The Sidney Citizen

I have a copy of the letter sent to councilmen, city manager and a few select citizens. I would hope that every citizen is a concerned one. To assume only the ones who will speak out are concerned is very incorrect. Some will go to a meeting and some will just sit in the coffee house and complain. Homeowner, renter, business owner or just a student we all benefit or lose as the wheels of our government move.

This is a 4 page letter and I would be happy to forward it to anyone who would like it. I will address several issues it brings up. I will put the "concerned citizen's" comments in quotes. Due to the length I will do this in two posts.

"It would appear that each person who spoke at the meeting of January 12 had benefited directly from Garys position as City Manager and/or his role as Economic Development Director. They were either employed directly by him, or they were recipients of economic development monies, or served on one of his many boards. It was also assumed by most that everyone there was to support Mr. Person."

I can tell you that none if the above has been the case for me. If anything I have been a pain in his side. Gary does not have boards, the city does. And I would like to know how volunteering time to serve on a board that benefits everyone in the city if not county is considered lucky. Those people spend time energy and effort only to be criticized by others who won't do it.

"This writer has listened to the "word on the street" and now feels compelled to request public action by the Sidney City Manager and the Sidney City Council. Their are a number of concerned citizens and city employees in the community that don't speak out. Reasons vary from fear of public bashing to fear of repercussions at city hall. Some city employees have been banned by city management from speaking directly to any city councilmen on any subject."

This writer has also listened. And it is time to put this issue to bed. People are tired of all the grumbles going on in our town. We have citizens and city employees on both sides of the issue. We have city employees who are worried about what some councilmen will do to them. Some that would very much like to speak up for the city manager. I have spent the last 10 days asking and have listened to what they have to say. Non said they were banned by city management from talking to councilmen. I was told that if a councilman has a problem with a city employee that they will take it up with the city manager. The city manager, department head or HR person will handle it with the employee. This is a standard structure of business so that the employees do not have the confusion of several bosses telling them what to do. This also protects the city from law suites.

"The City Manager is hired by and answers directly to the City Council. This did not appear to be the case at the council meeting. He seemed to forget, as he was lambasting the council members, that he works for them. They have the power to hire and fire the city manager. Most employees would have been either reprimanded or fired for the insubordination he displayed during a public meeting"

First, this would indicate to me that the concerned citizens who wrote this letter are well aware that council can fire the city manager. And that if said manager had done one thing that they could fire him for they would have. Councilman VanVleet asked for his remarks, asked for his comments. That is not insubordination. If you don't want to hear what someone has to say don't ask. We do not want our city manager to be the lap dog for council nor do we want council to be the yes guys for our city manager. Only when they both do the job in public as the public meeting laws state do we as citizens benefit. Checks and balances are always good to have.

"There is an inherent and obvious conflict of interest between the two job positions currently filled by Person. As a city manager, one should focus on the efficient and economical operation of the city. As the director of economic development, the loyalty is to sell the community to prospective businesses and industry. It is commonly noted that no other community has these two roles combined. Why is that? Is it because there are conflicting duties between the two jobs? Person explained how every department gets involved in his economic development projects, did he forget the taxpayers are paying for that involvement? Is it possible the true costs of economic development are hidden in the process of having these job combined? Are the true costs being accurately separated, tracked and reported by the manager or city clerk/treasurer? "

I'm not seeing this, in selling the community would he not want to show that the city is also efficient with it's tax dollars? And I would suggest that some of you make a few calls to other cities. When I ask about the city departments helping or speaking with prospective business who may move to their communities everyone said YES. Find out how much time city managers spend with the economic development people. If you can find a business who is interested in a town let alone one our size it's all hands on deck. The stimulation of new business and increase of tax base (even the possibility of one) has communities all over the lower 48 doing what ever they can. The comment about the true cost and what is the city clerk/treasurer would be funny if it was not so bad. We have an accounting firm that has to audit all of the city's books. They have to sign off that things are being done as spelled out to it's citizens. This accusation would mean not only was the city manager and clerk/treasurer are in on something but also the accounting firm.

"It was stated that person gets paid for one job - city manager. Does he actually perform all of the city manager's duties, or have several of those duties been delegated to other city employees, who also receive additional compensation for performing those duties. The two mentioned by name in the letter are Human resources, a role that would normally be a part of the city manager's duties? And Public Services Director is this another duty delegated by the city manager? Now, how much is the city manager/economic development director package costing the City of Sidney?"

One only has to go to the city and ask about the history of these jobs. Human Resources has a very long history going back to a young Jack Lowe. That would be for over 30 years. It has not always been a job the city has filled. We did have a time we went without one. Because no one was doing the job, the current human resources person was asked to take it. At times during the history of our city that was all the person did for the city. I would have to say the combination of jobs was a smart economical move. This was done to be sure the city was covered. It has never been done by the city manager. Public Services Director now most people know this job has been around longer than the current city manager. I have a 20 year history of who held it. Most of us also know why the prior PSD left. Once again this is not a job that was done by the city manager.

"Do all of Sidney's economic development accomplishments belong to Person? Consider the growth of Sidney, and the source of the majority of Sidney's growth and jobs....Cabela's. If the Cabela factor was taken out of the equation, how would Sidney and Person's economic development performance compare to the rest of the state? This writer would have to contend we, and Person would be average, at best."

Sorry writer again I'm going to have to say you are wrong. Prior to Cabela's corporate being built out on the interstate we had a very large struggle to keep them in town. Mr. Rohr who at the time was the CFO wanted the Corporate offices moved to Lincoln. At the time he stated we did not have the education system to provide employees to Cabela's and that Lincoln offered a better educated public and more of them. Dick Cabela thanked Person at a public announcement for the corporate office for his continuous work to keep corporate in Sidney. You have no idea how close we came to not having them in town.

At this point I'm half way through the letter. I gotta take a break. I have spent days getting information.