Toxic Working Environment at the City of Ashland

Over the past several weeks, as the Ashland City Council has received resignation letters from three of our core administrative staff leaders at the City of Ashland, I have spoken out publicly about what I believe is at the heart of why these leaders are leaving their positions.

Specifically, I have said:

“City government in Ashland is in crisis due to the behavior of our mayor and two councilors, who have together created a toxic working environment for our staff.”

Community members have appropriately asked for evidence of those behaviors and that toxic work environment. I have written this blog post to provide that evidence and ask that the reader consider the impact that seeing these actions taken by elected leaders has on the morale of the City of Ashland staff.

Mistreatment of Staff

Forcing the Resignation of City Attorney, Dave Lohman

Mr. Lohman did not simply retire. We find ourselves in the position of needing to hire a new city attorney because of statements made by the mayor to and about Mr. Lohman. The relationship of the mayor and council to the City Attorney has elements that are different from other members of our staff. The mayor and council are the City Attorney’s client and as such, the City Attorney is required to protect the City’s legal interests. By accusing him of harassment, advising legally against the adopted AMC, and attempting to subvert Council rules, Mayor Akins put Mr. Lohman in the position where defending himself could put him at odds legally with the City of Ashland. He could not protect the City’s legal interests while defending himself against public criticism by an elected city official. This created an intractable professional conflict of interest, one that could only be solved with his resignation.  

Details are here.

Fire Chief Recruitments

Mayor Akins (then Mayor-elect Akins) destroyed the City of Ashland’s effort to recruit a new fire chief.  Mayor Akins had several opportunities within public council meetings to express any concerns she might have had with the path being proposed by staff for filling our Fire Chief position. She chose not to use them and instead spoke inappropriately about a candidate and disseminated misleading information on social media. This behavior destroyed an effort that had been months in development and for which staff had asked for and received Council support, including from then Councilor Akins. It also damaged the reputation of our community and staff and seriously jeopardized our emergency preparedness in the months to come as the City of Ashland had two more candidates withdraw from consideration for this post. Mayor Akins has said publicly that she thought this arrangement with Fire District 3 was worked out behind closed doors, but that’s not the case. Council approved staff to go work out the details with Fire District 3 and bring it back for final approval, which they did.

Details are here.

The Mayor’s Office Space

As part of the transition to a Council/Manager form of government January 1, 2021, staff brought several questions to the Council at the business meeting of October 20, 2020. Included in that list was the question about whether the City would maintain the mayor’s office in this new form of government. The direction given to staff was to move forward with creating a shared office space for the mayor and council members. Mayor Akins attended (as Councilor Akins) and expressed no opinion or concern about changing the office configuration.

The video of the Council discussion on October 20, 2020 is here (Ref: Business Meeting: 10/20/20, Minutes 2:34:09-2:40:36)

Mayor Akins had this email conversation with City Manager Pro Tem, Adam Hanks, in early January.  

Attacks on the Integrity of City Staff

Mayor-elect Akins posted these comments on social media without any evidence to back up her claims.

“I seek transparency rather than nepotism and buddy deals.” 

“The notice is posted and writ large on city hall: the back room is closed for business”

These statements are both dishonest and a personal attack on staff.  First is the false accusation of “nepotism” (the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs). The City of Ashland follows standard Human Resources procedures. People are not given jobs because they have a relationship with someone at City Hall and no evidence has been brought forward to suggest otherwise. In addition, suggesting that our city hall was the locus of “buddy deals” and “back room…business” is provably false and comes close to defamatory.

Hostility Toward Public Works Director

In the March 16th meeting when discussing the Capital Improvement Projects plan, Councilor Moran asks Ashland Public Works Director, Scott Fleury, where he lives and intimates that since Mr. Fleury doesn’t live in Ashland, he’s not motivated to spend money carefully. He also says that he’s been asking for the numbers for what it would take to repair the water treatment plant instead of replacing it, but hasn’t gotten those figures. He hasn’t gotten those figures because the analysis that was done in 2018 showed clearly that repairing the water treatment plant would not be a sound investment so the Council directed staff to move forward with plans to replace the water treatment plant. Individual councilors do not have the authority to demand that staff complete an assessment of this scope that would take a significant investment of time. The Council as a whole has that authority, but so far the Council has supported the decision to rebuild the water treatment plant.

In watching the video, note that under Robert’s Rules, when a councilor says “Point of Order”, the person speaking is required to yield the floor so that the Chair (mayor) can rule on the Point of Order. It is designed to stop proceedings to address the concern and then move forward based on the decision of the Chair.

 Watch the video here (comment to Mr. Fleury is at minute 3:15 of this video) (Ref: Business Meeting: 3/16/21 Minutes: 2:37:29 - 2:48:10)

Approval/Reconsideration of Additional Study Sessions to Address Long-Term Financial Resilience

In spite of Councilor Moran’s allegations that no one is taking the City of Ashland’s financial situation seriously or treating it with urgency, the City Manager’s proposed budget made it clear that the funding from the federal government bought us enough time to have the Council make thoughtful, strategic financial decisions to put the City on a more resilient financial path. That proposed budget included a process of strategic meetings that would take place in the first year of the biennium so that decisions could begin to be implemented in year two of the biennium.

At the June 1 council meeting, along with approving the budget, Council discussed and approved the series of 15 additional study sessions to do this financial planning. Watch the video here. (Go to minutes 2:29:17 - 2:36:15 - 6/1/21 Business Meeting)

At the June 15 council meeting, that decision was brought forward for reconsideration during which time Councilor Moran claimed that staff inappropriately structured the study session series without consulting the Council. Council has the authority to direct staff to make any changes it wants in the topics, structure, or timing of those additional meetings. Watch the video here. (Go to minutes 2:04:48 - 2:30:54 - 6/15/21 Business Meeting)

Police Union Contract

Council had an Executive Session on June 1 giving direction to staff for the negotiation with the Police Union. Staff followed the direction given to them by the Council as a whole and brought back the proposed contract extension on June 15. The contract would help the City navigate the time where it will have less legal capacity due to the resignation of Dave Lohman. Watch the June 15 conversation here. (Go to minutes 1:05:40 - 1:27:25 - 6/15/21 Business Meeting).

Budget Committee – Playing the “Fear Card”

At the April 13 Citizens Budget Committee meeting, Councilor Moran accuses Adam Hanks of pulling the “Fear Factor Card” in talking about the fire and police budgets in the General Fund.

Watch the conversation here. (Ref: Budget Committee Meeting: 4/13/21 Minutes: 2:40:15 - 2:42:19)

Proposal to Outsource Human Resources Department

Proposals to consider outsourcing are not a problem as long as they include the analysis of what can be gained by outsourcing, what might be lost, and what is legal for a city. At the May 14th meeting of the Citizens Budget Committee, Councilor Moran proposes cutting the budget line for HR in half without any information about what impact that would have on this critically important function and no guarantees that the City could maintain its HR Department with a budget half the size of the budget figure recommended by the City Manager.

Watch the conversation here. (Go to minutes 49:56 - 1:09:27 - 5/14/21 Citizens Budget Committee Meeting)

COLA Decision for Management Staff

Management staff brought forward a request for a Cost of Living Allowance to keep management in line with represented employees at the City. See the conversation here (Go to minutes 2:54:27 - 3:15:58 - 6/15/21 Business Meeting)

Mistreatment of Contractors

After our first professional firm declined to move forward with the contract for the City Manager recruiting process, the second firm selected by City Council got off to a good start with schedules and job descriptions and community panel selection. Suddenly, Wendi Brown withdrew from the recruitment because of she was treated rudely and her ethics were questioned by the Mayor and Councilor Moran.  

Mayor Akins stated in an Ashland Chronicle editorial on June 14. “Our past searches were to be done through search firms hired by the city’s Human Resource Department. ….It put the staff in a very awkward position and frankly, it failed twice for what I think are obvious reasons.”

This statement is false. Council approves contracts and staff executes them. It is standard process in HR departments, even when the position is the City Manager. Everyone, from staff to the Council to the public, wants to get the very best person for the job. The process didn’t fail twice because HR staff were put in an awkward position. Working with recruitment firms is part of their job.

Here is the email traffic that supports this statement. 

Spreading Misinformation

Capital Improvements Projects

On March 16, City staff presented the Council with the 20-year Capital Improvement Projects plan. This plan includes major capital investments that have been identified as necessary through the many master planning process the City regularly undertakes to understand what will be needed to maintain infrastructure, such as roads, water, wastewater, and electrical systems. Those projects are included in this plan and spaced out over the next twenty years where they are expected to need to be constructed. The  projects that directly benefit utility rate payers are paid for by those rate payers. As Council moves through the upcoming years, it assesses the need for, timing, and cost of each of these projects.

Mayor Akins made a derogatory statement on social media about the positions of several councilors without putting forward any alternatives for how to maintain that infrastructure if there are no increases in utility rates. Most importantly, she accuses those councilors of lying. She then refused to articulate detailed concerns or an alternative when invited to speak to her concerns during a regular Council meeting. (Ref: Business Meeting: 3/16/21 Minutes 3:14:40 – 3:18:28).

Councilor Moran repeatedly speaks to “massively inflated utility bills and rates,” yet the analysis shared in the budget process indicates that Ashlanders are paying an average amount for their utility bills when compared with other communities, in spite of the fact that our utility bills include an electricity users tax that helps fund our General Fund. The primary exception to this is water. There are a variety of reasons for that difference, including the fact that we have to maintain our own dam, whereas many other communities do not. Councilor Moran speaks to “massively inflated utility bills” here (Ref: Business Meeting: 3/16/21 Minutes 2:41:40 - 2:42:43).

Budget Statements

At the June 1st Council Meeting where the budget recommendation from the Citizens Budget Committee was brought forward to Council, Councilor Moran makes a series of statements about the budget. He claims there have been “no serious efforts to cut costs,” yet cost cutting measures by staff during the pandemic saved the City $3.8 million over the last biennium.

He says that there has been little or no input by elected officials. That’s right. COVID and then the Almeda Fire took up the City’s capacity and there wasn’t time to put the newly configured Council through a meaningful planning process before the budget meetings started in early spring. That’s partly why staff proposed a budget that holds our programs steady for the first year of the biennium and puts in place a series of 15 study sessions starting in August so that Council can make the decisions about service levels and programs needed to begin making adjustments in year two of the biennium.

He claims there is no sense of urgency and yet staff proposed and Council approved the special financial study session series that will start in August of this year.

He says there has been no serious efforts to cut costs. Staff has cut what they can cut without affecting service levels and needs the programmatic direction from the Council that will be provided through these study sessions.

He says there is a problem in that the budget is higher than the 2019 actuals. That is to be expected because the 2019 fiscal year (which ends in June of 2020) was impacted by COVID and our expenses were down. Our services are not sustainable at that level, though, so the budget needed to rebound.

He claims there is $40 million for a water treatment facility we don’t need, but previous Councils voted to move forward with the new plant and this Council has not voted to revisit that earlier decision. Staff is moving forward with existing Council direction.

He claims the travel allowance for staff leadership in the budget is to pay people who don’t live in Ashland to commute. It is actually to cover the cost of them doing their jobs as they have to travel to meetings and different sites around the city and valley.

Watch the conversation here. (Go to minutes 2:47:29 - 2:54:48 - 6/1/21 Business Meeting)

Not Taking to Heart Finance Director’s Warnings

At the May 14 Citizens Budget Meeting, Councilor Moran claimed that the Budget Committee didn’t take Finance Director, Melanie Purcell’s, warnings about our financial situation to heart. In fact, Ms. Purcell helped develop the proposal from staff that we maintain programs through the first year of the biennium and take that time to work with the community to make strategic and thoughtful changes that will address those financial issues. Ms. Purcell was not calling for large, immediate cuts in this budget process. Councilor Moran also claimed, at that same Budget Committee meeting, that after the last budget the City said it would address its financial issues, but nothing happened. Councilor Moran served on the Cost Review Ad Hoc Committee, which was formed after the last budget process and brought forward a list of proposed actions. Council and staff have acted on a number of them already. What is also true is that COVID-19 happened to the City of Ashland while it was happening to everyone else. Yes, some things, like strategic planning, had to be set aside so that the City could focus on meeting the immediate health and safety needs of its residents, but this work has not been abandoned and it is inappropriate to say otherwise.

Watch his statement here.  (Ref: CBC Meeting: 5/14/21 Minutes 2:12:09 - 2:13:24)

Repaying Wastewater Fund from the Food and Beverage Tax

On December 2 of 2020, the Council voted to accept the supplemental budget, which included paying off the remaining wastewater debt with funds from the Wastewater Fund rather than from the Food and Beverage Tax. In the discussions regarding that initial decision, staff made it clear that in the new year the Council (which would have three new people) would need to decide whether to pay the Wastewater Fund back from future Food and Beverage Tax funds. In the meeting on April 20, when the repayment conversation comes back to the Council, Councilor Moran accuses staff of not disclosing during the earlier conversations with Council that the Wastewater Fund would not be paid back. Council did not make any decisions in that December meeting to not pay the Wastewater Fund back. The question was left open for a future Council once more was known about the impact of COVID-19 on the Food and Beverage Tax. The current Council saw this item on the agenda of the first meeting in January where it is laid out in the packet materials that the discussion needs to include whether to repay the Wastewater Fund. The packet materials for the April 20 meeting indicate that the decision regarding repayment of the Wastewater Fund has not yet been made. Watch the conversation here. (Ref: Business Meeting: 4/20/21 Minutes 3:05:22 - 3:12:00)

Mayor Akins Statements on Treatment of Staff

At the meeting on June 15, Councilor Seffinger brings up the issue of elected officials being disrespectful of staff. Mayor Akins responds, "I'm not sure what you are seeing on social media. I'm not saying stuff like that."  Watch the conversation here. (Go to minutes 3:33:02-3:36:25 - 6/15/21 Business Meeting)

Earlier in that same meeting, Mayor Akins says she isn’t mean to staff. (Minutes 3:13:12 - 3:13:44 - 6/15/21 Business Meeting)

Other Conversations of Interest

On Bill Financing for Climate Change

Watch the conversation here. (Ref: Business Meeting: 6/15/21 Minutes 38:57 - 53:19) Packet materials are here.

Information is in the packet regarding the fact that the nominal interest rate that would be charged to residents to cover the cost of the program have not been determined yet. Councilor Moran speaks to the fact that we shouldn’t be charging 5% interest on money we are borrowing for free. Mayor Akins makes a statement that this would compete with nonprofit organizations, yet this type of program is handled through utilities, not nonprofits.

Mayor Akins’ request to have Councilors Hyatt and Graham appoint Adam Hanks as City Manager

Email conversation is here.

Mayor Akins’ comments regarding the accomplishments list from the State of the City address

Email conversation is here.

Note: This evening (6/29/21) after the special council meeting, I received a text message from Councilor Moran that says “Bring it…..looking forward to your 2022 campaign.”