The early retirement of Fillmore Finance Director, and one-time Assistant City Manager, Barbara Smith, was not announced during Tuesday’s regular council meeting, at her request. Please watch the meeting on Channel 10 – 6:00 p.m.
Barbara has been with the city for 23 years. She is the fourth member of Fillmore’s top and mid-management to leave office during the past two months. First to resign was former City Manager (for 19 years) and Special Projects Manager, Roy Payne. The second was City Administrative Manager, Steve McClary. And the third, former City Manager Tom Ristau.
Each of these distinguished city employees chose to leave rather than deal with the two new council members, Gayle Washburn and Jamey Brooks. The combination of these two, with recently appointed Mayor Patti Walker, has created a poisonous, radical, agenda-driven, environment.
I was absent from that part of last night’s council meeting where the council refused to grant a contract to City Planner Kevin McSweeney, and Director of Public Works Bert Rapp. Both of these exemplary management-level employees (each on the job for about 20 years) seek job protection following the recent landslide loss of so many other long-time employees due to the new council agenda.
Walker, Brooks, and Washburn revel in the loss of these people after having targeted them for several years. All of the above mentioned employees have been viciously opposed by Walker, Brooks, and Washburn because of differences of opinion on city development. Heading the charge to rid city hall of any vestige of past management is former (failed) Mayor, Gary Creagle. Creagle no longer lives in the city, but was campaign manager for Brooks (and Washburn?) in the last election cycle. Creagle, a lying, ill-tempered blowhard, claimed at the March 22 WRP Memorial Building workshop: “When I was on the Council the City had $7 million in reserves”. He knows better. Records show that when Mr. Creagle started as a Councilmember the City had approximately $1.5 million in the general fund. When he left office in 1988 the general fund had less than $600,000. The general fund decreased by $900,000 during Mr. Creagle’s tenure as a Councilmember. But, Mr. Creagle has many old axes to grind, and scores to settle, and was able to fool a sufficient number of the Fillmore electorate (500 over the top) into believing that existing city management was doing a terrible job – though it maintained a substantial general fund surplus and achieved remarkable things in the way of city improvements – harmoniously.
Creagle is also the man who barged into city offices with newly elected City Clerk Clay Westling in tow, demanding to know where the office for the new Clerk was, and telling another staff member that “That’s OK. Your job is safe.”
This group’s plan has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams, and the city will pay the price for a generation. Nothing like this has ever happened in the city before. With the exception of Councilman Steve Conaway, we now have an ignorant, arrogant, incompetent, and thoroughly obnoxious city council. They have lost all (or will soon lose all) institutional memory, professional talent, and staff good will. They are like the dogs that chased the car until they finally caught it. Now, let’s see what they will do with it. Let’s see what happens to the general fund.
I have had to write this bit with substantial distraction an hour before deadline. Much more needs to be said. I will try to expand my description of the mess the City of Fillmore now finds itself in, online at fillmoregazette.com, tomorrow.
This infamous group has brought us to a truly sad day.