MONTEREY BAY PARTISAN ‘a fair shake for everyone:’ BILL HOOD: Grand Jury needs to find out why things went wrong at Carmel City Hall

Letter to the Monterey County Civil Grand Jury by Bill Hood, attorney and former Executive Director, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments:

BILL HOOD: Grand Jury needs to find out why things went wrong at Carmel City Hall
by Bill Hood on February 5, 2015
MONTEREY BAY PARTISAN

RE: “While I am focusing on the belief that those involved negligently failed in their official responsibilities, the possibility exists that the actions of Stilwell and some of his staff were actually in response to direct orders to do so. If that is found to be the case, then negligence, while still unacceptable, would not be involved, and the level of breach of the public trust would become more serious.”

He (Mayor Jason Burnett) said it is "quite unethical" to ask the council to punish Stilwell for its own actions.

"They should raise those concerns with the decision-making body and not blame our staff for following the directions of the decision-making body," said Burnett…

"It's perfectly fine to disagree with decisions I've made, but to blame our staff for simply doing their job is unacceptable," Burnett said

Source: Critics want Carmel's top administrator fired
By Larry Parsons, Monterey County Herald
Posted: 07/23/14

And significantly, when Mayor Jason Burnett and City Administrator Jason Stilwell met with Carolina Bayne on Tuesday, July 22, 2014, regarding the PETITION TO TERMINATE THE CURRENT CITY ADMINISTRATOR, Mayor Jason Burnett crossed out “CITY ADMINISTRATOR” and wrote “Mayor.”