UPDATE: NO RESIGNATION, NO COMMENTS, NO ACTION........5 hours 43 minutes Council Meeting ending @ 10:17 P.M.
City Official Never Put On Administrative Leave
City Settled Sexual Harassment Suit For $600,000
KSBW.com
ACTION NEWS 8
POSTED: 11:20 pm PDT November 2, 2010
UPDATED: 11:56 pm PDT November 2, 2010
Fate Of Carmel City Administrator Could Be Decided
KSBW.com
ACTION NEWS 8
Reporter Stephanie Chuang
Duration: 1:28
POSTED: 6:07 pm PDT November 2, 2010
UPDATED: 6:32 pm PDT November 2, 2010
Mystery Surrounds Carmel City Administrator Status
KSBW.com
ACTION NEWS 8
Reporter: May Chow
Duration: 2:43
POSTED: 5:59 pm PDT September 23, 2010
UPDATED: 6:31 pm PDT September 23, 2010
ADDENDUM:
Live and Archived Streaming Media
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Carmel City Admin. Decision Likely Stalls
Posted: Sep 30, 2010 4:06 PM PDT Updated: Oct 11, 2010 9:42 AM PDT
Submitted by Matt de Nesnera, Central Coast News Reporter
CENTRAL COAST NEWS KION 46
Carmel Town Hall on Sexual Harassment Suit
Posted: Aug 02, 2010 7:26 AM PDT Updated: Aug 02, 2010 7:21 PM PDT
Submitted by Matt de Nesnera, Central Coast News Reporter
CENTRAL COAST NEWS KION 46
5 comments:
I agree with the closing statement of reporter Stephanie Chuang characterizing the public mood and thoughts that the revised and revised, revised policies are no better than the current, existing policy when the current policy was so blatantly violated and dismissed and not followed at all by this mayor and three of these council members.
Listening to Mayor Sue McCloud at this council meeting, I was stunned and shocked with her inquires about what her reporting obligations are. She reminds me of the person who sees another human being injuried and instead of immediately rushing to the aid of that person, stops to think if she should get involved. By the end of the meeting, I was not convinced Sue would act any differently than she did in the Jane Miller incident. She comes across as not being receptive to learning the errors of her past ways. What the city really needs is new leadership at the top to set a convincing standard for zero tolerance for harassment, discrimination and retaliation. And since Sue McCloud cannot do any of that, I think it is time for both Sue and Rich to go. Only then can we really heal and start anew.
Despite the positive developments this week-due to the published Herald article written by councilmembers Burnett and Talmage and continued featured coverage on the nightly news-I have to agree with the tone of both posted comments.
While it is certainly true that "debate of the Miller settlement and the future of Guillen has continued unabated since it was announced this summer," (Burnett and Talmage), this controversy has already created "unnecessary division in our community."
Unfortunately, the Miller lawsuit has temporarily damaged the reputation of the City and brought into question the credibility of City leadership from the top down.
Most critically, conversation about Guillen's continued employment with the City and and dealing with fallout from the lawsuit has prevented the City from moving forward on other issues of lasting significance for all residents, i.e. the looming pension shortfall and the decaying Flanders Mansion.
City Hall needs a thorough shakedown-let's hope that current officials have an exit strategy and new leaders will step forward "for the good of Carmel."
Find us on Facebook at Fire Rich Guillen!
Arguably, the Miller lawsuit reveals much more serious ramifications than damage to the City’s reputation and lack of credibility in the mayor and council. To wit, the more serious consequences of a decade of city mismanagement and mayoral micromanagement have been institutionalized bad management. The mayor touts her and her city administrator’s financial acumen when in reality the financial state of the city highlights the poor governance and poor management of the city over a decade mainly due to the city not expending taxpayer monies appropriately. For example, the express policy of eliminating director positions has left the city without the expertise required to operate a competent Planning & Building Department and Public Works Department. All this centralized power with the mayor and city administrator had led to chaos and mismanagement. Touting ever increasing reserve fund amounts year after year when the city does not adequately maintain city buildings and assets, such as Flanders Mansion, Forest Theater, Scout House and Public Works Building, is another example of a poor management/stewardship strategy.
Therefore, it is important that we deal effectively with the current “controversy” and not sweep it under the rug just because is has created an “unnecessary division in our community.” One of the lessons we should learn from this fiasco is that if the people who knew about the abuses in city hall had gone public years and years ago together in a unified group, we would have had a much better chance of rectifying the abuses then. In sum, if we do not confront reality and deal effectively with this controversy now, it will forever mark us as appeasers and less than worthy citizens and community leaders.
Uh-oh! All those dollars going to Carmel-by-the-Sea tourist and visitor promotion and Matt Schwartz, WSJ, panned Carmel writing “Skip the city of Carmel's kitschy "gingerbread" downtown.” Meanwhile he featured PG’s Centrella Inn and Passionfish restaurant, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Big Sur’s Nepenthe, Deetjens Big Sur Inn, Post Ranch Inn, Esalen Institute, Big Sur Bakery, Henry Miller Memorial Library and Carmel’s Mission Ranch. This is not good publicity for an obvious high end audience of potential tourists and visitors. It appears there are a lot of things not quite right in Carmel besides the obvious rot at City Hall. Time to rethink Carmel-by-the-Sea, methinks.
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