Public Works Raises to City Clerks, City Hall Scandal

10/1/09

At the 9/14/09 council meeting, staff showed that the proposed Tax Levy increase is 15.6% for Montrose, about $132,500 dollars.  The city will be having a Truth in Taxation hearing Monday, December 14th, 2009 during the regularly scheduled council meeting which is generally held at 7 PM.  This is where the taxpayer has the opportunity to bring up comments and suggestions to the council.

Lastly, at the 11/8/2004 council meeting, City of Montrose Clerk/City Administrator Barbara Thwing-Swanson received a $3/hour raise and Deputy Clerk Wendy Manson received a $2/hour raise to assume the responsibilities of Supervising the Public Works department.  Current Council Members Jeff Petersen and Sharon Knodel were present and did vote yes [as well as Charlie Nelson].

Then on April 21, 2007, the City of Montrose hired a Public Works Director however Barb Swanson and Wendy Manson never relinquished those raises.  Since the Public Works director was hired, the $5/hour from above has cost the City about $24,000 extra in wages, or about $10k a year, enough to pay the wages of the Part-Time Receptionist that they just laid off.  The lay-off recommendation came from the Personnel Committee whose members are Mayor Kauffman, Council Member Jensen, and City Clerk/Administrator Barbara Thwing-Swanson.

When I went to review this data; I had requested pay change data for 90, 98, 04, and 05 for the City Clerk; the relevant data for all of the years EXCEPT 2004 had been isolated.  Isolating the relevant data is the proper way to respond to a data request.

Instead, for 2004, the City of Montrose gave me the 11/8/2004 and 11/22/2004 council packets which amounted to about 74 pages.  They also gave me the 11/3/04 canvassing minutes, 11/12/04 joint meeting of Montrose and Woodland Township minutes, and 11/17/04 public hearing minutes.  Was there any relevant data in these minutes or packets?  I couldn't find any.

The only relevant data I could find was in the 11/8/2004 minutes where the City of Montrose Clerk/City Administrator Barb Swanson received a $3/hour raise and Deputy Clerk Wendy Manson received a $2/hour raise to assume the responsibilities of Supervising the Public Works department.  Were they hoping I would miss this in the clutter?  How come these increases were never returned after the City of Montrose hired a Public Works Director?

City Hall
These two city employees were also members of the City Hall Committee [as was Charlie Nelson].  The proposed City Hall was projected to cost $2.5 million for a 18,000 square foot building for 5-6 staff.  The current city hall was 3,262 square feet, the size has since increased due to remodeling.
-[See also:
Montrose scraps its plans
Charlie Nelson spending issues, Special Meeting Billing ]