To the Editor:
Months ago Mayor Washburn was addressed about transparency and open government and her inability to produce Council Minutes. We heard half-baked excuses from the City Manager and Mayor of why minutes haven’t been produced since June which included “we laid off 28% of our employees”. Not producing minutes is not open government, Ms. Washburn; it’s bad government and bad leadership. You should not accept weak excuses from the City Manager for not taking care of business.
It’s now October and you haven’t produced minutes from June, July, August or September. Let me correct one untruth that you said, not everyone was laid off. Some employees walked away rather than continue to work in the environment you’ve built. Please stop making excuses and fix the problem.
The City Clerk spends a lot of time in City Hall. He’s even there on weekends and has been seen going through files with Council Member Brooks on weekends. Given his dedication, time doesn’t seem to be an issue, so why can’t minutes be completed? The City Manager, and you Mayor Washburn, do not seem to support the City Clerk or the work he said he’d do. If you did support him, you’d hire a temporary secretary. You seem well versed in outsourcing, so transcribing meetings to minutes by a temporary employee shouldn’t be an issue. How about getting city records up to date and keeping them up to date?
Any further delay in rectifying this complaint is a clear indication of the arrogance and insensitivity your management style offers Fillmore. Chop chop, Mayor…
Vance Johnson

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To the Editor:
Mayor Washburn, you reap what you sow. What was written about the city council was in the "Opinion" section, not as a news article. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. You should not have ran for city council if you didn't know what you were doing or you didn't have thick enough skin. Politics is not an easy task to dip your toe in if you don't know how to swim when the tide rises. Think about resigning if you can't tough it out. Maybe your buddies aren't blunt enough to tell you the truth, wouldn't want to hurt your feelings and all that. By the way, if you do decide to resign, take Sipes with you.
Submitted to the Gazette Forums & Comments by Libertys Pen

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To the Editor:
What's truly amazing about Washburn's crying is that it wasn't long ago that she and her minions were doing the VERY SAME THING that she and Brooks are crying about now!!! And if there's anything at all that is the hallmark of this administration, it's that...hypocrisy...'Oh, it's ok for us to go out and do thus and so, but now that we have the power, it's not ok for others to do what we did'! This is an example of their arrogance and lack of perception overall...and Sipes is the master of talking outta both sides of his mouth...
Submitted to the Gazette Forum & Comments by Pancone

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To the Editor:
Folks have a short memory. Most people have forgotten or were not around when the hate speech started in the spring of 2000 in Fillmore. Here is a short history lesson; Spring of 2000 the present group,( in charge at City Hall), lead by Patti Walker put “For Sale” signs on city hall, in the cover of darkness. “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others.” (Mayor Washburn’s letter) started and continued up to the election in Nov. 2000. Secret meetings planning a SOAR initiative that intended to shrink Fillmore to below its city boundaries. It lost, but that did not stop “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others.” As another SOAR initiative was planned, again in secret and with no public input, just more of “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others.” The council at the time decided to try to smooth things out and after some negotiations agreed to adopt a modified SOAR, that Patti and her group agreed to, however the smoothing did not work the hate speech kept on coming. In the beginning of 2002 “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others” continued. They,(Walkers group), lost the election in Nov. 2002, 2004 and they got Patti back in office in 2006 but still did not have control. So, “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others” it just got worse. More Lies and half truths. “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others” reached a peak in 2008. Nov. 2008 they got control of City Hall so now everyone should just be nice and not criticize them because…well Mayor Washburn says.
Of course Fillmore had a large saving account (reserves) almost no contract employees and was open 5 days a week up to that election. Now, three short years later, almost no money in reserve, the largest number of contract employees Fillmore has ever seen and a city government that operates with no vision, no transparency and a City Hall only opened 4 days a week with the highest paid City Manager in Fillmore’s history. I wonder what happened to Washburn and Brooks promise to stop over paying employees and start hiring locals to work for the City of Fillmore. So far it seems all they are doing is firing locals and replacing them with out of town contractors.
Oops! Was that last paragraph “The bullying, smear campaign against council members, staff and others.” that Washburn spoke of in her letter?
Submitted to Gazette Forums & Comments by “Johnny Walker”

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To the Editor:
No Old Glory?
What is going on here?! The last few week’s going to and coming home from work I drive by City Hall on Santa Clara St. I have noticed that the Clifornia. State flag is up. But where is the American Flag?!
Let me please make this clear. I am not Pro-Gazette, Anti-City Council. I am and always will be for my family, my country, and my town. First my family. My father, Marion C. Woods, was in the Navy at the time of the Korean War. My step-father Robert W. Spitler was a P-38 fighter Pilot in WWII. My mother, Shriley Spitler, STILL has Old Glory wave in front of her house 24/7, 365 days a year. My kids will always stand and place their hand over their hearts when the American flag is to be honored.
Second comes my country. I am proud to be an American. This is the greatest country of all time. Our own friends and family are still fighting this very minute to keep this a great country for us.
Now for our town. All you need to do is go to the Veterans Memorial Building to see all of our people who are from Fillmore who have served under our great flag since the Civil War until now. Go down the street on Central Ave. and see the names of the young men and women, OUR Fillmore people serving our country today.
It is a shame that we do not have the great American flag in front of our own City Hall! Are the budget cuts so bad we cannot do this anymore? I ask you Fillmore, do we always need to make the cuts from the bottom/up? Or should we start from the top/down? The City Manger makes more than any worker for the City of Fillmore. The City Council hired her. Maybe they could pitch in for a flag! We owe this to our family and friends of this great country and town of Fillmore, Ca. U.S.A. God Bless America and Fillmore.
Joe Woods
Fillmore