Commentary
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A Change at City Hall

May 19, 2003

The city clerk is asked to vacate city hall
The city clerk, Dianna Schmidt, resigned several days ago. Her final day of work was to be May 23. Instead, she was relieved of her duties by the mayor, Bob Jaquis, and council member, Craig Allen, early on Monday morning, May 19. Her resignation and the issue of how her last two weeks would be used was never discussed at a city council meeting. Nor has there been any public council discussion about how to fill the vacant position.

We have no idea how the mayor and council member arrived at the decision to abruptly relieve the clerk of her duties nor do we know how it is they felt authorized to do so. They probably are within the legal parameters of Iowa's open meeting laws. It seems, however, they have acted contrary to the spirit of those laws, which is not unusual for the town's leadership.

Line of command
The line of accountability for a city clerk in a town such as Gilbert is a complex, or should we say, tricky one. The clerk is hired by the council, is an employee of the council, and serves the council. However, the clerk is supervised by the mayor. Although there have been concerns about his supervisory style, the council has hardly discussed the matter.

Dealing (or not dealing) with personnel issues
After more than a year of tension and conflict related to this situation, and the mayor's reluctance if not refusal to deal with it, the council finally asked for help from an outside facilitator. On January 5, 2002, there was a special meeting held at the Gilbert High School Media Center. It was moderated by Tim Shields of the Institute for Public Affairs. His offices are in Iowa City, and he works closely with the Iowa League of Cities. The mayor, all council members, and all city employees were present for the half-day session. (Note: the Gazette editor, prior to creating the Gazette, was on the council at that time but resigned on April 23, 2002, due to her frustrations with the mayor's leadership style and acquiescence to it by other council members. Click here for a PDF file of her resignation letter.)

The meeting with Tim Shields was a good one. Following it, he provided the city with a summary of the issues and steps the group agreed to take. This report is part of the public domain, and a complete copy should be available through city hall. We have posted the list of recommendations in a PDF file. Few if any of the items the council and mayor agreed to implement have been actually acted on. That's a major disappointment, at least to some people such as the Gazette editor who thought there would be a major change in how the mayor, council, and staff worked together.

In the spring of 2002, council member Craig Allen asked that there be a review of the situation at an upcoming council meeting. At the July 1 meeting, a discussion was held. The council minutes are terse about what transpired, saying only:

The Gazette provided a more thorough report in its summary of the meeting. The following is part of what we wrote:

There has been no public discussion since the July 1 meeting about this working relationship — not even a meager report slipped in during a council meeting that the matter had been discussed in private and either resolved or appropriate action taken.

Council sub-committees — a wise move or skirting public meetings
It is interesting to note that this winter, the council followed the suggestion of Craig Allen and organized itself into sub-committees. The council's intent was to conduct its work more efficiently and be able to resolve difficult situations outside of the public light. However, a personnel committee was not created, leaving that power to the mayor. There is also some question as to the effectiveness of the council's sub-committee set up.

Not following the personnel policy
It is interesting to read the Gilbert personnel policy. There are several things in it that have not transpired. For instance, it says the following about evaluating employees:

During the 28 months that the Gazette editor was on the city council, she never once heard any report of the mayor fulfilling this duty. Admittedly, neither she nor the rest of the council insisted on such reports, and they probably did not know about this part of the personnel policy. Indeed, the council, including the Gazette editor when she was on the council, have seldom been thorough in their homework or diligent in challenging the mayor. The main word we can think of is that the council members do acquiesce to the mayor's authority. That is unfortunate since the power of city government in Gilbert is meant to reside with the council. The mayor's main role, as defined by Iowa law, is to be a fair moderator of council gatherings.

The personnel policy also states:

And one of the big items of emphasis from the January 5, 2002, council meeting with Tim Shields was that the mayor and council would no longer act in a way that appeared they were out to get the clerk (i.e. find fault with her and reason to fire her.)

There has been little evidence that the mayor and council have encouraged the clerk's development or worked collaboratively with her. An incident happened at the April 7, 2003, council meeting when council member, Jon Popp, queried the clerk at length about financial forms, even when the issue was not on the agenda. This may seem like an innocuous item and that Jon was merely doing his work. But why didn't he and council member, Chris Benda, invite the clerk to attend a financial sub-committee meeting to smooth out these details? (Note: the mayor is also a member of the financial sub-committee in a supposedly ex-officio capacity.)

Another example also shows how the clerk has been excluded from discussions even though the group at the January 2002 meeting with Tim Shields decided there needed to be more communication and teamwork.

The Gazette editor recalls walking by city hall on the evening of April 21, 2003. That normally would have been a meeting night for the council, but no council meeting was scheduled, and the reason was never publicly discussed. Three vehicles were outside of city hall — Jon Popp's, Chris Benda's, and the mayor's. From a quick glance through the door, it appeared the three were having a meeting. One could assume it was the financial sub-committee. However, at the next council meeting (May 5), when it came time for sub-committee reports, the financial committee reported no activity or issues it was addressing.

It seems the council needs to get its ducks in order in regard to organizing itself into committees. Why not a simple statement such as saying committee met on a certain date and discussed items X,Y, and Z?

Then within two days of that meeting, a special council meeting was called for May 8 to discuss an amended city budget. At that meeting, the mayor and council members seemed puzzled and somewhat lost as though they had done little homework or as though they had not talked with the clerk about the amended items prior to the meeting. (Note: the clerk was unable to attend the specially called May 8 meeting on the budget amendment, and the mayor asked Dick DeMoss to take minutes for the meeting. A person wonders why the meeting wasn't scheduled for a time when the clerk could attend.)

Mayor's authority to make abrupt request for clerk to vacate city hall
As the clerk's supervisor, the mayor may indeed have the authority to make an abrupt request for her to vacate city hall. On the other hand, it does seem that the city council (the clerk's employer) should have held public discussion on the matter of her resignation. And we have to question Craig Allen's role in the Monday morning termination process.

The last regular council meeting was on Monday, May 5. At that meeting, the mayor or council could have announced the clerk's resignation so it could have been part of the public record. The mayor or council could also have called a special meeting to deal with the resignation. Instead, there was no mention of it.

During the next two days, a special meeting of the council was called for Thursday, May 8. The only agenda item was a discussion of an amendment to the city budget. At that meeting, the mayor asked the council to hold its next meeting on May 27 instead of the regular date of May 19. He said the change in schedule was necessary because there needed to be a public hearing on the budget amendment and that the hearing required a 10-day notification in the Ames Tribune.

In an aside remark during the May 8 meeting, the mayor said he saw no reason that the council should meet prior to May 27. Duh — your clerk has resigned, and you are going to wait 2 1/2 weeks before you hold a public discussion about the situation. It's not like Gilbert's city staff is huge and that the clerk is just another employee who can easily be let go and replaced. The Gilbert staff instead consists of a full-time clerk, a full-time maintenance supervisor, and a part-time water plant administrator. It's not like you can snap your fingers like a Genie and suddenly have a replacement.

Opportunity to hire a city manager
Another factor is that it may be time for the town to hire a city administrator. Fortunately, council member Chris Benda keeps trying to get the council to discuss the matter. On March 3, 2003, there was finally a bit of discussion about the issue. The minutes of the meeting report:

There has been no discussion of a city manager since that time. We wonder who is dragging their shoes on this and why.

In March of 2000, the city council requested the Institute of Public Affairs to conduct an overall review of Gilbert's city services and administration. One of the recommendations was that the city re-establish its city manager position. (Note: Gilbert had hired its first ever manager in the fall of 1999, but mayor Bob Jaquis, who came into office in January of 2000, and the council soon relieved the manager of his position.)

Although the Institute of Public Affairs recommended that Gilbert have a city manager, its report also said that the town could not afford both a full-time administrator and a full-time clerk. Some of us who have been close to city government realized that when the opportunity presented itself, either due to an increase in city funds or a change in the clerk's status, it would be good to hire one person to be an administrator/clerk to be in charge of business at city hall. Eventually, a part-time deputy clerk could be hired.

Governance done best around a public table and not by a game of "telephone"
The best dynamics for a governing body to use in making decisions is to have all members around the same table, discussing the nuances of a situation and being transparent in how they conduct business so they can in turn be above suspicion. Little side bar conversations on the phone, by e-mail, or in someone's living room between the mayor and individual council members is appropriate at times and on some matters. But those little side bar conversations do not constitute a true council decision. To be a council means to convene as a group, to interact as a group, and to do business as a group in the light of the public arena.

Good-bye Dianna
Dianna Schmidt was hired as city clerk in April of 2000 after Barb Bettis, the former clerk, retired following about 25 years of service to Gilbert. Dianna had been the executive director assistant at the Story City Chamber of Commerce prior to coming to Gilbert. She was new to the work of city government and the work of being a municipal clerk. However, the mayor and council were eager to fill the position and made a commitment to Dianna's growth as their new city clerk.

In our opinion, Dianna learned well both on the job and through training programs offered by the Iowa League of Cities. She developed a good grasp of the issues facing Gilbert and the tasks that needed to be done for effective local government. She worked hard and cared about the well-being of the people she worked with and was gracious in serving the citizens of Gilbert. Indeed, she often put the interests of the city before her own personal needs. We wish Dianna well and will keep an ear to the ground and reflect on these matters before writing more.
 

 This piece was last corrected on Monday, May 30, 2003.

Click here for a primer on how the current mayor and council arrived at where they are now.