HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-13-24 Public Comment - L. Witt - City Manager InputFrom:Lisa Witt
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]City Manager Input
Date:Tuesday, February 13, 2024 10:29:07 AM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
I didn't get this email submitted prior to your meeting, but since some
decisions have been tabled, I feel compelled to send it now.
- - - - -
City Commissioners,
The intent of this letter is to share some concerns that I have in allowingMr. Mihelich to continue as our city manager.
I suspect that the commission collectively has every intention of releasing
Mr. Mihelich, though if he had a shred of integrity he would simply resignso that he is not owed a severance. I also suspect that the same attorney
whom he disparaged is reviewing his contract and making a case for
release without pay on the grounds of not acting in good faith, not
fostering a healthy working environment within the organization and thecommunity, etcetera. If my suspicions are incorrect, please let this email
serve as my vote of no confidence in Mr. Mihelich.
As the old adage goes, when someone tells you who they are, believethem. This diatribe was not some lower level employee venting. This was a
leader at the very top expressing his true feelings about the city and the
people he serves. In less than 20 minutes time he managed to steamroll
two commissioners, the city attorney, a member of the public and thegreater community at large with regard to small town BS. What is beneath
that office is his own conduct.
The only reasons Mr. Mihelich hasn't resigned yet are because one, whowould hire him after this; and two, he's made his financial interests in
staying until he is vested abundantly clear. Remarks like his can't come
from the top; a healthy culture in any organization cannot coexist with a
leader exhibiting this temperament or self righteous attitude. Please do notgive this fraud a pass. At a time when trust in government is at an all time
low and we are hemorrhaging money, allowing him to stay or paying him a
severance would add insult to injury.
If his transgressions aren't reason enough to part ways, the idea that wecan slap a Fort Collins approach onto Bozeman is entirely misguided. I
lived in Fort Collins and graduated from Colorado State University. The city
is about 3x the size of Bozeman and has considerably warmer seasons,which means Fort Collins' infrastructure needs are much different than
ours. Fort Collins' winters are so much warmer that bike lanes can be usednearly year round, whereas in Bozeman, even if we spent egregious
amounts of money retrofitting our streets via cannibalizing already scarce
vehicle lanes and parking, we would still not be able to overcome the
challenge of 6 months of snow, ice, potholes and reduced visibility. We canlearn from Fort Collins' focus on east/west and north/south multi lane
roads, but in many other ways we can only learn from Fort Collins' growth
mistakes. My overarching point here is that Mr. Mihelich's approach is a
square peg in a round hole, it's not working.
Moving forward, Mr. Winn should be strongly considered to fulfill the
remainder of Mr. Mihelich's term, if not longer. Though I have only had
limited engagement with Mr. Winn over the years, his desire to faithfullyrepresent the community to the best of his ability comes through loud and
clear. He is a man of integrity. I trust him to lead us through these
growing pains and the department out of this mess and believe that he
truly is invested in Bozeman. I hope you will consider keeping Mr. Winn asour city manager not only for his qualifications and character, but to save
taxpayers the expense of a costly headhunting process that hasn't been
very fruitful the last couple of tries.
Thank you for considering my input,
Lisa Witt (Bozeman native)