HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-24 Public Comment - A. Craighead - city manager leaked video Jeff Mihelich and Anna BentleyFrom:April Craighead
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]city manager leaked video Jeff Mihelich and Anna Bentley
Date:Monday, February 12, 2024 10:45:01 AM
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Dear City Commissioners,
I would like my comments to be part of the public record regarding tonight’s special
meeting.
At first glance, the leaked video of Jeff Mihelich and Anna Bentley appears as a simple
bitch session about colleagues and the difficulties of one’s job. I imagine that being City
Manager can be a difficult job at times, however, Mr. Mihelich is making a substantial salary
and compensation package (over 200,000K) so one would assume he can handle the
stress. All of us have done similar things to let off a little steam after a long day or week.
However, after a few minutes into the video it becomes clear that this is not just griping
about colleagues but more of a character assassination of many of the people Mr. Mihelich
works with. He disparages almost all of the people on the city commission to some extent
and whines that he has to work on the weekend. What I found particularly galling was his
disregard for the citizens of Bozeman for not being able to get over their small-town view of
the world. There are a lot of passionate, smart, and conscientious citizens who want to
make Bozeman a better place, however, in the mind of Mr. Mihelich, we are no better than
a bunch of country hayseeds. Clearly his large ego drives his self-worth which is only
outmatched by his arrogance.
I have not had many interactions with Mr. Mihelich but what I have had, while being on the
Sensitive Lands Project, was more than enough to get a sense of his nature. He interacted
with people with equal parts disdain and arrogance. Since Mr. Mihelich has such a high
opinion of himself and is solely motivated by money, he should call up that headhunter and
quickly look for another job. Just don’t look at Austin, they already know what he thinks of
them.
As for Ms. Bentley, I do not know her personally, but she appeared gleeful in taking part in
the character assassination of her fellow colleagues. Her reputation precedes her, she is
not known to be overly helpful or genuine when dealing with citizens. She also takes the
tack of arrogance and passive aggressiveness to demean various engaged citizen groups.
I don’t know if these conversations happen regularly between Mr. Mihelich and Ms. Bentley,
but it certainly doesn’t reflect positively on the City of Bozeman’s current government or its
employees. I don’t know how any city commissioner or the mayor can have any trust in
these two going forth.
As far as a private conversation, both of them should have known better. They work for the
city; therefore, the city owns the computers and possibly their phones. They were
conducting city business on the zoom call; how can they really justify that it was a “private”
conversation?
If this is how both Mr. Mihelich and Ms Bentley think they are going to get ahead, they are
both quite delusional or, to use a phrase that Ms. Bentely likes, to tell citizens that her
leaked conversations with Jeff might “not yield the outcomes she might have anticipated”.
I would strongly suggest that both Mr. Mihelich and Ms. Bentley be fired immediately.
Thank you,
April Craighead
1134 Holly Dr.
Bozeman, MT. 59715
April Craighead
Wildlife BiologistCraighead Institute
201 So. Wallace AveSuite B2D
Bozeman, MT. 59715406 585-8705
april@craigheadinstitute.org