This will be a short post. City of Woodway City Secretary Jennifer Canady sent me an email today. She recalculated the cost of the investigation into Yost Zahkary and noted the original number of $71,000+ was inaccurate. The new figure has been revised to $67, 846. This is still roughly 3 times the amount offered publicly by Mayor Weber, and as such, changes little - the implications and dynamics are still the same. Jennifer did apologize for the mistake.
As a believer in the truth, I wanted to put this out as soon as possible. Thanks and talk to you soon.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
I apologize. To all the readers of my blog, I apologize for not posting in a number of weeks. I promised to and didn't, so that is my fault. I'm sorry and ask for your forgiveness.
The truth is I was hoping that after my last posting, I wouldn't have to keep throwing the facts and truth boldly out to readers. I was hoping the city council would follow through with healing their relationship with the city manager, healing their relationship with honest citizens, and responding boldly to MOB and KOB. Sadly, three events in the last two weeks have revealed otherwise.
The first event deals with the city council's response letter to Michael O'Bric's "Thank You" letter. If you read MOB's "Thank You" letter, you know that once again he listed lies, speaking about unsubstantiated "affidavits" and "reports" not used by the independent council investigating City Manager Yost. The council should be encouraged for rebutting this round of MOB's lies and distortion of the facts. They should be encouraged for publicly recognizing that the Knight Report concluded that pre-election management of Woodway was much better than most cities of comparable size. Finally the council should be encouraged for plainly stating that third party anonymous claims will not be given attention in the future. These three statements have positive value for our city and the truth.
What defies explanation is their opening statement " Thank you for your input and comments".
Each council member signed their name to this letter, so citizens have no choice but to believe each one meant to thank MOB. So let's be frank. After all that's happened, why is Bill Weber, Gil Lillard, Donald Baker, Jane Kittner, Scott Giddings, Chuck Gardner, and Paul Scibielski thanking a man for defamatory input and comments? Why are they thanking a man who repeatedly lied to the council and citizens of Woodway for his own selfish purposes? Why are they thanking a man who never provided one shred of proof for any of his 60+ wild allegations, even after this same council repeatedly asked for it? Why thank a man who, with council approval, ended up costing the city and ultimately the citizens tens of thousands of dollars and months of lost time? WHY VALIDATE HIM AGAIN?
The second troubling event was this - a false reporting by the council of the cost of Yost's investigation. During the special council meeting called to reveal the results of Mr. Knight's report, Mayor Weber announced the cost of the investigation was approximately $23,000-25,000. He also announced that the council felt like it was money well spent. What he didn't say is that the $23,000-25,000 was a partial cost -- it only represented Mr. Knight's fee. To be fair to the Mayor, other council member's have since made public statements that it was money well spent. Why is this a problem? It's a problem for a couple of reasons. First, it smacks of dishonesty. The Mayor and council knew that the city also spent money with city attorneys and that city employees expended a large amount of time searching through files collecting the facts and figures required to investigate the 60+ allegations. Since this is not a part of their normal duties, employee time spent on the investigation equals money spent on the investigation.
Hoping the council would self-correct this figure, I waited almost two months. They took no action, even when they knew it was wrong. So I filed an open records request to determine the real total cost.
Guess what? The grand total comes out to a whopping $71,119.79. Folks, that is almost three times the amount announced to the city and media cameras. How did the council feel good about spending $71,000+ when they would only admit to $23,000+?
The final event, the final straw, is a promise broken. Back in June, before the sitting council empowered Mr Knight to investigate Yost Zahkary, I shared a piece of evidence with the city council during an open meeting. That information pointed to Karen O'Bric's mismanagement of funds while she was manager of the Arboretum. As a former councilman and liaison to the Arboretum Board, I had access to Arboretum records and made the discovery during my last weeks as a councilman. Unlike MOB, the city has actual proof of her mismanagement in their records. I asked the council for Karen's past management to be investigated. I returned to the council a month later and was given assurance the city was working on this matter. I reminded the council that they had set a precedent, and they must be equitable in their treatment of all employees, even if it was an investigation. What I did not know at this point was that MOB had never produced one piece of evidence for his claims. Of additional interest is the fact that each council meeting agenda, during Yost's investigation, listed an update on the investigation of Yost based on allegations by a citizen (singular). Not citizens, but a citizen (MOB).
Again I waited a couple of months and at the last council meeting in September asked for the results of their investigation of KOB. The council stated they would put it on the agenda for the following week. When that meeting came, Oct 4th, the city took no action, pulling it off the agenda after bringing it up. Amazing. Dumbfounding.
This is painful for me to write. Painful because we still have poor choices being made by our leaders. Painful for me personally because fidelity to truth and principal forces me to call out all council members, some who I consider good friends. Painful to see that double standards still exist with our council. I was ready to walk away without listing MOB's influence on each candidate, but once again feel obligated to do it. One may surprise you.
I encourage you, the reader, to ask your council members about the double standard investigating managers, their thanking MOB for his comments, and why they didn't come forward with the real cost of the Yost investigation - $71,000+. Stay involved --- your city needs your help. Be well.
The truth is I was hoping that after my last posting, I wouldn't have to keep throwing the facts and truth boldly out to readers. I was hoping the city council would follow through with healing their relationship with the city manager, healing their relationship with honest citizens, and responding boldly to MOB and KOB. Sadly, three events in the last two weeks have revealed otherwise.
The first event deals with the city council's response letter to Michael O'Bric's "Thank You" letter. If you read MOB's "Thank You" letter, you know that once again he listed lies, speaking about unsubstantiated "affidavits" and "reports" not used by the independent council investigating City Manager Yost. The council should be encouraged for rebutting this round of MOB's lies and distortion of the facts. They should be encouraged for publicly recognizing that the Knight Report concluded that pre-election management of Woodway was much better than most cities of comparable size. Finally the council should be encouraged for plainly stating that third party anonymous claims will not be given attention in the future. These three statements have positive value for our city and the truth.
What defies explanation is their opening statement " Thank you for your input and comments".
Each council member signed their name to this letter, so citizens have no choice but to believe each one meant to thank MOB. So let's be frank. After all that's happened, why is Bill Weber, Gil Lillard, Donald Baker, Jane Kittner, Scott Giddings, Chuck Gardner, and Paul Scibielski thanking a man for defamatory input and comments? Why are they thanking a man who repeatedly lied to the council and citizens of Woodway for his own selfish purposes? Why are they thanking a man who never provided one shred of proof for any of his 60+ wild allegations, even after this same council repeatedly asked for it? Why thank a man who, with council approval, ended up costing the city and ultimately the citizens tens of thousands of dollars and months of lost time? WHY VALIDATE HIM AGAIN?
The second troubling event was this - a false reporting by the council of the cost of Yost's investigation. During the special council meeting called to reveal the results of Mr. Knight's report, Mayor Weber announced the cost of the investigation was approximately $23,000-25,000. He also announced that the council felt like it was money well spent. What he didn't say is that the $23,000-25,000 was a partial cost -- it only represented Mr. Knight's fee. To be fair to the Mayor, other council member's have since made public statements that it was money well spent. Why is this a problem? It's a problem for a couple of reasons. First, it smacks of dishonesty. The Mayor and council knew that the city also spent money with city attorneys and that city employees expended a large amount of time searching through files collecting the facts and figures required to investigate the 60+ allegations. Since this is not a part of their normal duties, employee time spent on the investigation equals money spent on the investigation.
Hoping the council would self-correct this figure, I waited almost two months. They took no action, even when they knew it was wrong. So I filed an open records request to determine the real total cost.
Guess what? The grand total comes out to a whopping $71,119.79. Folks, that is almost three times the amount announced to the city and media cameras. How did the council feel good about spending $71,000+ when they would only admit to $23,000+?
The final event, the final straw, is a promise broken. Back in June, before the sitting council empowered Mr Knight to investigate Yost Zahkary, I shared a piece of evidence with the city council during an open meeting. That information pointed to Karen O'Bric's mismanagement of funds while she was manager of the Arboretum. As a former councilman and liaison to the Arboretum Board, I had access to Arboretum records and made the discovery during my last weeks as a councilman. Unlike MOB, the city has actual proof of her mismanagement in their records. I asked the council for Karen's past management to be investigated. I returned to the council a month later and was given assurance the city was working on this matter. I reminded the council that they had set a precedent, and they must be equitable in their treatment of all employees, even if it was an investigation. What I did not know at this point was that MOB had never produced one piece of evidence for his claims. Of additional interest is the fact that each council meeting agenda, during Yost's investigation, listed an update on the investigation of Yost based on allegations by a citizen (singular). Not citizens, but a citizen (MOB).
Again I waited a couple of months and at the last council meeting in September asked for the results of their investigation of KOB. The council stated they would put it on the agenda for the following week. When that meeting came, Oct 4th, the city took no action, pulling it off the agenda after bringing it up. Amazing. Dumbfounding.
This is painful for me to write. Painful because we still have poor choices being made by our leaders. Painful for me personally because fidelity to truth and principal forces me to call out all council members, some who I consider good friends. Painful to see that double standards still exist with our council. I was ready to walk away without listing MOB's influence on each candidate, but once again feel obligated to do it. One may surprise you.
I encourage you, the reader, to ask your council members about the double standard investigating managers, their thanking MOB for his comments, and why they didn't come forward with the real cost of the Yost investigation - $71,000+. Stay involved --- your city needs your help. Be well.
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