ABSTRACT: The Monterey County Herald today published a Guest Commentary by City Councilmen Jason Burnett and Ken Talmage; the Guest Commentary is entitled: “Guillen's actions demand resignation for good of Carmel.” HIGHLIGHTS from the Guest Commentary are presented. In their Guest Commentary, Burnett and Talmage conclude “Rich Guillen should resign.”
Guillen's actions demand resignation for good of Carmel
By JASON BURNETT and KEN TALMAGE
Guest commentary, 11/02/2010
HIGHLIGHTS:
”Carmel City Administrator Rich Guillen should resign for the good of our community.”
“For several reasons, we have come to the conclusion that Guillen should resign. He was not truthful with the private investigator and the council. Guillen exhibited poor judgment and violated Carmel's written ethics policy. Guillen's actions did not meet the ethical standards expected of public officials and our city administrator.”
“In sum, Guillen no longer has the credibility to serve effectively as city administrator.”
“The question now is, what is best for our town and community going forward? The time for further discussion of this matter has passed. Now is the time for action. Rich Guillen should resign.”
4 comments:
Sexual harassment and emails grab the media headlines but there are other significant concerns raised by the Jane Miller case and the City Administrator's judgement, ethics and competence. One is his promotion of an unqualified employee to a director position at a time he was eliminating director positions under the guise of saving taxpayers money. Another is his deceit and untruthful statements about the non existence of four previous claims of hostile workplace and forced early retirements. Both he and the mayor claim they took golden handshakes when there is evidence in the public record, supported by a judge, that they all had similar claims against the City and Rich Guillen.
But what now? If the time for further closed session discussions is over, and it must have been clear early on there were no more than two votes for removal, then what is Plan B?
This commentary is too late to galvanize mass public support for the resignation of Rich Guillen. It also puts forth the weakest argument against Rich Guillen.
It is not just what is best for Carmel going forward, it is what needs to happen at a minimum to restore some confidence in our city government and officials; adopting a revised anti-harassment policy is woefuly inadequate.
Jason and Ken write "Now is the time for action." That is a nice sentiment, but Rich Guillen is still City Administrator and appears to be secure in his position as long as Sue McCloud is mayor. If Guillen stays, are they going to stay on the council and become part of the problem by "working" with an untrustworthy city administrator going forward?
I am leery of Ken Talmage's 11th hour conversion advocating for the resignation of Rich Guillen. He has known for years the sitution with city employees, secret settlements and Jane Miller's complaints from the beginning and he went along with it. Now with the mayor marginalizing Jason Burnett, it might be gamesmanship on the part of Ken Talmage as he has not suffered any negative consequences for all of his past actions and inactions.
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