City Council, upon election or reelection, and members of Boards, Commissions, and Committees appointed by the City Council, upon appointment or reappointment, shall be given a copy of the Code and are required to affirm in writing they have received the code and understand its provisions, and pledge to conduct themselves by the code.

Additionally, all members of the City Council, boards, commissions, and committees, as part of their annual orientation and training, shall be provided additional training clarifying the provisions and application of this code. The City Attorney, or his/her designee, shall serve as a resource person to those persons covered by the code to assist them in determination of appropriate actions consistent with the code.

A periodic review of the code shall be conducted to ensure that the Code is an effective and vital document.

This Code of Ethics and Conduct is intended to be a reflection of the community’s values as articulated by the Mayor and City Council as they represent the will of the people of the City of McKinney.

Introduction.

There is one problem when lawsuits get settled. You never know how the outcome would have been in front of a judge and jury. Guilty or innocent? The facts put forth in a lawsuit may or may not be accurate. Again, the trial is about substantiating the facts through documents, witnesses, experts and cross-examination.

One interesting lawsuit occurred in McKinney in 2009. It has been conveniently forgotten. In spite of the shallow news coverage in McKinney, there were some decent reports in the newspapers. The lawsuit was filed by a developer from out of state involved in the early stages of Gateway. The suit was against 1) the City of McKinney; 2) the McKinney Community Development Corporation; 3) the McKinney Economic Development Corporation; 4) then Former Councilmember Thad Helsley; and then Councilman Bill Cox.

The first three defendants were being sued due to an alleged breach of contract on the Gateway Hotel Project. The last two defendants allegedly extorted $50,000 from the out of state developer. My blog is about the second part of the lawsuit.

What Happened?

A ground breaking ceremony was set for February 28, 2008. The Developer Principals traveled from California to McKinney the day before to finalize agreements. While meeting with MEDC and City officials on February 27, 2008, McKinney City Council Members Thad Helsley and Bill Cox asked to speak privately with one of the Developer Principals. In the Council Chambers at City Hall, the two Councilmembers told the Principal that in order to finalize the agreements and break ground on the Hotel Project, the Developer had to “contribute” $50,000 to the McKinney Veterans Memorial Park Fund.

Prior to the meeting, this Fund was never mentioned, the lawsuit states. However, faced with potential breaches of the timing requirements to start the project, the Developer had no choice but to capitulate to the Council Members’ extortion request. The lawsuit says the Developer agreed to write the check. Also, the Developer was required to make an announcement about the “gift” at the groundbreaking ceremony the next day.

A copy of the cancelled check made payable to the City of McKinney/MCDC was Exhibit A in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit goes on to say the proposed park was situated within Craig Ranch, a competing developer’s project.

What Was The Outcome?

It was reported in the McKinney Courier Gazette n October 2, 2009 that Helsley and Cox filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit parts pertaining to them. The lawsuit by the Developer included assertions of racketeering and extortion. The same newspaper reports on December 4, 2009 that the Developer responded to the motion to dismiss.

Ultimately, the brawl between the Developer and the City, including the charges against Mr. Helsley and Mr. Cox, were part of a large settlement of multiple suits. Therefore, we don’t actually know how the Developer and the two Councilmembers would have been judged by a jury.

But, you know what? It doesn’t matter to me.

In asking around with knowledgeable city officials, there is no argument that the $50,000 check happened. The only argument offered is that the check may have been voluntary and not coerced.

Whoa! That is not a good answer. If Helsley and Cox approached a Developer and asked, pretty please, would you mind giving $50,000 for a park on another developer’s property, who authorized them to make that request? And what developer on Planet Earth would just willingly pay that kind of money? There would certainly be an appearance Helsley and Cox were acting in their official capacity of elected officials for the City of McKinney.

Did the remaining and subsequent Councilmembers weigh in on this event? Did they censure Mr. Helsley and Mr. Cox for the taint this placed on the McKinney’s reputation? The Developer’s lawsuit actually stated, “Upon information and belief, the City has also extorted money from others similarly situated.” I wouldn’t give any weight to that statement except it is also not the first time I’ve heard similar comments even before I knew of this particular lawsuit.

So, where can we find Mr. Helsley and Mr. Cox now? While I should be surprised, I’m not. They are part of the McKinney good ole boys that continue to be circulated from one board and commission to another. Mr. Helsley was on the Stormwater Committee and is now on the Comprehensive Planning Committee. Bill Cox is on the powerful Planning & Zoning Commission and Reinvestment Zone 1.

Conclusion.

Where is the outrage on the audacious action of taking $50,000 from an out of state developer’s pocket to put into a local developer’s project?

Did it ever occur to the City Councils since 2008 (and especially today) that you can have a Restaurant Row that stretches for miles, but that pales in comparison to an image that all developers are treated equally and fairly in McKinney?

It seems to me now that US 75 improvements are done and Sam Rayburn has been wide open for quite some time, the biggest impairments to the commercial growth the McKinney Elite profess to want and need are the very ones putting up blocks to take care of their own?

Why would this kind of mindset happen in 2008 and not still be evident today when the same actors are still being appointed by the City Council?

These kinds of stories need to be told and retold. Many don’t want to look into the past. And we know exactly what happens when we don’t. The stewards of McKinney’s past have failed us.

This will never change as long as the McKinney Citizen-Sheep continue to graze while the McKinney Elite manipulate the key decisions. Let’s end the Blessing of Pay to Play in McKinney. LFM

 

 

Dear City Council:

Please be mindful of true independence in conjunction with conflicts of interests regarding your decisions to appoint, reappoint or remove members from all they key boards and commissions next Monday night. In particular, I ask that you remove Mr. Robbie Clark from the MEDC. See my previous blog for a more complete explanation: https://citybaseblog.net/2016/03/21/mckinney-city-council-raise-the-bar-lower-the-boom-on-mr-mckinney/

But I want to expand on an issue that goes beyond a single person. It has to do when there is an acknowledged conflict of interest, real or perceived, and a councilmember or board member “steps down.” That all looks good for the camera, but stepping down means you go into another room that has a speaker where you can listen. Actually, that’s not necessary since the down-stepper can simply watch the video the next day to catch the non-verbals.

Let’s be adults about this. It is fully expected that people likely to be on the council or boards will at least occasionally have a conflict. But in reality, everybody usually understands the conflict. Yet most people in governance would realize that if the remaining members vote against the item of interest, woe to the wicked, Sancho, the next time the no-votes want something passed. After 43 years in the business, I don’t need a lecture on politics. But I have also seen the genuinely brave and principled individuals who won’t sell their soul to be elected.

So, what is to be done about this conflict dilemma? It’s up to the voters to decide if a candidate for election or re-election can be independent. While I say that, I think it would make a difference if the citizens knew how many times a councilmember has had to step down. A couple of times a year would not raise a red flag. A couple of times a month would.

The joke of all times was when Councilman Pogue takes the Mayor Pro-Tem position away from Travis Ussery and then on Mr. Pogue’s first meeting to be the titular head of the Council, he has a conflict. So what does he do? He does an in-your-face to Councilman Ussery and asks him to handle the agenda item while he steps down.  By the way, just how many times has Mr. Pogue had to step down due to a conflict compared to the other council members since Mr. Pogue was elected? It should be an election issue for anyone running for City Council.

Or appointed to any of the boards and commissions.

Of all the Councilmembers who have attended P&Z, MEDC, MCDC and Airport board meetings, how many have sat in a closed session when there was an item discussed that conflicted or was to be a conflict after the meeting? Nobody is dumb enough to pretend people in the room can’t influence others just by being there.

I don’t blame you for wanting to reward a supporter by appointing them to a prominent board. All I ask is that you select the ones with the best judgement, knows how to make a business decision and is the least likely to have a problem with independence from using their influence to help anyone in general but you on the Council in particular.

Everyone on Planet Earth knows that the best way to get your way is to have a board you can influence to do the work for you. That’s not just McKinney, that’s everywhere.

I ask you to raise the bar. Throw out the good ole boys and the McKinney way of peddling influence. You know as well as I do that it has been way more prominent in the past than it should be. Be different. Be independent. Be transparent in every sense of the word, just like you promised when elected and generally use liberally in your daily public statements.

Many thanks! LFM

Upon hearing that Bernie Sanders made the motion to nominate Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nominee just now, I’ve had a flashback. Nobody on Planet Earth could possibly think Bernie can stand the thought of Hillary. But he is being a good soldier under  “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” rule book. 

The flashback I am having relates to the process a few weeks ago when the McKinney Mayor Pro-Tem was selected.

The Mayor Pro-Tem for the last several years has been Travis Ussery. He has only one more year left on the City Council and is termed out. From the audience, Mr. Ussery has been the quintessential Mayor Pro-Tem. He is a gentlemen and has been subservient and respectful to Mayor Loughmiller in all of the good ways. A betting person would have put their money on Travis Ussery being given the courtesy of being Mayor Pro-Tem for one more year. Presumably his las year in that he has not announced that he was running for Mayor in May 2017. 

However, Councilmember Randy Pogue had announced weeks before that he was going to run for Mayor. On the surface! Mr. Pogue also seems to be a gentleman. Many people I talked to assumed Mr. Travis would continue in his role as Mayor Pro-Tem. Well, until a few days before the Council meeting. There were whispers that Mr. Pogue was lobbying other Councilmembers for him to be named Mayor Pro-Tem as a way to bolster his chances a year away to ascend to the Mayoral throne. 

I attended the meeting and arrived early. Travis Ussery also appeared well before the other  Councilmembers. I could tell by his face that something had happened. I don’t know Mr. Travis very well, but I could tell he was hurting. Enough that I was hurting for him and could see what was about to happen. 

When the meeting started, all seven Councilmembers were somber. Then in a most awkward manner, the Mayor stuttered and stammered about protocol, complimented Mr. Ussery and then turned it over to him. Mr. Ussery, also awkwardly, expressed gratitude and then nominated Mr. Pogue as Mayor Pro-Tem. Wow! There was only one problem, and it was huge. His face and tone did not match his words. 

Just about anybody half-way observant would have surmised a coup had taken place. Mr. Ussery had been drawn and quartered and given two ugly choices. 

There was one more weird thing that happened. At the close of the meeting, Randy Pogue re-announced that he was seeking the office of Mayor in 2017. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. If you were to watch the video in slow motion, I’m pretty sure the expression on the Mayor’s face might resemble the Dallas policemen in the white hat and suit standing next to Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby stepped up and shot him. As I recall, the Mayor joked to Mr. Pogue that he still had a year to be the Mayor. 

Up to now, I’ve been trying to lay the foundation for my primary message. In Texas, Open Meetings and Open Records are serious topics. Discussions are supposed to be in the public forum. Even for qualified closed meetings, the decisions made have to be stated publicly. There is even a specific prohibition against Walking Quorums. This violation occurs when Councilmembers talk to each other individually to work out a deal. In fact, even a third party like the City Manager or a Developer can’t visit with individual Councilmembers to influence a decision, especially to indicate where previously Councilmembers are leaning. Walking Quorums are the most surreptitious and flagrant of Open Meeting violations. 

So, how did this obvious “deal” get brokered? It had to be behind the scenes. I’m not a lawyer, but it sure seems to me that Open Meetings laws were broken. 

Therefore, I am making an Open Records Request (ORR) for any and all emails, text messages or notes between all seven Councilmembers related to any aspect of choosing and selecting the Mayor Pro-Tem serving the current. I fully expect to confirm Open Meetings laws have been broken. I will turn over my finds to the news media and legal authorities. Stay tuned. LFM