RFP Staff
♦ Even in a financially troubled city where its elected officials read scripts and defer to someone with obvious defects and a penchant for reality bending, limits exist as to what can be hidden by a “mutual termination” contract. If a contract potentially hides fiduciary wrongdoing it can be unsealed or walked around by requesting “Freedom of Information Act” documentation. Failure to respond to such document requests fires off alarms and raises a very dark cloud over city council.
Many Salisbury residents are just becoming aware of city council’s cover-up with its “mutual termination” agreement and its more than peculiar giveaway of a full salary “Golden Parachute” to someone who allegedly resigned. City Council may read scripts, but quite a few of our citizens do not.
City Council needs to step up and do the right thing. They can reverse bad habits even it means divulging skeletons in the city hall’s brimming closet. Sooner or later if consciences go unanswered, present and former city employees are likely to obtain whistleblower protections. The obvious can’t be hidden for long. The story is already arriving on our doorsteps in large chunks. The outcry that city council stayed too long will grow in intensity.
A number of strange incidents occurred between Tuesday and Wednesday in a city government infamous across North Carolina for its lack of veracity, due diligence, and dimly lit backrooms. Between Tuesday and Wednesday:
• Right after a budget discussion loaded with rising taxes, fees, and utility hikes, the former city manager gets cut loose with a golden parachute, a sealed “mutual termination”, and no actual mention by city council as to why he was no longer employed. This is unacceptable.
• The Public Information Officer Elaney Hasselmann “resigns” the very next morning with no immediate job prospects.
Citizens and fellow employees are asking why Ms. Hasslemann advanced so rapidly through the promotion ladder and received sizable leaps in pay when the city coffers aren’t exactly brimming.
It’s said that Charlotte-based media and publically-spirited citizens will be seeking Freedom of Information Act inquiries over the next week.
They will be requesting FOIAs for:
Mr. Paris’s city expense account records.
Ms. Hasselmann’s city expense account records.
Mr. Paris’s Contract.
Ms. Hasslemann’s contracts since she began employment with the city.
Performance reviews for both Mr. Paris and Ms. Hasslelmann.
Doug Paris’s “mutual termination” contract if it’s not sealed.
Any “action plans/disciplinary action” for Mr. Paris or Ms. Hasselmann.
Ms. Hasselmann’s emails between her and Doug Paris for the last year.
Performance reviews for both Mr. Paris and Ms. Hasslelmann.
Doug Paris’s emails for the past year.
The emails of each city council member for the past 6 months.
If city hall attempts to play dodge ball with these FOIAs they will be convicted in the court of public opinion. It’s always best to be forthcoming.
