Commentary; Posted: 4/6/05
More questions as Wyoming administrator quits
By Cliff Buchan
Questions have been raised here before regarding the operating style of the new Wyoming City Council. Last Friday's sudden and unexpected resignation of City Administrator Jill Teetzel is raising more questions and just a few red flags that should concern all residents of the city of Wyoming.
As this issue of the newspaper goes to press, we are still searching for answers to how and why Teetzel's decision to leave the employ of the city came about. It is a question that begs for answers that, as of Tuesday afternoon, have not been addressed in the light of public.
This we do know.
A special meeting was called by Mayor Sheldon Anderson on Monday, March 21 to discuss the job description and duties of the city administrator. It never took place, but was canceled to allow more council members to be in attendance. There was some surprise demonstrated by those council officials who came on March 21 when a reporter for the newspaper was also present.
The meeting was subsequently changed to Thursday, March 24. That meeting, too, was canceled with no explanation.
Eight days later the city administrator was gone with no public disclosure as to why or how, for that matter.
This commentary in no way intends to defend or chastise the work of Jill Teetzel, who has worked as city administrator since January of 2004. To the best of our knowledge she was doing the job she was hired to do. But short of public disclosure by the city council we cannot say if she was working as defined or not doing so.
It does seem strange that with two failed attempts by the city council to meet in public to discuss the duties and job description of the administrator that somehow the administrator elects to depart. Is there more here that the public is not being told?
We are told that Teetzel departs with a severance agreement. We trust that agreement, as a public document, will be shared with the public this week. It will be interesting to learn if the agreement is something spelled out in the administrator's contract or a separate document prepared specifically for Teetzel's exit from the city. If the latter case is true, this city council has some explaining to do in terms of how the agreement came about in the absence of any public or closed meetings of the city's elected officials.
There is no question city administrators work at the pleasure of the city council. But that fact alone should not entitle good employees to be run off in the wake of changes in the political landscape if that is what is happening in Wyoming.
There are disappointing signs coming from the municipal government center in the city of Wyoming. They point to city officials who are not shy about having their way, no matter the process and the ramification to the public. In the matter of City Administrator Teetzel's departure, city residents should demand a full and open accounting by the city council. They deserve no less.
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