HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-24 Public Comment - R. Rydell - City Manager VideoFrom:Robert Rydell
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]City Manager Video
Date:Sunday, February 11, 2024 9:32:08 PM
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11 February 202
Dear Mayor Cunningham and City Commissioners:
I write to make three points with respect to the video containing remarks made by the city
manager and director of community development about you and about Bozeman residents.
First, allowing for due process, the city manager needs to be removed from office in such a
way that will not allow him to claim any financial benefits other than those to which he is
contractually entitled. Second, also allowing for due process, the director of community
development similarly needs to be removed from her supervisory position and removed from
any position with the city. Both individuals showed utter disdain and contempt for this
community. Third, because both individuals have put their thumbs on the scale of so many
policies, especially the UDC (and the consultants’ report?), it is imperative that you halt
immediately the UDC process until you can ascertain the degree to which the UDC
recommendations were influenced by the manifest self-aggrandizement and shameless
careerism manifested so clearly in the video. Indeed, the commission needs to review
carefully all policies and recommendations as well as any personnel actions that these
individuals were involved with. Frankly, I have grave doubts that any of the advice you
received from these individuals was objectively and primarily in the best interest of this
community.
Again, subject to all due process considerations, these individuals need to be removed from
their positions. But removing them is not enough. Even when they vacate their positions, their
legacies (in the form of specific policies and policy recommendations) will persist. Tainted as
their work may be by self-interest, it is imperative that you, or a task force that you create,
scrutinize their work to be sure that their recommendations and policies were crafted in the
best interests of this community and not in the interests of the individuals involved.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Rydell
622 South Grand Ave.