Abby Nadeau
Staff Writer

Impartiality, personal attacks and commission ethics, oh my!

The Forest Lake City Council was all ears Monday night as community members arrived at city hall to show their support for Clyde McCaskey, the embattled planning commission member.

While faced with a host city charges, McCaskey leveled acquisitions of his own against council members and the mayor during a one-hour hearing.

He alleged that Mayor Terry Smith was ìraising money for the Forest Lake Community Association and collaborating with the FLCA while he was working with Duffy Development and Human Services Inc.,î the developers of an affordable housing project.

ìHe then attempted to save his political image by asking me, a so-called friend, to fall on my sword to save him,î McCaskey said.

He went on to call Council member Susan Young mean spirited, arbitrary and biased.

McCaskey didnít forget about Council member Judy Bull who was accused of coming to meetings unprepared and not being able to make a ìrational decision on her own without direction.î

Rick Ashbach was the lone council member to have ìenough strength of character and objectivity to refrain from joining the feeding frenzy,î McCaskey said.

While Young and Bull responded to McCaskeyís personal statements against them, Smith sat quietly and did not comment on McCaskeyís allegation during Mondayís meeting.

Charges Made

McCaskey was being considered for possible disciplinary action by the council for comments that were made in a flier sent out to the public in early August of 2005.

McCaskey sent out an ìinformationalî flier concerning the affordable housing complex that is proposed to be built on the old district Memorial hospital grounds.

The flier described the affects an affordable housing complex could have on the surrounding single-family neighborhood and county taxes.

ìThese types of buildings tend to turn into a hotbed of crime, drug dealing, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, spousal abuse, and child abuse. The current low-income housing in Forest Lake consumes 60 percent of the police calls...,î the flier stated.

The flier was signed Clyde E. McCaskey.

In early March McCaskey was sent a letter from City Administrator Chip Robinson that notified McCaskey that a public hearing was going to convene to consider his removal from the planning commission.

McCaskey then received a ìStatement of Chargesî from the city.

Several charges listed facts, but others stated that the flier, ìusing the official notice of the Planning Commission as its prologue, giving it the appearance of being an official notice to the city.î

Another charge was that McCaskey disseminated the information but that ìcommunication contains false and inflammatory statements.î

Charge 13 on the list stated that ìthe actions of Clyde McCaskey have had a detrimental impact on the reputation of the City creating the implication that they City is against affordable housing.î

The Showdown

Mondayís special session was split into two sections. The first half, from 6 to 6:30 p.m. was to consider ìallegations or charges against Clyde McCaskey.î

This portion was originally closed, but opened at the request of McCaskey.

Hardly a seat was empty as Smith opened the meeting by recapping the situation following the distribution of the flier.

ìSusan Young made aware concerns about the flier,î Smith said.

ìI assured her that Iíd spoken with McCaskey. McCaskey was told to make a public statement, to accept full responsibility of the distribution. He was then told not to participate as commission member on Duffy project. To my dismay he chose to do so and violated fair and impartial hearing process.î

Smith went on to share his concerns about McCaskey and the role he should play as a planning commission member.

ìThis is not about his right to free speech or council looking for scapegoat,î Smith said.

ìItís about defiance in the Duffy hearing, lack of respect for the mayor, city council members, the planning commission and a lack of understanding. I believe it deserves review. You were asked not to participate and you did.î

The council then determined that actions should be brought against McCaskey and followed with a public hearing.

Public Hearing

McCaskey prepared a written statement that was passed out for council and audience members. It discussed each ìchargeî being brought against him, and then followed with a personal statement.

McCaskey spent a portion of the time specifically discussing charge 13.

ìIt was the action of the city council that triggered the Duffy suit not the actions of the planning commission,î McCaskey said. ìThis procedure will only add up as one more abuse of power added the many abuses perpetrated already.î

McCaskey added that, ìthis proceeding is nothing but a kangaroo court where no regard is given to truth, justice, constitutional rights or due process. You have appointed yourselves judge, jury and executioner.î

He went on to make personal statements about each council member and their ìattempt to assassinate the character of a disabled veteran who is blind and deaf and all for a pathetic attempt to cover up and misdirect your ineptness and incompetence.î

McCaskey stated ìthe city staff manipulated this entire affair involving the district hospital property, and all should be replaced for doing so.î

As McCaskey finished, Young asked him why he chose to put the City of Forest Lake planning commission header on the flier.

ìAt the very first meeting, after the flier went out, my concern was not the stuff that you said, my concern was, and still is, that people looking at that flier believed that it was written by the city of Forest Lake staff,î Young said.

The statement was followed by booís from the crowd, to which Young said. ìI donít ask respect, I ask courtesy.î

She went on to say ìyouíve been around government, politics and community organizations, you are good at that. Please help me understand why, instead of a piece of paper that said Clyde McCaskey at the top, you put it on something that looked like an official document of the city of Forest Lake.î

McCaskey said the original flier did not have the information on top and it was added ìto make sure the information was accurate and to save paper.î

Smith then made the motion to close the public hearing so a disciplinary action could be taken.

Community voices

Before McCaskey spoke, several community members stood up to not only support McCaskey, but to address the council for their actions over the span of the Duffy Development approval process.

Some spoke of allegations of back stabbing actions made by the mayor, while others said McCaskey was standing up for ìhis people.î

ìHe stood up for a belief, he believed in the neighborhood,î said Beverly Johns said. ìI donít see this council caring about any one of us, not about what we felt. Clyde did. He is a human being and he has a right to say what he believes.î

Richard Pecar, a Forest Lake Community Association member, approached the council with ìtechnicalî concerns about the way in which it acted with McCaskey. He noted there are guidelines missing throughout the cityís commissions.

ìI think what the problem is here is the city council needs to be proactive,î Pecar said.

ìThere should be some sort of standard or guidelines for all commission members, that they understand their expectations. We need to establish boundaries.î

Tom Lynch, a former council member, simply stated that ìthe next public hearing would be November 7, election day.î

Censure McCaskey

The mayor started the discussion by stating his own frustrations with the flier and the role McCaskey played on the planning commission.

ìHe excited the public and informed the public with claims, that he is assuming to be true, these are allegations,î Smith said. ìItís not right, in my opinion, to wear a hat on one side of the head and wear another one on the other side.î

While Young noted she would move to have McCaskey censured, Bull made a statement.

ìI think this whole situation is a such a tragedy to this whole community,î Bull said.

ìThere is a lot of mis-information tonight, that is also a tragedy. We shouldnít pit neighbor against neighbor, we should be uniting to make this affordable housing a success.î

Ashbach followed with his statement about his beliefs on the role of a person ìin the know.î

ìI think what one of the other things that is a struggle when you receive a piece of information from someone in the know- you receive that in a different light,î Ashbach said, ìyou take it as being informed, well read and well understood. That makes this information even more difficult to understand.î

The council then started deliberating what disciplinary action would fit best for the McCaskey situation.

City Attorney Dave Hebert was asked to describe what the term censure meant.

ìA censure is basically saying the act was misconduct and that you publicly disapprove of that conduct,î Hebert said.

As the censure issue continued to be discussed Young brought up the issue about commission ethics.

ìOne of things, in dealing with personal decisions, is that if all the rules are not clearly understood, you cannot expect them to play by those rules,î Young said. ìIf we did not ask the planning commission members to behave in a fair and ethical manner that reflects the entire community values, then we cannot expect an individual to abide by those rules.î

Smith said he thought a censure was in order and Young made a motion to censure McCaskey.

ìIíll make a motion that the council officially censure the flier by Mr. McCaskey, that it did insight fear by any standard of a human rights organization and was a fear mongering document that brought adverse attention on the city of Forest Lake from the State of Minnesota and Washington County,î Young said.

After the official wording was worked out and finalized the council voted unanimously to accept the motion and censure Clyde McCaskey for his actions.

Before the meeting closed Young said she would like to ìtake someone from each commission to create a code of ethics and standards of behaviors.

So those members would act clearly and understand so we can prevent this type of situation in the future.î

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