HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-08-20 City Commission Packet Materials - A1. Discussion of Documents Related to Public Records Requests Attachment 4Attachment 4
From:Terry Cunningham
To:Greg Sullivan
Cc:Jeff Mihelich
Subject:FW: City of Bozeman
Date:Wednesday, September 2, 2020 11:45:23 AM
Mr. Sullivan:
I am forwarding this email to you from former City Manager Andrea Surratt. Please put this
correspondence in the packet for the Special Meeting.
Thank you.
Terry Cunningham
From: Andrea Surratt [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2020 11:32 AM
To: tcunningham@mcn.net
Subject: City of Bozeman
Commissioner Cunningham,
After leaving the City of Bozeman nine months ago, I trust that enough time has gone
by that the following statement would be able to be considered on its own merit and
not clouded by emotion. I am happily employed by the City of Sandy Springs and
wish nothing but the best for those with whom I worked at the City of Bozeman.
The City of Bozeman is a special organization to me, and I invested a lot of energy
towards its success.
During the course of my employment with the City of Bozeman, Mr. Mehl, in his
capacity as a City Commissioner and as Deputy Mayor repeatedly interfered with the
administration of the city over my two year tenure which undermined my authority
and made my job, a career that I have dedicated my life's work to, extremely difficult.
According to the Bozeman City Charter this was not allowed. Section 2.05-C states:
Interference with Administration. Except for the purpose of inquiries, and
investigations under §2.09, the commission or its members shall deal with city
officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city
manager solely through the city manager, and neither the commission nor its
members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or
privately.
Mr. Mehl's repeated violation of the Charter's prohibitions clause was a key factor in
my decision to accept another employment offer. I told Mr. Mehl, in a face to face
conversation outside of City Council chambers after a lunch meeting about code of
conduct issues in December 2019, 'that he was the reason I needed to leave'. I have
kept that to myself until now.
He interfered with staff meetings during the course of normal business hours, edited
staff memos for content that he felt should be included to make a case, talked openly
about moving to a strong mayor form of government, got angry and verbally
intimidated and bullied staff at all levels of the organization on a number of occasions
both in person and through email. I looked to the City Charter and my ICMA Code of
Ethics for answers. I advised Council of the problem and discussions were held
through several special meetings to address these problems and discuss a code of
conduct. Ultimately, I had to make a choice about whether I could operate in the
position of City Manager with these conditions. Based upon the guidance of the ICMA
Code of Ethics, once a city manager brings light to the problem and conditions do not
improve, the city manager is expected to move on instead of enabling the violations to
continue, thereby eroding coworker trust and violation of the Charter. I documented
the problems presented in emails and testimonies of staff who experienced similar
problems.
Cities with a Council-Manager form of government practice on a daily basis the
proper protocol for addressing the work of the organization. City Commissions set
policy, based upon their charter, and city managers carry out the daily administration
of the operation according to Council's wishes. I chose not to work for Mayor-elect
Mehl in his term as Mayor due his behavior and his expectations for my interaction
with him once he became Mayor. His actions were not in line with Section 2.05-c.
Best regards to you,
Andrea Surratt