Public comment by Tom Rue on April 21, 2008 to the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees:
It's been said the Village must move on. Agreed.
Reasonable public discussion and compromise are better approachs to legislating than fighting, behind-the-scenes deals, litigating, or bullying. I hope the Mayor and others of you will learn to work peaceably and respectfully among yourselves as a Board – each with one independent and co-equal vote, and to talk out disagreements rather than stomp, yell, and demand your way or the highway. Otherwise, how can you lead a community? Some of you have already shown yourselves better prepared for this than others.
Following the recent election, I think this Board could have fairly easily reached a consensus, with relatively little controversy, to restore the gentleman to his former seat as Deputy Manager. When the former Manager resigned, a need arose for a replacement, but it was not an emergency. An incumbent Deputy would naturally have had an inside track in the application process, if no superior candidate emerged. Events could have easily led to him being properly chosen as Village Manager. Instead, he displayed a sense of entitlement and demanded full and immediate gratification. The new Mayor made it clear he was absolutely determined to get his way, no matter what anyone else said or thought.
Respecting your Manager -- selection process aside: Not long ago he was fired by the Board of Trustees after a County employee testified under oath that, among other things, the gentleman blamed deterioration of his neighborhood on influx of minorities, whom he described with a most derogatory term. I withheld judgment, not having heard a voice-recording of the deponent’s sworn testimony, or having observed such behavior myself.
I had nothing but kind and favorable things to say about the gentleman during the reorganizational meeting (see the transcript). But when the meeting recessed, the gentleman aggressively pursued me to this very spot and gave a virulent demonstration how he uses derogatory and dehumanizing words to insult those he may not understand. This is a very bad trait in a public employee. It reflects in the speaker, either: (1) frustration by a limited vocabulary and verbal skill, or (2) a small mind. Dehumanizing name-calling should not be tolerated anywhere, but especially not in a municipal manager – whether referring to an ethnic minority or religious group, his neighbors, or a taxpayer and resident. This has to stop, now.
Mayor Jenkins, you know I was among your first and strongest supporters. Many times you came to our home for suggestions, feedback, help with petitions, writing, ideas about agenda items, absentee ballots, etc. From your start, we helped you run for Trustee twice, and then for Mayor. I freely gave assistance and ideas to help you not just win elections, but to serve as honorably and well as we all hoped. But in representative government, it is not only keeping one’s promises that is crucial to maintaining the faith and confidence of supporters, but also using right and just processes to govern. You lost a major opportunity to show yourself the effective leader many of us hoped you would become. Personally, I feel disappointed. I do not know if you can restore the trust. I hope you will honestly try, as long as you remain in office. If you do not try, you will confirm that sad sense of betrayal. I presently have no interest in volunteering to help this Administration in any capacity, except to continue to pay my taxes, and to help my wife out with carmenrue.com and otherwise as she may ask. But many people, not just us, are watching closely, whether we regularly attend these meetings or not. The public is watching you all, hoping for something more. Just like the rest of us, Board members are always free to move to reconsider actions when they discover an error or omission.
I am not attacking anyone, though some may prefer to frame it that way. What I am saying to all of you, constructively, in good faith, is if you can not effectively lead -- with open, inclusive communication among yourselves, open to the people you represent -- and learn to do so quickly -- please get out of the way. I have much greater confidence in some of you than I do in others. But you must all work together. A lot depends on your unification. Do not let yourselves be manipulated into trying to isolate minorities or splitting one against another. If you succumb to this temptation, only private agendas will be served. The public interest will not.
If you truly want a Village that is safer, more vibrant, with a government that is open, user-friendly for businesses, residents, and workers, as you say, then we must all work together as equals, putting egos aside – or be part of the problem.
