e this is a test of the city of Pac audio system e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to the city of Paca special meeting on July 8th 2024 at 9:00 am the meeting is being called to order um we're going to have the invocation by Pastor mberry and the pr Allegiance by commissioner MCAS let's pray father we thank you again for this day we thank you for your love and kindness and for the multitude of your tender mercy here we are this morning God to be here in this session again we pray your wisdom your guidance your directions be upon us give us to know God that we are your people and we represent you and keep us mindful of that it is in Jesus name we pray amen of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands a nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Ro Paul please M CR commissioner Tammy mastle here commissioner Justin Campbell present commissioner will Jones present commissioner Rufus boram present mayor Robie K present all members are pred and accounted for and we have a quorum thank you could you also please read the special call meeting notice yes ma'am to Commissioners Tammy mccal will Jones and ruus Borum you're hereby notified a special called meeting of the black City commissions here by call to be held on July 8th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. at City Hall 2011 North Second Street black Florida 321 77 the purpose of the meeting is for discussion and action regarding the city manager tooy Bell's employment with the city please govern yourselves accordingly sign Jus our Campbell senior commissioner group two and Roberta M cran there thank you I am going to open the floor to public comments Miss kitchens algra kitchens 1027 South 12th Street Paca Florida I just want the public to understand that the only discussion we're going to have is under public comments so if they want to speak they need to speak now and not wait for the item um my favorite Kenny Rogers song The Gambler has these words of advice from an old Gambler to a new one you have to know when to hold them know when to fold them know when to walk away you know when to run in April of this year three of you gambled that Mr Bell in spite of his history with other cities with the depart State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations and the south Florida Water Management District would become a new man and act differently hear you gambled and lost the city staff lost you lost city staff and the citizens of Paca lost his dismal regard for City policy his not performing the duties of city manager as spelled out in the city code and last but not least his apparent utter contempt of and disregard for your Authority as the governing body of the city of Pac could give you only one course of action you've been gambling on Bell since April now is the time for you to not only walk away but to run from the city manager Troy Bell's contract and terminate him effective immediately thank you thank you Miss Shanker please give your name and address for the record three minutes good morning my name is Shelley Shanker and um I live at 287 East River Road in East Paca my comments and Compliments are in support of Troy Bell um this is the first time I've ever felt compelled to go to a city hall meeting but I feel very strongly about the process and Troy in particular in many cities I've called home I've had rarely had the opportunity to actually meet um or deal have dealings with a city manager but because Mr Bell is in and around town so much he's reaching out to everyone he meets citizens business owners old Palaca blood and the new people who are new residents like myself he is spotted regularly on his way to St Monica's at our festivals that he sponsors personally he's patronizing our local businesses supporting our Civic organizations and supporting our local artists which I'm one of um hiring anyone with the intention to scheme against that person report incomplete stories to the media and placing blame on them for projects and contracts that were out of his com out of his control but placed before his time I think is not only dishonest but a terrible waste of our taxpayer money and time clapping play we let people get through thank you m wise my name is Audrey wise I reside at 1610 Edgemore Street here in palaka I stand before you as a citizen of paca I entrusted my vote and my support to this Council I trust your judgment you took a chance and supposedly everyone reviewed the contract of missel line by line your professional staff gave their opinion on the hiring or not of Mr Bell the council stood and they voted to employ him I say to the council those that viewed him as a risk for this town or a profit for this town I ask that you would stand by your decision I am I wouldn't say appalled I am shocked that this city government allows the public opinion to dictate your job I find it unimaginable whatever process or procedure you might have for requesting time off has that process have has that always been in place with a prior city manager do you sign off on all your employee vacation leave or whatever that is do you take in consideration like the lady said before Mr Bell is on and around this town 247 most of the time event wise weekends do you consider that comp time or do you consider that his regular time I think his hours are 40 hours I'm not sure but I know he has worked more than 40 hours I'm asking you find in your heart what we are asking you to do turn this town in a way of positivity you're in the middle of a budget year you're going to dismiss someone or consider dismissing someone within that time think about what you're doing and if there is reprimand that has to be done do it in a situation where the public is not involved in your business I mean I have never been in Corporate America and saw the information not I wouldn't say leak because it's public opinion I mean you know it's information wise you you have the right to do it but not to do it and air your business with an IND individual as public as this if you weren't a person that resigned in po everybody's looking at that paper or reading these news what is going on here I'm not saying it's dysfunctional this but I think we need to start acting as a family as a community we trust that you with our vote we're asking you to do what is right personal agendas has nothing to do with this our vote to you our confidence in you is there all I'm saying to you is don't come in with your opinion already made you ask for public opinion you ask for public to come and speak hear us feel us understand we understand if things has to be worked out we it but do it in a way that's fitting and in order for all we all in this thing together we all love pla you do too take a risk and stand by your conviction for or against thank you Miss Roach Cheryl roach 312 DOD street I'm sadden tired and disgusted by this current situation seemingly to be of days past another possible termination of a city manager do you even consider how this drains the city its employees and its residents what now a slap on the hand for the current manager termination to start all all over again more of the same bickering by Commissioners who should be looking forward and also looking internally to come to the realization that your actions are hurting us all it is time to say that in today's environment the commission has the technology to stay current on All City doings stop blaming city employees for your lack of preparation and research stop polarizing the citizens with your perceptions perceptions of misdeeds and good old boys culture this is the 21st century with social justice social justice at the Forefront be Trailblazers embrace all the opportunities that PATCO holds and stop the games of yesterday I personally have had good experience es with Mr Bell he listened to me he helped me with a few issues that made a difference in the city I am well aware of all the question marks during his vetting and after his prary period has not been the best this latest infraction pertaining to work life integration is a is at the pulse of office culture in today's work environment bottom line please consider all the loyal city employees who come into the office 5 days a week and are trying to stay on track for the betterment of the city it is time to stop the drama I implore you to make a final decision stick with it don't put the city on hold again continue moving forward with the land slap of land swap of the River Center the property across the street continue with the St John Avenue improvements and streetscaping make sure the marina deal is up continue fighting to bring all the cities neighborhoods and Parks up to par do not be dragged down again by internal bickering that makes all of you and the City of patka look bad looks look poor and look dismal I firmly believe the citizens want better Miss given at the very end of this well you there's only one more C so okay just just checking um Mr Vickers good morning to all of you asku vicus 207 North 18th Street I'm appalled that you would have us to come here early in the morning with something that's not even worth talking about there's more issues that you should be addressing besides something that about time not being taken care of the way he's supposed to there have been other instances where you overlooked things and didn't do anything about it we have too many things that we have to approach and need to be fixed your infrastructure is bad you don't do anything body you haven't built anything to accommodate us as a patient a a patient here not a pupil here to come to your meetings you have not constructed a building for a city hall ever this used to be the post office you got the post office next door you got a jail is in dis array you don't have no place to put anything you don't have your instructure cutting grass I've been here over 4 4 some years nobody has ever cut the grass the trees have overgrown into the street but you going tell us that we have to do something because if we have cars that not being moved grass not cut you can give us a fine for that this not right how can you say that when you have a city manager a mayor and attorney who collecting three checks and you didn't do anything to him but you going to say something about him because time not being put in the proper way it's appalling to us to see here and you get us up at 9 o' in the morning to come here to listen y bicker about something that's not even worth talking about thank you Mr cobs good morning uh first of all I if you look back on your my name is William Cobb 1310 Bronson Street if you uh nice to meet you mayor and all of you I Am The Unofficial mayor of East bica uh uh when I found out about I did get a chance to meet with Mr Troy different times and he was very professional but the main thing is this it kind of goes back to we need to get this you know that old system out I'm I'm very proud to have so many African-Americans on this board but it's not all about that it's about doing the right thing and the think about getting this guy go for that is just crazy but let's do the right thing this is not a reason to turn this man's life upside down for something like that but I do have unless we you know get on our knees and get praying I do know when this is going to stop when I know when whites and blacks is going to get along but we can change that now let me tell you when they going to get along when they going to do the right thing when women stop chasing men and roosters stop chasing H and Joe Lewis become a champ again miss Givens good morning everyone my name is Tara giv I live at 225 Avenue here in Paka Florida please do not try to retaliate or mess with me or my family or anybody attached to me I'm just warning you up front this is what I have to say We the People the citizens of Paca would like transparency and full disclosure to help maintain the Integrity of the city of Paca number one my question is who called this meeting number two why was this meeting really called was this special meeting called with enough proper notice given to notify the public I would like to know the protocol on that because Thursday was the 4th of July was July which was a holiday then Friday you know some people travel went out of town didn't return so I like answers on that I have some questions I was here tonight that um Mr Troy Bell was actually sworn in i w winess him being sworn in now I'mma ask y'all this did anybody come down and Shake Mr troan or welcome him as our new city manager it's on the video everybody can go back and watch it um I never recall the mayor coming down to shake Mr Troy Bill's hand and welcome him now what I do recall I I recall his parents that were here and the gentleman that was featured in the Paca da news make sure y'all highlight this in the paper too because the newspaper tend to be biased and we need to tell the truth and the whole truth so before I wrap up I believe this meeting is a distraction for what the real issue is since you've been hired here Mr Bill not once have you been welcomed not in the public eye by your mayor our mayor and I would like to know why you called this meeting this is something that could have been sell up privately I I mean he is working I think the real issue here is the fact that Mr Bell is currently investigating your assistant City Manager for code of ethics violations in addition to that I believe he's been investigated for personal gains so these are things that all of a sudden we had a meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00 concerning the St John's River Center then we get a notice Friday at least I did on my phone from the city saying now we have this special call meeting concerning the employment of the city manager my question is what's the real issue here we want full transparency and we want to know what's going on concerning this investigation because if you go back to the last meeting there was a young there was an older gentleman named Mr wise that came forward and he mentioned some discrepancies with the zoning and the map do y'all recall that okay all that is on the investigation am I correct it's being looked into for ethics violations because when we work for the city right if I have a if I have employment with the city for example if I am the assistant city manager do I have the responsibility to disclose my personal business dealings before the city and the city commission before these business transactions take place these are my questions that I have so why are we really here thank you Jason Brown Jason Brown 1609 St John's Avenue Palaca Florida Mr Bill it's nice to meet you I've never met you sir um the only concern I have is that I was gone this week and I was in Camp North Carolina um I started getting post kind of getting text and hit back saying Hey do you hear this have you seen this didn't know much about it what was going on I did hear some things in the beginning of employment and I don't like listening to hear say so it is what it is I stay off social media as much as I possibly can but I own a business and I don't watch the news so it is what it is but when I start getting hit with things my concern is is that it's on a Thursday kind of like you explain why why is this such a quick and responsive thing I'd like to at least get some information to get to know Mr Bill I I am a local owner and they're they're making improvements on St John's Avenue right now yes it is making a little bit of hardship for me and my business but it's okay you know with that has to happen to make growth but I just there's a lot of people that hit me up on social media and say hey Jason or or say something and be like hey I guess I'm one of them people when I hear things I'll make a a point to come to a meeting and say hey I'd like to have a little bit of time I also asked for this at a at another meeting in the county and kind of got throwed off to the side but this is how I work if I can get some answers or talk to different people then it may make a difference um again I don't know what's going on here I'd like to find out what's happening so I'm just curious if there's additional timing that could be had to to maybe look into it as business owners in town that are just finding out about certain things and like I said I don't take the time to to worry about little bickering things I have a business to run I'm not worried about bickering things yes it is the city but I'm just trying to figure out what's happening now I just came back from North Carolina like I told you and had seven hours to look at what was being posted so thank you all for your time Mr Bill it's very nice to meet you hopefully I can meet you again yall have a good day Lawson Brown I had I had said one time I wasn't GNA get up and say anything I really came because I wanted to know both sides of the story I sat there for many years and my concern is is if we lose a city manager how far back will that take the city we have why I sat there I know that we interviewed at least five I mean and hired at least five people and dismissed them because we didn't get what we thought we wanted I have uh been with Mr Bell and tried to talk with him and see what this town needed he seems to know about economic development and that's one of the things I know that some of the staff has not been happy with him because they don't realize he's boss and if if they don't give him respect he can't get respect from other folks i' like for um I I wanted to speak after you all talk to us and told us how you felt about doing it but AO got up and said we couldn't say anything afterwards I'd like to know the whole story so that we can make a real good decision and understand in which direction our city commission is going I know what kind of job you have I had it for a little while and I love this town and I feel like all of you all have been all my family I call y'all my my children you too mayor you weren't there when I was there but I call all of you all my children and I hope that what whatever we need to do will be to move the city alone we need to keep we need to keep us together I'd like to remind sta when we work together we do well together amen when you fight people from the from the inside it catches up with you my grandma used to say when you dig one ditch Dig Two cuz there are things that if you have something that's that's upsetting or you don't like how it works go sit down and talk to your city manager he can't change things and then maybe sometimes the reason he did it you need to understand we work very well we didn't have this bigger staff when I was here and I sat by um I sat by two people uh well all the people almost but the last attorney they had and we used to laugh cuz they things come in I'd kick them under the table they finally toll on me so when I wanted to get their attention and know something I used to just tap them under the table so sometimes we just kind of tap each other under the table to get a better understanding you are a family and if you act like a family you can get more done no man is an island no man stands alone each man's Joy is joy to me each man grief is my we need one another so I will depend each man as my brother each man as my friend think about it we all need each other thank you is there anybody else here for public comment seeing none will close public comments on to regular business discussion and action regarding city manager Troy Bill employment with the City Commissioner Campbell uh to address the question who called the meeting I did um in order for us to have uh a meeting of sorts it's only can happen two ways it's either the mayor can call for a meeting or it has to be two Commissioners that calls for a meeting my call for this meeting is to make sure there's a contract in place but if you all think about it coming up in August we have a decision to make so ultimately if we as the decision makers to hire Mr Bale we have a duty to make sure that as we lead that we lead with Integrity transparency so the reason I called for the meeting ultimately was not to fire Mr bale as you can remember even though there things and we can talk about them and you can go back and look at the various uh meetings we all have some things that we don't care for things of that nature I myself have had conversations with Mr Bell we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago where we were to provide direction to the city manager as a result between now and the time of the 180 days or the six month contract there is not an opportunity for us to Come and Talk Amongst ourselves in an or in a form I don't know if you all understand but there's something that's called Sunshine Sunshine Law is something that States I am not allowed to talk to commissioner Jones I'm not allowed to talk to any of my colleagues unless it is in an open Forum so I want that to be made clear so this conversation I want to hear where we go from here there have been some things that have been put in the media that needs to be address one way or another however we can't address those things going just to talk to him some things are a policy issue so again this meeting is a part of our job as you all work on your jobs I'm quite sure there are meetings that you go into that you don't know you going into but you have to go into to him cuz guess what it's a part of your job you don't always get a notice to have the public opinion when you go on your job this is my job I take my job serious he has a job that is our only employee so as a result of him being our only employee we have to do what we have to do in a manner that we have to do it so being here we're grateful that we have you all here on a Tuesday morning at I mean on a Monday morning what to Monday morning at 8 o' uh 9:00 in the morning however this is a part of our job right assumptions came in just like nobody wanted us to come in with preconceived notions of wanting to fire that was an assumption that was made this meeting is to have a dialogue amongst the individuals who sit beside me walk beside me to make the best decision for this community as we move forward so that's why we're here so if anyone say that oh we're coming here to fire that was your own public opinion I received no phone calls to say hey commissioner Campbell what's your intent Blas Blas Blas but now that we're here this meeting is called so that we can have the necessary conversations to move forward regardless of my personal opinion I've always sat behind this Di and tried to be as completely transparent as possible when it comes down to anything that has come before us as a commission my job ultimately that I was entrusted to is to make sure as we grow that we move this city forth that we move this city forth collectively and again with the Sunshine Law being in place we're not able to have these conversations amongst ourselves I can go talk to Mr Bell I can go talk to staff until I'm blue in the face but until we are able to have open and candid conversations with the F with my fellow Commissioners to see where their minds are where the direction is that we all want to collectively go that's why we're here today there is no hitting agendas there's no nothing stating that I got we somebody came to me to do this that and third there's nothing there this meeting is for transparency and for us to have a conversation as a whole to the direction of where we would like to go with regards to the employment of our city manager thank you commission want to know who called the me no and commissioner Campbell answered that um again we prob is H on this it requires two I'm sorry it requires two on this um commission to call a meeting Commission of Campbell and then I co-signed it basically so that's how it went I mean it could have been generally the mayil does sign off but it could be to Commissioners as well and a 24hour notice is kind of the minimum standard and the notice was sent out in Friday so we met that 24hour meeting notice and because the probationary period ends on August 7th the 180 days of Mr Bell's contract we also only have one meeting permission meeting between now and then so again because we do need to discuss performance and this is the only venue we can do this in that is why we scheduled an advance of the commission meeting in prior to the probationary period ending commissioner well I'm I'm just completely loss about this this whole thing I got caught broadsided with the meeting what have you didn't know anything about it but then anyways um as it relates to you said performance then we got here employment contract U and then they also talked about time off so I'm things are all over the place right now I'm just saying things are all over the place in terms of what why we're here the meeting was abrupt and and um we we had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow but this came up so I just need to know why we're here to discuss anything as it relates to these things which I know we can call a meeting at any time we can even have an executive session we can have a closed session it doesn't have to be we can have a Clos session we can have a close session yes when it comes to talking about time off this meeting is a distraction in my opinion so I don't know why we're here um talking about this we could have done this in another way I'm just I'm just confused May mayor with due respect I want to bring a little bit of clarity as to again because I don't want anyone to make it feel as if I have a hidden agenda let me give you a breakdown of how we got here I never have a problem with explaining my position I made a phone call into City Hall I was asked I asked the process to ensure that I had the process my conversation was to have the conversation about moving forth because again we've had the meeting with Mr Bell there was some things that were supposed to stem out of the meeting as far as the workshop we don't have the ability we there's nothing scheduled to have the conversation with regards to Mr Bale prior to his um contract I asked she there was a there was a time frame of when did we want it I said it's whenever we whenever right I said whenever the additional stuff that was put on here was not put on here by me the time off all of that stuff was not added by me I simply want to I wanted to have a conversation and hear my colleagues when I when I the additional stuff again was not added by me so the the meeting that's scheduled for tomorrow and my book has nothing to do with today nothing to do with today it's not any employee it's not anything the meeting when we asked initially when I made the contact with the city clerk again I wanted to make sure that it was to talk about Mr Bale's employment I had nothing to say and Sonny please correct me if I'm wrong with regards to the additional attachments that are on to this meeting they were requested by mayor C thank you yes they were when we got to me everybody should have an opportunity to see the full contract I feel again for the sake of transparency you should see the contract you should all know what we're looking at um and so please um commissioner mcco thank you I think we need to address some questions that um Miss given had um we did answer the notification I did ask Sunny um about proper notification as well as legal to consult to make sure that we did notice this meeting properly and in a timely fashion and sunny if you can speak to that so that we can get clarification about the notice process if you don't mind is that okay Madam mayor yes she respond to that first the Sunshine Law governs reasonable notice the Sunshine Law indicates reasonable notice must be given to the public reasonable has been defined in different way under courts law however given the situation that it is it's up to the person calling the meeting to determine what is reasonable in that situation because reasonable can be a gray area in my experience as a city clerk and a certified city clerk I have not seen a situation unless it's a dire emergency that anything under 24 hours be called reasonable that is what I told the the people that called the meeting okay and as did have a sit down sit down with Mrs CR to make sure that we properly noticed and to see if the uh Mr Bale needed to be here because it was regarding his employment um also I want to address because I see it's on here and I see that mayor Carrera put it on here the time off I do W to share that I have done some research lots of research regarding his time off because concerns were brought to me and I'll just share that we owe it to the citizens when we have concerns to get justification as well as clarification um my concern is his absenteeism if it provided a difficult work environment for the organization so because that's on here that's one of the concerns that I would like to make sure that we discuss and talk about because we do have Mr Vil as well as staff involved and concerns that were brought before us brought to me so that's what I have to say right now about the time off and the absenteeism I think it's important to know whether or not his absen ISM called cause for difficult work environment thank you um do we want to start by we had outlined some goals how do we want I again I do have a question go ahead you said one of the reasons you called the meeting was because you feel that it was very important for the public to see his Contra I I said it I said one of the reasons I didn't say that was the reason for calling meeing I said the reason for the attachments okay and we all need to be familiar with the contract I think people have had questions they may not be in this audience but I've gotten a lot of questions a lot of emails asking about the process and it isn't as clear as it should be and a reason for sharing this contract it clearly spells out at the time of hire he gets 20 days plus one day per month sick time 20 days personal vacation leave plus one day of sick time but it does not specify how the time is requested and historically there's been emails just sent by the city manager when they take time off and that's been a you know a trust on a system that could be fine I honestly was not noticed or did not receive an email from Mr Bell till Saturday he had taken Friday and Saturday off that was a concern for mine and it may be because the policy is not clear we need to clear that I have the email right here I received it Saturday morning if we can kind of do it in chunks I kind of did a little research on that as well commiss so I went to HR our generalist and I wanted her to print out how the processes have been done prior always and she printed out that Mr Holmes Mr Griffith and Mr B and when time off is requested she is the one that normally signs off on them and that has been the way it's been done sunny I our city clerk is our backup in that process so inting these doc doents I've noticed that she has been the one that she'll get noticed from the city manager that he wants to take time off or she because we've had a female inum take time off and she goes in and she approves it or not the only time that it has been done different was on February 28th I see Sunny signed off for Mr Bill on that day and I asked why was sunny signing off versus Mrs Jones and Mrs Jones looked it up and she was absent but nothing has been done different as far as the process of requesting or approving a city manager's time off and it would be good if I can get this to you so that other Commissioners can have it each one has their name on the top and on the side right here is where you sign off for Mr Bill on the 28th I hope that kind of answers that that and I wasn't saying anything differently what I was saying is that I wasn't aware I don't sign off we don't sign off it's our only employee to me we may need to change the policy but that aside I received my email from Mr Bell saying he wasn't here I did not know until Saturday it hadn't been done any different Miss in fact it had been done in the whole 10 years I've been here it has what now it had not been done like that the whole 10 years I've been here in terms of uh having to sign off that we we sign off on anything or we are they are normally let us know that they're going to be taking time off and that be it we there's no real constraints so I did also ask so that it can come from the human the generalist Human Resources we re I received and in our packet here the time off that he has requested um and what the description of his request since he's been employed and I needed her in her words to break it down and give a synopsis to explain if I may give this to the clerk so that all of us can have the same thing because I needed to understand that as well again 20 days off according to his contract he is under those 20 days off I do have to bring up a concern that was brought to my attention by the generalist if this since we're talking about time off we have a attachment in our packet um Mr Bell that says we have 13 records of his requested time off it was brought to my attention by the generalist that is actually 15 days but he's still within his 20-day vacation period time frame but that's not on here I just wanted to make sure that I bring that to the attention of my fellow Commissioners because it was brought to my attention that on February 15th he sent an email out reminding us that he will be out on the 15th and the 16th but we kind of missed it on this form so we do have 15 days just to correct and make sure we're transparent that is 15 days off versus 13 I'm making sure that you get this if you don't mind so that everybody has a copy of that reminding us that he did let us know that he would be off I did ask human resources did he take that time off and she said yes so we just need to make sure we add that there yes commissioner Jones reference to the days off thank you for that Mr PCO I appreciate that um for today's all I think that um I don't know and Mr Bill could answer this need be but I'm just saying from personal perception and observation um I think Mr Bill have worked I'm G just give one example and that's Memorial Day weekend with the Blue Crab Festival Mr Bell was out at the blue crab from the beginning to end every day that I went out there um so do we we really pay him for every hour that he's not at his office and don't give him credit for the hours that he's working extra um that's going to be a tough Act of balance of of how we if we're being fair because compensation is compensation uh we we haven't talked about any c days for he or any other employees but I guarantee you if a firefighter go out there we're going to have to pay them uh any anyone else go out there they're going to be compensated um so on that uh we do need some clarification we we this policy what I see here is an opportunity for us to create policy we're policy makers so instead of pointing fingers I think we need to be solutionists okay so there's a solution to this problem and we sit down like the people that these voters put us up here to be and resolve this issue in a manner um where we could be better um again I can just take those three days and we probably owe Mr Bell sometime back um secondly I would like to add if nobody from this diet have been signing off Mr Bill's time I think we need to look at our own accountability system we're accountable for one hire so I always have assumed that it was the chairperson the mayor that actually directly uh does this now we understand it's not but we can put that into policy so that it won't be what I didn't know about it in the paper it looked it looked very bad that uh it was stated we don't know where Mr Bell is when in fact we knew where Mr Bell was Mr Bell was out Mr Bill asked well I knew I I can't say we because I can't speak for everybody else Mr Bill said that he was going to take time out and he was going to be off for a week and uh he did so I specifically told Mr Bill to talk to Mission borm because borm had a question about uh time off in our last meeting he said say he would do that do such and I said I didn't have any problem with you taking time off because you are boarded those 20 days and you're within your time familyes first he even said that he would work from home while he was out but I know he was doing other work as he gave us a synopsis I think just as last evening of some of his work so uh we can't allow the newspaper to control how we work up here we work independently we could we could read into those things uh but take them as what they are and I think this commission have set back read analyzed did our research and we are forming our own opinions of what actually happened this is a wealth of knowledge things that we hadn't thoroughly known as a process that Mr just brought out to uh help us go forward and move forward and I appreciate it but I want to say that on on Mr Bill's behalf because I have observed those things in his time and if if need be I guess this is something that need to be a policy of how compensation will be done as far as over the 40 hours or outside the office room um I been told him one time I feel you're politic and you you're you're in the public a little too much I think but you know it's good because you have these people out here today that can attest to the time that you have been working in the community and that's all I have to say on that the time yes um uh I know you mentioned I said something about time off that but that was way before this meeting as it related to not to do anything with a termination or anything with his employment um my my thing with the time off had to do with when you're coming on you're under your um probationary period and the number of times that you're off as it relates to City business but nothing ever to to speak to him about anything as it related to his employment because I do know Mr Bell is always out in the community he's working he's been at every one of my town halls front to back he has also been in the community with all of the various events so I think they know Mr Bell a little bit better than they know some of the Commissioners so with that being well I'm just I'm just saying he's he's always he's always out um so we're here for a different reason for for whatever it's a distraction on the day and we should not we should not be here talking about this time off we need to be trying to put together a policy as it relates to how Mr Bell put his time in or whoever the city manager is put their time in and let us know but not not that it should be some big deal in the newspaper and everything else I think this whole thing was blown out of proportion M okay I don't want to I I wholeheartedly agree that he has been a been very active in the community and I appre really appreciate that and it appears that the citizens as well but we have to be mindful also just the concerns that were brought to me about the community versus being here within the organization and provid in for a difficult work environment and that's just what the concerns were brought to me I don't know I'm not in here working during the day-to-day operations however when it's brought to my attention that it may have provided for difficult work environment it is my duty as a commissioner to address the concerns I think we can talk about that here and that needs to be considered as part of the policy are we G to give him going to recognize or state office hours if we want him here from 9 to five you know to to support staff or however just consider it and talk about what is it going to look like when we create this policy I would like to recognize that he did pass me a note letting reminding me that upon his hire he did inform the commission that he would be off on the 15th and the 16th but I wanted to just make a correction that we have a we have 13 record it's actually 15 days but you're still within your your time I also want to talk to um the what Mr Jones brought up about him being out in the community and compensation I want the community to know that we don't compel him to go out and do that that's on his own and we appreciate that so you're asking for comp time or whatever I just need clarification we appreciate him going out but that's what he does we don't we don't demand that he goes out a good thing it's a good practice but that's on his own Mr T and again I want to make it clear that it's not a toy to do anything or distract anything as you all could notice even from this dialogue this is these are things that we can't talk about unless the unless the form is provided and so once again from this it's where do we go from here there are several things again I stand behind with what commissioner mcal has stated with regards to the 15 days but you're 15 days in with only five days left and so how do we go from here and those are things that we have to address rather sooner than later and again within that contractual period if there is any way that we can come to a resolution that is what we're supposed to do as legislators that governs Mr Bale so again the whole thing I never brought up his attendance because on the conversation with Mr Bell what did I say Mr Bell I don't macrom manage like that but when it comes down to policy and procedures that's where I talk about the import I could have my own personal feelings about anything but when it comes down to the personal policy of how things are done when it comes down to the personal policy of how things are being leaked out of City Hall those are things that we have to get down to the bottom of and these are the meetings that we're able to have those conversations so not every meeting that we have is to cover up something it's to bring light to a whole lot of things and I thank you Miss given you brought a light to something that again Mr Bale that information was given to Mr Bale Mr Bale has acted on it and has given us whatever it is but as of now our conversation today was with the direction because again we did have a meeting and we left that meeting with the notion that we were going to give Mr Bell direction right and so given what the newspaper has put out what more opportune time to have the conversation right everyone is keyed in on to what's happening today tomorrow that's still going to happen regardless of the meeting would have happened today tomorrow or the day and after they would have said if it happened after that meeting yesterday that it probably would have still been a ployed too but then again as legislators we have a duty and what better way to have this meeting than to have it so that we can go ahead and come up with a plan of moving forward okay I agree with everything I think again the bottom line here is our policy and procedure so that everybody knows upfront what the expectation is we it wasn't clear obviously this is our own employee that has been stated several times the city manager and when this commission is not authorizing the time off it can be projected ahead I know that that's done and many you usually submit your time R requests a little bit in advance unless it's an emergency of course and you are able to get that authorized and everybody knows what's going on again for the sake of organization transparency for both the public and the people that work here folks need to know what to expect and if it's an emergency as I said that you don't get that notice but if it can be planned for if you have to travel you have to buy a ticket you have to plan and that's all we're asking I think we need to have a procedure that's clear and planful so the city manager and all of us know what's going on the people that are approving time off work for the city manager that puts them in an awkward position to it does make more sense for this board to be approving the time off um in advance and again that hasn't and fness to Mr Bell been the procedure it's been pretty open-ended but I think we need to clarify that for his sake as well of all of us but I also want to put on the record mayor that with regards to a special call meeting if the availability of the commission were not that they would not be able to be here today that could have been stated as well so I don't want you to feel as if just because the meeting was called I was open to whenever the meeting was called the suggestion came from the mayor but if the ability of the Commissioners they were now able to be here that could have been also addressed so that the mere fact that they're here regardless of if they think it is or not important they're here but again these are things that as commission as legislators of this community that we have there are things that we have to do it may not always be to the benefit of our constituents but again we still have a duty to do regardless of it makes you mad that we're doing stuff in a time frame that may not have been given to you or that may not be appeasing to you but then again we still have a duty to do so that we can carry on with the business of the city commission well most time in a special call meeting a special call meeting you're trying to really accomplish a specific thing and basically you can have um the mayor or two Commissioners call that meeting and irregardless of whether you have two or or what you it doesn't matter if all five or here when you call a special call meeting it can be two people I believe is that correct um yes okay so it can be two people it doesn't have to even be so when you call a special call excuse me takes two people to call a specially called meeting unless it's the mayor she can individually call a specially called meeting however since you are taking action you still still do need a quorum in order to have the meeting right but you don't have to have all all five so that's in in in some cases when special call meetings are called for specific things irregardless of who who's available and sometime that can be not a good thing but again when we and I want to bring this back and I'll be done when we talk about the employment with the city the the things that we talk about or that we have talked about today regardless of if we think it's minor or minor if we think it's again with his employment these are things that need to be ironed out rather sooner than later and I don't want us to get into the the the the job of nitpicking when and when when when and when not where to do things because it's not as a convenience to everyone but then again the employment it talks employ a part of employment it comes with time it comes with how things are done it comes with policies and procedures and if we on our end as commissioner J say if we got to take accountability of ourself and take action so that as Mr Bale moveed forth or as any other employee moov forth they're moving forth with Clarity and they're not moving forth with that gray area to where if the newspaper pick this up or citizens pick this up that they're taking their own form of knowledge and applying it but no we're going to be able to relate it back to a policy so this part this is a part of employment regardless of Mr Bale or anybody else this is something that we have to address with all of that said what do we want to do here as far as moving forward we have talked about having more clear-cut instructions policy about requesting time off and who to request it from so that we all know what's going on so these issues can't come up again for anybody um what are the in regards to this contract what are the specific issues do we want to address because we are almost at the end of the probationary period I think we need to be fear to Mr Bell as well as this commission well what we currently have on the books that states that I mean we've been operating for a number of years as it relates to this and I don't know what's unique about this that we need to change anything or whatever if it is then we need to understand and know what is what's the issue as it relates to the current HR policy so do we have the current HR policy that we believe that we need to change right now I miss is Miss Jones here no M go ahead Miss I think that would be good for her to come up that's what I'm that was one of the reasons I asked for a a synopsis of this the days off and how it works the processes so we need some guidance we need some guidance okay on how it works and moving forward if we are the ones that's going to approve the city manager's time off we have to keep in mind if an emergency comes up are we gonna be called in for a meeting to do it and is that g to hinder them just I just need to know yeah ieason I'm ask goad okay as it stands um Human Resources has been responsible for approving all city managers since my employee and previous that was the job on the approval letter for human resources to approve only the city managers unless the city manager was out and wanted authorized HR to approve some of the people that work under him so that's that policy if it is the desire yes I I just I need to do it in chunks for me to get okay some of the people under him currently what we're living in if you are not the one that approves the time off who does it defaults to what Sunny the city clerk city clerk yeah and that's it that's it okay I believe that excuse me if she can finish and then yes okay so if I am not here to approve then Sunny it would default to Sunny to approve the city manager so and that's the only approval latter part of that approval so I want to the verbage approval when we say approve how does that look okay so requests come in the city manager would input the days and the times that he is requesting to be off notification will be given to anybody in that approval ladder um that this time has been requested so approval means you approve or deny I just need to know what because usually when I request time off I'm waiting to see if it's approved or not exact so you determine whether or not he gets to take that time off it's approv yes that's what that was my that was my whole question in terms of uh how does how does a subordinate how does a subordinate get to tell their their their Superior that they can take time off or not it doesn't work like that it and I can agree with that commissioner but here here's what I got here is what I have the city manager in this case Mr Bell and previous Managers generally they let us know that they're gonna be out they can send emails or whatever it was never an issue so in terms of somebody a subordinate saying that they can deny time off that does not it's not logical so yeah we do have to address that right away okay I think the policy the policy actually says his supervisors okay shall approve am I right or wrong yes okay so here's here's what it is it just haven't been happening not just with with Mr Bill so what has been happening is the practice is you guys just go in the time sheet and sign yes or no approval so he get paid but the approval of time off is up to this board and that's always been the policy we just have to start following policy and my issue and that's why I say what changed why should it change because we were we were operating all these years and this is the first time it's come up to my to my knowledge if and I will say if it's the request of the commission that is a small change that if the if the mayor um whomever is designated to receive um notifications if the city manager were to put in requests and to be notified that's a simple fix in our system your email address go in anytime he puts in a request you're going to it's going to come to you now you can simply if you don't have the access to adg send it back to HR and say I approve this time so it's documentation to go with me either putting a A or putting a d so it will definitely come from you all so that that's a very easy it just hasn't something that has been done from my understanding this city manager sends out emails letting you all know when his he's requesting time off and if I don't get anything back saying nothing from him or responding me if he copies everybody in to say no we can't approve these days then my assumption would be to approve his time in the system as with any previous city manager well here's what I got you can go to any organization or what have you but he is the CEO of the city it's no different than he was at IBM and the CEO when they when they need their time off they need time off adjustments can be made within to deal with whatever else so this isn't it's a big it's not a big it's not a big deal nobody saying it's know but what I'm saying is he is the CEO of this city IBM huet Packard School District when they want if if a CEO want time off they can take the time off period i nobody's disagreeing and nobody's saying they're going to deny time off if person has the time off I was a public administrator too the people that worked with me and for me did not authorize my time off I had to send up the food chain so I'm just saying we just need to clarify that that's mine we're just talking about the fact that we've had these things in place and we need to correct some of these that's the purpose of this meeting all right so no that's that's a part of it and I think in order for us to move forward we've addressed that and that we've acknowledged that that's a part but I still wanted to make sure as an employment we had a meeting and that we promised Mr Bale that we would give him direction of where we want to to see him operate in this city and I feel that it's advantageous for us to have that direction given to him prior to his probationary period ending so as moving forth as a word of action one we address what we've talked about as far as the policy with regards to time off but I also think that we need to come back and have that meeting with regards to the Strategic plan the mo with regards to the Strategic plan plan having the uh mission and vision of the city so that we're able to clearly give direction to Mr Bell so that he would be able to do what it is that we've act and again we did not have a meeting prior to that was strictly set for that so all of this meeting the way it Got Hijacked um with regards to making it appear as if it was only regarding the uh attendant I strictly referenced that we had a previous meeting that we said we were going to give direction we have not planned that and I feel that prior to the end of a probationary period that we should have or give clear direction as to where we want him to operate so that he's not operating in a great area so that he has something tangible that we can revert back to and move forward that would be my recommendation as we move forward with an action going forward I agree and we should have been working on that for some time but we do need to get that done um when the contract was signed we had this whole time period and kind of waited and waited we started we need to finish commissioner Bor well we we wouldn't be talking about moving forward in in this regard like that because initially how everything even transpired we tried to slow things down upfront we wouldn't be here but anyway so that's I mean that's just where we're at right now uh everything was forced and I and I think we've um pushed to the point to where when there were uh times to give a clear Direction and move forward with different things we should have we we we have to set those dates and and and and and provide that we've given Mr Bell some of the things again he's he's got to um put those together and we got to move forward from from there but he's working on a few things already that he's brought before us and that those are some of the things that we're going to have to deal with either sooner rather than later I mean he's been working on some things can I ask can I say something I know time is of the essence but we do have to talk about some concerns and if we can have them in an executive session I would appreciate that but so we need to think about that too I would like to have an executive session that we talk about some concerns concerns that were brought to my attention as well as the meeting that you're talking about so that he'll have clear Direction Miss Miss West just is that something provide some clarification you can only have a closed door executive session that isn't subject to Florida Sunshine Law in two specific cases for pending litigation and Union contract negotiations you cannot have a closed door executive session to discuss inlo Madame mayor yes Mr B couple quick things I'd like to clarify one of the acts of the uh HR manager when leave is put in is to check to make sure that there is sufficient amount of time in the leave bank so that's part of the process um so if I'm hearing correctly that there is a desire to have a policy to codify the current practices and if that's the case then uh staff can pull together that policy to codify current practices and bring that back in saying that there's two different issues that we have here one is the leave request and two according to the Charter there's a requirement to give notice to the clerk uh when the city manager is disabled or unavailable so those two issues have to be addressed in the policy statement so I just wanted to make sure that I clarify that well well couldn't we just in addition to those things add that it says your supervisor in the policy so we need to make a determination I have to wait for two weeks we could do it now are we gonna have the city manager do the email to all Commissioners to get a approval or denial or are we going to say to the mayor that's you are the uh chairman of this board which which would we prefer and again I don't think anybody's going to deny so many time off as long as they have that time available but we need to make a decision yes so what is the play of this board well my my take it would be is if he when he wants time off or whoever fills that role take the time off unless is something that he just absolutely have to be here I don't think we need to complicate it no but we're noty he got he got to get approval so how do you want to do the approval process yeah I mean I say keep it simple whatever whatever that whatever that means just keep it simple if if I may to just simplify that so that approval would come from you all he's already sending out emails notifying you all of time that he is requesting to be off simply by putting the chair of the commission on the approval l means unless there's a reply back to him saying you can't take this off and denying it then she could simply send out an email just sent out an email to HR coping in the city manager saying I approved this with that email it Stills give me because she won't have access to adg to go in and approve that but then we have the approval from the commission not just a subordinate of Mr Bale or whomever the city manager may be approv in time and I think as much as possible again if you know you're going to be taking time off in a week or whatever that timeline is just get it out to us as soon as you can and then it's just done and we don't have to think about it mayor yes may I may I ask the question related to this process and also to human uh resources question is it possible that we can at whoever the supervisor is for the policy to adg so that they have the capacity to approve within adg so that human resources won't have to do it I'm just asking question yes so that would be and they already in adg um it would just be financed given approval and then me adding them to the lad that's it okay so the direct process would be whoever is deemed represent resentative of supervisor in the policy that individual should be given access in our software adg I don't have a problem with that I don't make it very complicated either that makes no it's not complicated it makes it more direct and easier and the point I think it's going to put too many fingers in the pot if we do it the way you said it it would be much a much easier and cleaner process because the leave request can be printed off of adg the approval coming from whomever the chair is saying I approve this and then it's there and you will only be able to see the audit trail of who actually put that a or that withdrawal or that Denial in there based on the email or correspondence that came back from the commission think we can move on okay thank you commission coun knowing that we can't have an executive session regarding some concerns I don't want to overlook that would it be I guess I I'm going to have to say call for an independent investigation through an outside agency regarding some concerns that were brought to my attention moving forward within the organization I think that's a great importance that way we can show that we're addressing the concerns that were brought to my attention and providing support for the city manager moving forward it's going to cost but I I want to call for an independent investigation my my understanding this city manager is already he's already he's already in play for that according to what I understand I'm talking about for him oh that's not already in play concerns that M MCO finish please okay concerns that were brought to my attention regarding the practices of the city manager I want to make sure that we address them by calling an independent investigation through an independent agency to show that we've addressed it and give that we can reach out to the league for direction maybe [Music] some I get I get where she's going but I think in order for us can we bring this to a resolve yes and then that be taken on in an as an emergency item um but I think in order my request still stands that PRI to the end or prior to the end of the probationary period that we give clear direction to Mr Bell um as to what it is that where we're going and that means there's two meetings that has to happen we have to have the meeting with regards to the Mi the Strategic plan mission and vision and then from there then that's when we give the direction which means those meetings has to happen within the next couple of weeks so I have a recommendation so the recommendation is the Thursday that we was not scheduled to have a meeting that we utilize that time to speak to those two instances so that we would be able to move forth and give clear direction to Mr Bell prior to the end of his probationary period which is August the 7 so do you want are you suggesting that be a workshop or no I don't want to work I don't want a workshop because in a workshop you cannot take action I want a I want it to be a meeting so that in the event action needs to be taken place that we have the ability to do so and we no longer have to kick the can down the road that would be my recommendation as regards to the employment of Mr Bale which is the reason why I called for this meeting not solely for it to be focused on the absenteeism is that the wish of the group to use that Thursday to do the workshop I mean Workshop excuse me meeting to discuss strategic goals what what what day is that the Thursday that we were not so have a commission meeting this week so it will be the the 25th right okay is everybody okay with that so that we can move on 25th okay yeah okay thank you thank you and that would give us approximately just under two weeks to uh get some V Square okay Miss commission Masco was still speaking prior to that we had to put closure have you reach closure on that I want to bring this to a resolve which means we have to take action which means we have to vote so that was in a form of motion second we have a motion a second all in favor any opposition thank you now commissioner M I believe there is some something of great importance that I feel like we should um have the ability to open up for an emergency item because it's not listed on this so with regards to Legal is that something that we can do I make a motion that we accept commissioner masso's um recommendation to go into as an emergency item and let's move forward with discussion motion do we have a second second all in favor I any opposition thank you go ahead Miss Casco you're good are you well I was going to come for what was the um what was the motion though yes yes I just I was add an emergency item to the agenda and Miss commissioner MCO was speaking before so it's just going to let her finish before going to you commissioner I don't need some guidance in this process I want to call for an independent investigation from an outside agency because I have some concerns that were brought to my attention so legal and we we have limited time so how would we go through how would we proceed with this process if I want to have an independent investigation done about concerns that will brought to my attention within the organization commissioner mcal I really do um encourage you to reach to outside employment law Council on this issue as you know Mr Bell is my boss so just giving me some direction as how to so do I your outside employment law firm Susan erley Susan Susan erley with the Florida League of cities if you all so we is with the Florida League of cities and she has been our outside Council serving the city very well as commissioner Bor can probably attest for many many years and let her give me guidance on this so with that being said if we go ahead let me help you go ahead I've actually made a phone call to um attorney Elderly with regards to trying to seek Direction um at the time she was not available uh she did give me a turn call but it was after hours when it was received I would make the recommendation that we appoint someone to uh get the availability of Miss elderly attorney elderly so that if there are any questions that we deem to be asked that we all are able to ask in an open form and if the you desire if you desire as an independent um commissioner to make that contact outside of that um I would also encourage that but again as a whole I would make the recommend that we move forth in that case providing Sunny the opportunity just to only seek the availability of Miss elderly so that we would be able to have her available at the time of the meeting for the sake of time I've contacted her I have gotten guidance that an outside investigation would be the direction to go in so if we can have appoint someone if that's the will of the commission for us to go in that that direction for the sake of time to make sure that we're being fair and impartial so that he can have guidance moving forward and showing that we have addressed the concerns so I have reached out um it's just a matter of the process of us the taste the taste of my board if you all want to go in that direction of an investigation we just need to say that and go ahead and reach back out to Mrs ER I have a question of the of the City attorney would a conversation with the labor attorney um be something that could be the subject of a executive session no good question you can you can have those one-on-one conversations you of course can talk to her all day long with one of the Commissioners but the second you bring an another elected official in sunshine which is why I made the recommendation that if Commissioners wanted to have that ability to speak to her that we do so but I do think it's very important that we move forth with the information that was received uh I believe that once that information has been vetted even the information that we received on last evening uh it is of great importance that we do our due diligence as the legislative body to make sure that we leave zero Stones unturned when it comes down to making sure that we address what comes before us so I'm in full agreement um as stated commissioner mccal it's the taste of how do we move forward um we have to commissioner Jones I really hate to admit this but you guys are talking across my head listen oh oh you Tobe yeah because H is that what it was meant to be because you you're not aware of the concerns that were brought to us so it shows that we are not violating sunshine okay so great but okay so because there was something said in front of everybody and Miss given bought it to the dice and she mentioned about there was an accusation made and and that can't go over my head yes I heard an accusation that she made at this Podium that really needs to be addressed and look into so this a different independent investigation or one of the same because I think her concerns need to be looked into by an outside entity as well I second that and so so before I finish because let me finish so so what what she said in front of us in this crowd in the paper uh we need to look into any improprieties any conflict of interest dealings business dealings anybody that's in the decision-making process and have it disclosed in any problem that Mr Bill have indicated that we need to support that and have a report presented to us and to the public published to the public so I move to have that happen in addition to think we need in addition to in addition to okay thank you thank you that's full disclosure yes that that is beyond the scope of the the meeting notice that was called here today um I may I make a recommendation just to keep it I'll take it as another emergency item perhaps make another emergency motion for another Mercy item you can do that either here or as you know we have a regularly scheduled City commission do we got we can't wait no we can't miss m let her finish her thing so with that being said I'm calling for um an investigation based on the practices that were some issues that were brought to my attention regarding the practices of the city manager second okay do we and so we can we for discussion yes you you can't you can't move to I was just going to say we have a motion in a second right let's talk about it let's talk about I was just going to uh I'm totally oblivious to what you all are asking me to vote on right now so I want to hear some something so there were some things that and doing a lot of research uh in this process some things when I heard about some concerns I receiv received phone calls and I started coming in and talking to some employees and some things were brought to my attention about the a difficult possible possibly a difficult work environment being created as a result of the practices of the city manager his absenteeism and different things so that's here say that's what was shared with me and to make sure that we being fair and impartial I want to make sure that we look into that using an outside agency conducting an investigation so that it could be fair for him he'll have some direction because he does not have clear Direction in a lot of areas there are there are a lot of great areas and so that the employees would know that their concerns are being addressed commissioner um well I think commissioner Jones was down he that was his answer so these are your concerns and you would like to move forward with uh investig these are employes concerns that I would like to address okay well um I haven't heard anything but be happy to U uh help address the situation I want whatever that we want to be completely transparent I support support that support staff yes sir okay do we have so we have a motion second all in favor I I any opposition thank you I would like to make a call for another emergency item to be um added to this agenda um as stated by commissioner Jones um as well as Miss given uh I personally received some informations with regards to uh someone as a part of administration maybe benefiting um from some of the deals that are or have been pending and I am calling for a a um investigation as well looking into those matters um so that again we are operating in transparency I receive communication via someone dropping it off in my mailbox that was labeled as a concerned citizens of Paca to whomever that may be um it was provided to me I in turn provided it to the city manager um with regards to that but I think in order with regards to the environment that someone from the outside who does not have any Buy in or connections to Paca um would been be the person that better be suited to um investigate a second second for the Emergency items to the agenda motion a second all in favor I any opposition thank you well Mr Bell he already provide some information has related to that so there was some Telemetry way back when that he provided that he had been working on so that was portion of what he've been doing while he was away may I add to that uh that is within Mr Bell's scope of work uh he is to lead those type of Investigations and deliver the findings to us what he had found out and I think he have some facts that he have found and he want additional an additional uh deeper dive into this investigation uh to bring some action forward so that is uh definitely I think personally your investigation as a the CEO of the city of palaka and your recommendation is is could be ballot but in light of what's going on with uh your investigation I think independent investigation is the only way you could go with this so so so I the motion already mean the motion for emergency yeah we already okay I'll properly do it we need to attorney do we need to it was already made the second previous motion was to for an emergency motion that was um passed unanimously and now you can State your motion okay that was for emergency item addition so this motion on the floor okay Madam mayor is to allow the city manager to contact independent investigator to assist with take the lead on the investigation on improper conduct and or conflictive interest that may arve have res or have been going on second employees we have motion to Second all in favor any opposition thank you with all that said does anybody have anything else want my my whole thing is yeah my whole thing is what given given given what has been provided inh hand um how do we proceed forward um in hand with what we what at least what the city manager has provided in terms of how does that work with um individuals who are still in certain capacities and so that would be the question to the city manager or the uh City attorney I think city manager have that he has the full um um responsibility for his um staff so we just need to understand what does that look like going forward given the nature and the gravity of what we're dealing with commission I mean commissioner excuse me so with the um motion to allow me to move forward with the uh inquiry into the the ethics questions um is my intent to remove the individual from uh situations that may uh but or come up against uh ethical considerations with regard to contracts and projects and until such time as the inquery is completed thank you just anybody have any questions Mr yeah one one other question we have a meeting set for tomorrow uh given the nature of what we because it's it's going to lead into what we got we're going on tomorrow based on so how how can we even rule or move forward on anything Associated or connected with that it's a work worksh workshop it's a workshop so we're not gonna take a vote or action okay thanks I move to ad journ this meeting I have a go ahead Mr I wanted to make a comment um the question came up or arose about uh absenteeism and I just wanted to quickly uh remind um the commission as well as uh I've received phone calls from California from colleagues um across the country about this meeting and the press and their um depicting this as as if something was done illegal or improper and I just wanted to make sure it's clear that nothing was done illegal or improper uh with regard to leave and uh and the leave requests um I know there's an issue has been brought up about uh the fact that I'm in church six days out of the week um and I think that's an issue that uh was within that I'm handling within the contract it is in accordance with the contract um and I think that's an issue that will be addressed but I do want to to to reiterate that when I took this position one of the challenges that I had was about my family being of North and me being down here so all the leave that I have taken has been to be able to spend time with my family until such time as they could uh come here uh uh the contract was approved on the eth I started work on the 9th didn't have that uh traditional two weeks or 30 days time period in order to be able to put Affairs in order and so it is not that I'm willy-nilly taking time and and uh just going on vacation it has been because I have spent time with my 10-year-old and 11-year-old boys and so that is critical to me before I'm a city manager and being a city manager is important to me I'm a father and that's what I have been spending my time doing okay we have a motion to adjourn second we have a motion