In memoriam

Honor the fallen.
While we daydream, they have been
serving in harm's way.


[arrangements]

Back out of the ditch, get on the road

Alex Davy writes in the April 9,2008 Lillie Newspapers And they're off! (Kind of): Maplewood's search for a new city manager begins

Last Monday, during an extended City Council session carried over from March 24, the search for a new Maplewood city manager finally began.

"The moment has come to implement that which has been talked about for months," Mayor Diana Longrie said at the start of the discussion. "It's time to start looking for a permanent city manager."

In her five-page memo introducing the agenda item, Longrie outlined a number of key components that the City Council will have to tackle as the search moves forward. First and foremost, Longrie said, is hiring a manager solely on the basis of experience and qualifications, casting the net as far and wide as possible.
...
The proposal [to do it themselves] was met with skepticism on the part of the rest of the council.
...
Juenemann added an independent arbitrator is crucial. "If you don't go to an outside agent, you can customize (the search process), but you can't depoliticize it."

Denouement, for now (updated)

[update at end]

Elizabeth Mohr writes in the 4/9/08 Pioneer Press: Maplewood's infighting raises insurance costs: City's insurer, citing lawsuit expenses, boosts its rates and delivers a warning

Fed up with the squabbling and rising cost to insure Maplewood, the League of Minnesota Cities gave the St. Paul suburb a stern and expensive reprimand Tuesday.

The league, which insures all but six Minnesota cities, had been considering dumping Maplewood's policies. On Tuesday, the league's board of directors agreed to offer a renewal to the city, but with stiff premium and deductible increases.

"The board's concern is the contentious and divisive situation out there," Pete Tritz, director of the League Insurance Trust, said, noting that the atmosphere at City Hall contributed to a spike in lawsuits.
...
League attorneys are upset the council has disregarded their warnings on such things as talking to the media about lawsuits and the people involved when told not to, said VeNita Schnebele, a Gallagher representative.
...

Maplewood Mayor Diana Longrie took issue with the idea the city's insurer was threatening to revoke coverage or penalize the city based on what it considered "uncooperative" behavior.

"A council member ... expressed their opinion of somebody. Is that OK? I don't know. Is that protected by the First Amendment? I don't know," Longrie said. "But they're saying, 'We won't insure you if you speak your mind.' What speech is allowed? I don't know."
...

The city's coverage is scheduled to expire June 30. Adjusted premiums under the new contract will be "123 percent* of what the average city would be paying" and Maplewood's deductible will increase from $50,000 per claim to $200,000, Tritz said.

...

The state auditor's office responded to calls for an in-depth look into the city's books by meeting with Ahl and Finance Director Bob Mittet last week.

State Auditor Rebecca Otto said Tuesday the state will "be monitoring their current situation," but won't perform an audit.

----------------------
[update 4/9 8:00AM]

* The 123% of average is actually about a 38% increase, since Maplewood's previous good loss control record had resulted in below average premiums (Thanks to an alert reader).

Documents from the April 7 workshop (updated)

[update at end]

The insurance agency presentation to the city council at the April 7, 2008 workshop was characterized by VeNita Schnebele, the Area President for Arthur J Gallagher, as a "come to Jesus" moment about Maplewood's insurance issues. Her discussion was supported by these letters and reports obtained via a Data Practices request.

Just prior to the 2007 primary election campaign, the League of Minnesota Cites Insurance Trust (LMCIT) was already communicating to the city that the both the loss experience and the lack of communication and cooperation between the League and the city would have premium and coverage implications. The letters, which Mr. Ahl reports were not in the City Managers files when he assumed his current duties, illustrate the communication issues. Here is an excerpt from a June 8, 2007 letter to Mr. Bethel.

[Please click on the image for a more readable view]

A chart of 20 years worth of premium and loss data was provided illustrating the significant change in losses during the first year of the Copeland council. Ms. Schnebele updated the printed chart, produced on 3/31/2007, from $690,927 for the 06-07 policy year to $1,099,000 to reflect current reserves for cases recently settled and not yet settled.

[Please click on the image for a more readable view]

The hard to read shaded numbers are
690,927 updated in discussion to 1,099,000
10,327
7265

Councilperson Juenemann reported this was all new to her. Ms. Longrie was quick to establish that insurance renewal presentations had not been made prior to 2007 either, but then as the chart shows up until that time losses had been more consistent with premiums.

Rather than dropping Maplewood, Ms. Schnebele is advocating with LMCIT to increase the deductible to $200,000 along with a substantial premium increase. She pointed out that, had that deductible been in place last year, Maplewood's direct settlement payments would have been $475,000 rather than $200,000. Any new deductible would apply to settlements currently being negotiated. She also defended the League as more than fair since they only charged a single deductible last year to cover all three reorganization settlements*, where the normal practice with other carriers would have been to charge separate deductibles, and then drop coverage the following year.


Ms. Schnebele's recommendation was for the city to work at improving communication and cooperation with the League and demonstrate that commitment to them. In her recent meeting with them, LMCIT officials were still concerned about communication and cooperation issues, citing comments made to the press after the Le decision. Ms. Longrie's commentary in today's Pioneer Press, coming on the day of the LMCIT Board meeting, might not put their concerns to rest.


Please see our editorial Opinions that matter for further information.

[Update 4/8 4:00 PM]

A specific request Ms. Schnebele made was for council members to write to the LMCIT Board expressing their commitment. Mr. Nephew has done so.
------------------------------
* this may account for some of the confusion over total settlement costs involved in the Banick case.

Mr. Ahl addresses residents (updated)

Acting City Manager Chuck Ahl has posted an open letter to residents on the city website. In it he addresses the financial status of the city.

[Update 3/3 9:45AM]

My reading of Mr. Ahl's key points:

• He does not suspect any wrongdoing nor does he expect to find any evidence of any.
• The problems with bookkeeping processes that occurred while the Finance Department was severely understaffed have been largely resolved, in part due to training recently conducted by former Assistant Finance Director Bauman. (This letter does not mention the Finance Department staffing additions Mr. Ahl had previously reported at a council meeting. It seems having enough people to do the work should help.)
  
• Budget-to-actual expense monitoring has been restored.
• The $310,000 surplus reported in December 2007 has been adjusted to be a $40,000 deficit. This $350,000 swing can be absorbed by an overall 2% budget reduction and improved performance by the Community Center and Recreation programs.
• The Pioneer Press article explored who was to blame. Mr. Ahl is focused on implementing processes that will correct the problems, processes for which department heads are accountable.

Comment: This frank and open communication to residents is helpful and appreciated. Stephan

Commentary: financial management in Maplewood (updated)

Our treatment of the Wednesday Pioneer Press article focused on the role of the city manager. For further review, we follow the article's organizing device: the question, 'who is to blame for financial management issues?'

The conditions were described:

In the finance department, the long-standing department director retired, then Bauman quit. Two other veteran employees left, one of whom retired and the other quit. Additionally, a third employee was transferred to another department. Those who remained were "very junior members," said Ahl, the city's public works director.

After Bauman left, the day-to-day work "did not get completed in a timely manner," Ahl said. The 2008 budget information wasn't entered into the city system, making it impossible for department heads to know if they are over or under budget on a monthly basis. Transfers between department budgets and funds were not processed. Incoming bank statements were not reconciled against city records for 13 months. Journal entries, to record interdepartmental spending, were not checked and authorized.

Here's how the article answers the blame question:

But Frazell, with the Minnesota City/County Management Association, says it's right to look at Copeland's performance.

"The manager is just like the title implies, so they have a responsibility to assure every department is running as it should be," said Frazell.

Nephew, while critical of Copeland, said there's a "certain danger" in pointing the finger at him.

"In terms of political accountability, Mr. Copeland was appointed by a council majority that ratified his performance and agreed with it," Nephew said. "In key areas that mattered, he performed to their satisfaction."

Mr. Ahl focused on addressing the backlog.

Ahl refuses to lay blame and says the staff is now working together. He is addressing the finance issues by adding staff, at least temporarily. He hopes to get the department caught up by the end of the month.

We remind readers of how the Finance Department functioned when it was last fully staffed, under the direction of Mr. Faust and Ms. Bauman:




Stephan
----------------------

[update 3/28 7:45am] minor wording changes

Lillie Newspapers: Mr. Hjelle and the Sherrie Le decision

In the March 12,2008 Lillie Newspapers Alex Davy reviews the Sherrie Le decision in Judge in Sherrie Le case rules firing illegal

District Judge Kathleen Gearin ruled Feb. 29 that termination of former Maplewood human resources director Sherrie Le was illegal, awarding Le $184,714 in damages.

Former City Manager Greg Copeland fired Le, a city employee since 1994, in August 2006, claiming that she was unprofessional.

But Gearin didn't see it that way, finding that the city violated state fair labor practice laws and the Minnesota Whistleblower's Act.

"I see it as a vindication of my actions," Le says.

Gearin's 31-page judgment reveals a tense and often acrimonious administrative environment.

Davy reviews the history of Le's final months with the city and the trial findings, leaving the trial story with

"The fact that I reported those violations led to my firing, and I'm convinced of that," Le stated. "Anybody that tried to maintain integrity in the city and stood up for what was right, they tried to get rid of."

In the Pioneer Press article reviewing the decision, Mr. Hjelle is quoted accusing Le of perjury and describing Judge Gearin as stupid for believing her. Davy wraps up his review with more charges from Mr. Hjelle:

A strange footnote
With a nearly two-year case now wrapped up, Le is satisfied a decision has been made and Copeland and Mayor Longrie, also named in the lawsuit, were absolved of personal liability for the firing.

But Council Member Hjelle has some concerns with the whole trial, which he says are linked to the arrest of Judge Gearin's sister by Maplewood police about two weeks before her decision in the case.

On Feb. 15, Patty Gearin was issued a citation for obstructing the legal process in connection with a fire that broke out at her Maplewood business, Wipers Recycling, in early January.

An industrial grinder used to turn salvaged material such as old shoes and tires into absorbent cleaning cloth and potting soil caught fire, and the Maplewood Fire Department was called to put out the blaze.

According to city officials, Patty Gearin did not have a certificate of occupancy and was operating her business illegally.

The link of Patty Gearin's arrest occurring in Maplewood was enough for Council Member Hjelle to say that Judge Gearin should have recused herself from the case. "This just screams mistrial to me," he says. "If the judge is to be assumed to be beyond impartial, the mere fact that her sister got arrested should disqualify her. You have to have faith that she's honest, but God does it stink like hell." [emphasis added]

Judge Gearin maintained that her sister's arrest did not influence her ruling, according to court documents.

"It doesn't concern me that her sister got arrested," Le says. "(Judge Gearin) called both my attorney and the city's about a week before it happened, trying to encourage them to settle. It seems pretty clear that she had already reached a decision."

Sherrie Le decision available

Councilperson Nephew has made a pdf of the Sherrie Le decision available on his website.

Sherrie Le prevails (updated 4)

Pioneer Press Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:11:11 -0700
Maplewood / Judge says city firing illegal

A Ramsey County judge ruled Friday that Maplewood city officials illegally fired one of their employees because she attempted to form a union and made whistleblowing allegations protected under state law. Former city human resources director Sheryl Le was awarded $184,714 by District Judge Kathleen Gearin. The award represents two years of back and future pay and benefits. She also was awarded attorney's fees, yet to be determined.

According to the decision, Ms. Le was also reinstated from the date of firing until the date of trial for purposes of seniority and pension benefits.

The article includes some details from the Judge Gearin's 'findings of fact'. Here is one:

Le complained about a possible conflict of interest regarding votes by Hjelle and Cave in 2006 regarding increasing funding for the pension plan for firefighters. Hjelle was a paid-per-call firefighter, as was Cave's husband. Both men resigned as firefighters for the duration of the vote, then were reinstated the next day, according to the judge.

Reached Friday evening, Hjelle said that the judge was misinformed and that he had recused himself from the votes.

"This judge was simply lied to ... I'm sorry that a judge was stupid enough to believe (Le). But I guarantee you no one will hold (Le) accountable (for alleged perjury), because that's how things work around here," he said. [emphasis added]

[Update 3/1 11:30 AM]
Maplewood Voices has submitted a data practices request for the minutes of the April 24, 2006 council meeting at which the firefighter pension funding vote was taken. We do not archive minutes, and the 2006 archives are no longer on the city website. We do however archive packets. Here is the relevant text from the 5/10/06 packet, which included the DRAFT minutes for 4/24/06:

2. By-Law Change Fire Fighters Relief Association
a. Fire Department Representative Ed Fitzgerald presented the report.
Councilmember Rossbach moved to adopt the proposed by-law change to Article III, Section 3.1 and delete reference to Oakdale firefighters and adopt by-law changes to Article IX, Section 9.2a to $1,100.00 for 2006 per active fire fighter and $1,200.00 for 2007 per active fire fighter.
Seconded by Mayor Longrie Ayes-All [emphasis added]

Since this reference is from draft minutes, it is possible the vote record was changed on the approved minutes. We will update as needed when the data practices request is fulfilled.

[Update 3/1 2:30 PM]
Councilperson Nephew has commented on the decision at his website.

[Update 3/2 8:30 AM]
A reader who does archive minutes confirms that the final minutes from 4/24/06 read 'Ayes-all' for the pension vote. It appears Mr. Hjelle did not recuse himself as he claims above. Once our data practices request for the actual minutes is fulfilled we will provide a copy.

[Update 3/4 8:30 AM]
Mr. Nephew has put Mr. Hjelle's firefighter pension vote on youTube.


[[keywords: Legal;Officials;Staff;Maplewood;]]

Eyes on the prize

On February 19th the Maplewood City Council agreed to a settlement which terminated former City Manager Greg Copeland's employment (our article).

Councilperson Nephew elaborates on his decision to vote in favor of accepting the settlement. Rather than diminish the whole by quoting a part, please read it in its entirety.

Stephan

Settlement agreement with former City Manager Copeland

At a special 2/19/2008 meeting the city council, by unanimous 4/0 vote (Ms. Longrie absent), agreed to a settlement with Mr. Copeland (medium sized pdf). The City agreed to continue pay and benefits through June 14, 2008, and to reimburse Copeland for any outstanding expenses stemming from the November 2007 trip to New Orleans. The City will also reimburse Mr. Copeland for two Christmas wreaths he had purchased.

The City releases all known civil claims against Mr. Copeland; but not any unknown claims, any criminal claims, or the right to include Copeland should any third party sue the City for the consequences of any action or inaction of his for which he does not have statutory immunity.

Financial status of the Maplewood Community Center (updated)

[updates at end]

During the February 11th council meeting mention was made of an email from Mr. Ahl to the city council and Ms. Guilfoile which raised questions about the financial status of the Maplewood Community Center. Maplewood Voices has obtained that email via a data practices request.

The email is in response to an initial question from Ms. Longrie about the Taste of Maplewood, which led to Mr. Hjelle questioning Chief Lukin's involvement in such events in the context of Fire Department budget cuts, which elicited Mr. Ahl's summary of the budget situation and accounting practices that he inherited.

Mr. Ahl makes these assertions:

• The City has not reconciled our bank statements in the past 13 months.
• We have not tracked our fixed assets for a majority of 2007.
• Budget transfers were not processed for a majority of 2007.
• Revenue tracking has been significantly delayed during 2007.
• Journal entries were not checked and authorized.

He goes on to say:

The Community Center budget has been stated that it was 'in the black'. It appears that Karen's report to the Council in October 2007 was based on budget assumptions rather than actual expenses, because the actual numbers were not available. Karen was given information for her report that appears was not accurate at the time. We discovered this week that the Community Center Enterprise fund is significantly in the red. Besides the approved tax subsidy of $380,000 [which is budgeted to be reduced to $230,000 in 2008] it appears that Community Center revenue will have a shortfall from the budget of nearly $260,000. Operating expenses appear to be very close to budget; however, the building maintenance expenses are already $40,000 over budget and there is over $70,000 in expenses yet to be incurred that should be counted toward the 2007 budget. That means the Community Center is going to require nearly $750,000 [$380,000 (planned) + $260,000 + $40,000 + $70,000] of tax dollars in 2007.

[Update 1: 2/13 10:00AM]

Mr. Ahl mentions Ms. Guilfoile's budget report. Here is the relevant slide from that October 29, 2007 report , obtained via a data practices request, which lists the Community Center as just $16,000 in the red after three quarters of 2007 operations.

The Copeland Council had long made the financial management of the Community Center a focus of their attention. Here, for example, is part of a Lillie Newspapers article from January 10, 2007

...
According to City Manger Greg Copeland, the positions were terminated in an effort to make the Community Center, located at 2100 White Bear Ave., more profitable.

"This is a facility that is not making money right now. What we're doing is we've proposed that because the arrangement is not acceptable; this facility needs to carry its own weight," he said.

Copeland said the eliminated positions will be replaced by two new positions more focused on marketing and sales. He said he'd like to see the center sell at least 500 additional membership packages, and increase banquet bookings by 25 percent.

Maplewood Mayor Diana Longrie said that the efforts to make the Community Center more profitable were hastened because of pressure from the Minnesota State Auditor's office.

"The city of Maplewood received two letters from the state auditor's department saying that the community center, as an enterprise fund, was not in compliance with the rules required for an enterprise fund. It has to at least break even as an enterprise fund," she said. "The Council was under a mandate from the state auditor's office to put together a plan for the center to break even."
...

The Center's operations were also the subject of campaign statements. Here is a short mp3 excerpt from candidate Rebecca Cave's opening statement at the October 30, 2007 League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, held at the Community Center, wherein she makes the 'in the black' claim.

[update 2/13 2:30 PM, minor wording edit]

No time like the present

It might be a good idea to be sure your cable connection is working before next Monday's council meeting (agenda).

Aside from the usual mix of land use, public works, and other day to day city business to attend to, here are some agenda items with links to the packet reports:

• Ms. Guilfoile lays to rest the Copeland council's charge that candidates had access to absentee ballot information.
• Mr. Rossbach suggests restricting visitor presentations to Maplewood residents and business owners.
• The resolution putting Mr. Copeland on administrative leave doesn't say 'paid'. Mr. Ahl requests clarification if Mr. Copeland should be paid.
• Mr. Ahl recommends some budget and organization changes, including:
• add an Assistant City Manager / Community Development Director position.
• eliminate the Finance and Administration Manager, Citizen Services Manager, and Public Safety Manager positions.
• formallize the elimination of one planner position.
• substantially reduce the reliance on the HR attorney.

Mr. Ahl anticipates an annual savings of $96,596 from these adjustments.

In the details of the proposal to eliminate the Public Safety Manager position, Mr. Ahl makes this observation:

The contract, because it was not approved by the Council is in question, especially the provisions for payment of 50% of the salary if the position is eliminated prior to March 9, 2009. The HR Attorney and City Attorney are reviewing this matter. [emphasis added].

Editorial: The job of city manager

The city council has set out to find a permanent replacement for Mr. Copeland with Mr. Ahl managing the transitional time. Identifying the desired qualifications and working style of city manager candidates will become a significant part of the council's workload. While doing that, Mr. Ahl and the council will also need to attend to healing community and staff rifts that have developed during the last two divisive years.

To obtain an indicator of what has gone on during those years, Maplewood Voices submitted a data practices request for the phone call logs both to and from Mr. Copeland's city telephone. Data for each call since June 20, 2006 was available. Here is a summary of those calls:

CouncilPerson	Calls	Calls > 5 min	Total Minutes
Rossbach	31	10	145
Juenemann	49	14	355
Cave*	413	140	3213
Longrie	535	187	3935
Hjelle	823	233	4354

* Lacking the number, Ms. Cave's cellphone is not included. Other councilmember's known cell and office numbers are included.



This chart of course does not include Mr. Copeland's cell phone, or any use of email. But it is clear enough that Mr. Copeland viewed his job as paying attention to Ms. Cave, Ms. Longrie, and Mr. Hjelle, while effectively ignoring Mr. Rossbach and Ms. Juenemann.

Let Copeland's departure be symbolic of rejecting this divisive approach to management, and may his replacement attend to all councilpersons equally, and thereby all constituencies in the city.

Stephan

Developments on Copeland contract (Update 2)

Pioneer Press: 01/18/2008 01:26:39 AM: Elizabeth Mohr: :Maplewood / Fired city manager`s contract at issue

The Maplewood City Council meeting Thursday night was a quiet contrast to Monday's fractious meeting but with a surprise ending that potentially complicates the departure of former City Manager Greg Copeland.
As expected, the council approved the appointment of Public Works Director Chuck Ahl to the acting city manager position. Copeland was suspended at Monday's meeting, and council members voted Thursday to formally terminate him.
...
New Council Member John Nephew said he had come across a copy of an employment contract for Copeland. The document prompted several questions, Nephew said.

First, the document is dated Nov. 13, 2006 - a day before Copeland was actually hired.

Second, it includes a no-disparagement clause, promising Copeland a payment if, when terminated, the council makes disparaging remarks about him or his job performance.

The last issue is of signatures. The only people who signed the document were Copeland and Mayor Diana Longrie. By contrast, the contract for the city manager before Copeland - the one he was hired to replace - contained seven signatures: the mayor, the city clerk, the city manager and four others.

...

City Attorney H. Alan Kantrud said after the meeting he wasn't sure of the rules guiding employee contracts and hadn't been provided a copy of Copeland's.

He said he was at the meeting in which Copeland was hired and didn't recall any terms other than salary being discussed.

"The suggestion here tonight was that some crime took place," he said after the meeting. Kantrud would not elaborate.

He agreed to find outside counsel to look into the matter for the city. That person will be asked to determine the validity of the contract and examine the circumstances under which it was signed.
...
At Thursday's meeting, the council agreed to formally notify Copeland that they intend to permanently remove him. On Monday, it was agreed he would be removed with pay, but council members may reconsider that.

As to the validity of the purported contract, Minnesota Statute 412 (Statutory Cities) provides:

412.201 EXECUTION OF INSTRUMENTS.
Every contract, conveyance, license, or other written instrument shall be executed on behalf of the city by the mayor and clerk, with the corporate seal affixed, and only pursuant to authority from the council. [emphasis added]

More after a review of last night's DVD.
Stephan
[Update 1: 1/18 10:30 AM]

Ms. Mohr's article states "...[City Attorney Kantrud] agreed to find outside counsel to look into the matter for the city. That person will be asked to determine the validity of the contract and examine the circumstances under which it was signed." While the requested outside counsel may wind up filling a role in this regard, the primary purpose of the requested counsel is to advise the city council on public employment law and procedure with respect to the process of replacing Copeland.

However, there was a unanimous (4/0, Longrie not present) vote of the council last night which I understood to immediately refer the matter of the circumstances surrounding the Copeland contract to Police Chief Thomalla for further referral to an outside law enforcement agency. Here is audio of the discussion and motion (750kb mp3).

[Update 2: 1/18 125 PM]
By email, Chief Thomalla confirms the referral:

We will be referring this matter, at the request of the City Council, to
another law enforcement agency to look at the information at hand and determine if this is a criminal matter warranting further investigation. If an investigation is determined to be warranted, it will be done by another agency other than the Maplewood Police Department.

Copeland employment contract (Updated)

Via a data practices request Maplewood Voices has obtained a copy of an employment contract signed by Mayor Longrie and Greg Copeland (medium sized PDF). For comparison we also requested the contract for Richard Fursman, the city manager terminated the night Mr. Copeland was hired in April 2006.

Until receiving an anonymous tip earlier this week, councilpersons Nephew, Rossbach, and Juenemann were unaware that a contract with Copeland existed. The Maplewood City Council has never discussed or acted upon the contract.

The contract is dated in text as November 13,2006. It is only signed by Copeland and Longrie, no witnesses, and the signatures are undated. For comparison note Mr. Fursman's contract is signed by all councilpersons and the City Clerk.

The document includes this termination clause (right click each image for larger view):




This (obtained via data practices, modified by me to redact bank coding) back pay transaction (medium pdf) based on the contract was submitted by Mr. Mittet on January 11, 2008 and paid on January 14, 2008, the day of the council meeting. The check is signed by Ms. Longrie and Mr. Copeland.

Copeland placed on paid administrative leave (updated)

City Manager Greg Copeland was placed on paid administrative leave by a 3 (Juenemann, Rossbach, Nephew) 2 (Hjelle, Longrie) vote at the 1/14/2008 council meeting, the first since newly elected councilperson Nephew was sworn in.

City Attorney Kantrud was directed to coordinate retaining an attorney expert in public employment law to advice the council on a process for terminating Copeland that will avoid litigation. He may have this done as early as the Thursday (1/17) continuation of the council meeting.

The move to appoint Public Works Director Chuck Ahl as acting city manager ran afoul of his membership in the Maplewood Supervisory and Confidential Association (MSCA). The city is currently in both contract negotiations and a lawsuit with the union, which could present a conflict of interest. Citizen Services Manager Karen Guilfoile also pays dues to the MSCA which considers her a member. Apparently since his position was created and he was employed after the formation of the MSCA, Finance Director Bob Mittet does not share this constraint, and was duly appointed Acting City Manager.

Agenda items expected to be controversial were delayed to the Thursday continuation, which did not prevent consideration of the consent agenda and a few land use issues from pushing the end of this first meeting well beyond midnight.

Update 1/16 8:30 Press reports
Maplewood quest to find a city manager continues

Choices for the Maplewood job have been challenged for their lack of qualifications or a conflict of interest.
...

"It's kind of like [being] queen for a day,'' joked Mittet, Maplewood's finance director. "I suspect if those union questions have been resolved, then they'll probably move to have Chuck Ahl become acting city manager.''

Maplewood / Council gives city manager the boot

Before Monday's Maplewood City Council meeting, its members said they wanted to keep things civil and work together to make decisions.

Sherrie Le case enters summary argument phase

12/19/2007: Katy Zillmer: Sherrie Le case will conclude in January

Lillie Newspapers:
A state district court case filed by former Maplewood Human Resources Director Sherrie Le for wrongful dismissal against the city in September 2006 is scheduled to conclude in January 2008, with written closing arguments by both attorneys.

...

Witnesses called by Le's attorney, Gregg Corwin, included former Deputy Police Chief John Banick, whose job was "not budgeted" for 2007 by the city after he completed a requested background check on Copeland; former Parks and Recreation Director Bruce Anderson, who resigned around the time it was announced his job was also not budgeted for this year; former City Manager Richard Fursman, who was fired by the council on a not-for-cause basis; former Assistant Finance Director Gayle Bauman, who resigned to take a job in St. Francis earlier this year and Council Member Will Rossbach.

...

Le was fired in August of 2006 by Copeland, and filed her case in court to argue the city did so to retaliate against her for being a whistleblower and organizing a union for the city's managers. During the process of Le being the petitioner on behalf of employees who wanted to unionize, the Bureau of Mediation Services issued a maintenance of status quo order. In her case against the city, she argued that the city violated the status quo order by firing her.

...

Corwin and Le's allegations that the city violated the state Whistleblower Act stem from retaliation allegedly caused by her responsibility, as human resources director, to initiate a background investigation on Copeland after he had been hired as acting city manager.
...
Both Corwin and [League appointed attorney representing the city] Fleming-Wolfe will review a requested transcript of the proceedings thus far before submitting their written closing arguments, which are due to Judge Gearin on Jan. 22, 2008.

The judge then has 90 days from that date to issue a decision....

Budget squeezes union workers

This article describes the resolution of a health insurance budget squeeze between the city of Eau Claire WI and its union workers. A similar squeeze developed in Maplewood during the election. Once we have an actual budget, we can take a closer look at the costs Maplewood city workers were forced to pay by the Copeland council's assessment freeze.

Eau Claire Leader Telegram: 12/13/07: Julian Emerson: Union reaches accord with city

Thursday's agreement ends an acrimonious situation that placed the union and city leaders at odds. Local 284 representatives contested health care changes, saying the action violated terms of the group's existing contract. But on Thursday city and union officials praised the agreement - approved by Local 284 membership on Wednesday - saying it's time for the two groups to move beyond their differences.

"No one comes away from an agreement like this happy with everything," said Steve Day, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees lawyer representing Local 284. "But this was the best possible resolution for our members, the city and taxpayers."

The accord isn't a win for either side, city Human Resources Director Dale Peters said, but is an example of "two groups working through a very difficult situation."

City Council member Bob Von Haden called the decision a "win-win" for the city and employees, saving job and program cuts necessary if the city had continued its previous health insurance plan.