“I don’t need this guidance. I don’t want this guidance. If you choose to enact it, I’m still going to talk to the Mayor,” Stranko said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
In a contentious vote Tuesday, September 17th, the Parsons City Council voted to remove Mayor Bruce Kolsun’s ability to speak with City Attorney Tim Stranko on City matters. It was a vote that Attorney Stranko strongly opposed. “I need to talk to you all as you feel the need to talk to me,” Stranko said. “That’s my service.”
The agenda item was one of three similar items brought forth by Council Member Tim Turner. The motion was also made by Turner. “I would like to make a motion to revoke the prior permission granted to the mayor to communicate with our City Attorney on City’s behalf,” Turner said.
Before a second on the motion could be made, Attorney Stranko took the opportunity to speak on the issue. “If I could address the motion before anyone makes a second,” Stranko said. “I’ve been doing this 30 years, I know who to talk to and who not to talk to. The City Manager a pleasure to work with. We’re developing a close and symbiotic working relationship. I don’t understand the purpose of the motion. I frankly find it limiting to my ability to do the job to the best I can.”
Council Member Melissa Jones also spoke out against the motion, saying that should it pass, it would set a dangerous precedent that would limit any council member’s ability to speak to the City Attorney. “I think its limiting to the Council, also to contact you if something comes up,” Jones said.
Stranko said he takes calls and emails from the entire council, but that he always loops the City Manager in on all replies. “I take calls from everybody,” Stranko said. “I take emails from everybody, too. But what I want you to know, is when anyone of you contacts me, my reply is going to copy the City Manager because communications is what we are not doing well here. So we need to close the loop.”
Council Member Seth Rosenau said that since he became a Council Member recently, he has not received any emails since coming to Council. “Just so you know, I have received zero emails from anything you do, I’m going to be honest,” Rosenau said. “There are emails that are sent, maybe from Thrasher, maybe from you, maybe from whatever, that the rest of us never know anything about. So, I think they want that remedied and I think this lays out the language to make sure that its remedied.”
Stranko said that everyone on the Council, as elected officials, were entitled to speak to him on City business. However, Stranko did say what is forwarded or not forwarded afterwards, is between the City and the City Manager. “Everyone of you on Council as elected officials are entitled to ask me questions,” Stranko said. “Again, every answer I give is copied onto Mr. Simmons. Communications pivot is sitting right there. What he forwards you and doesn’t forward you is between you and him. He works for you, of course.”
Rosenau said he didn’t believe it had anything to do with City Manager Michael Simmons, only that he had not received any emails from the City at all since coming to office. “I don’t think it has anything to do with Mr. Simmons,” Rosenau said. “Since I’ve been on Council, I haven’t been forwarded anything whatsoever.”
City Recorder Rick Lemons also opposed the measure. Lemons said he agreed with Jones that the measure would essentially revoke the entire Council’s ability to contact the City Attorney. “I can say one thing, I do agree with Missy that this motion, you’re going to basically, you’re going to be revoking your own privilege to talk to the attorney also,” Lemons said.
Council Member Tim Turner clarified his motion by stating that when hired, Stranko said he would only accept calls from designated representatives. “Let me just say this and this is why I put this on there in addition to clarifying what is going on is when we first hired you, Mr. Stranko you said you were not going to accept calls from everyone,” Turner said. “And so we voted to give, at the time the Mayor and Aggie, whatever she was, permission to speak on our behalf. That’s what you said and that’s what we did.”
Stranko said that he initially set up the system because he thought the Parsons City Council operated like other Councils he was used to dealing with. Stranko also referenced the unusual interpersonal dynamics in the group as a mitigating factor in the change in how he accepts calls and interacts with the council. “The reason I said that, let me answer this,” Stranko said. “The reason I said that was I assumed that we had a council that was functioning the way I am used to councils functioning in regards to interpersonal relationships and communications. When I discovered that wasn’t what was happening, then I invited and have taken multiple calls and emails from individual Councilors and the Mayor.”
Jones said she has relied on Stranko to counsel and advise her on personnel matters prior to the hiring of Simmons as City Manager and she still relies on Stranko on matters that both she and Simmons do not have answers for. “And I have to say being the Chair for the Personnel Committee, I rely on him to answer personnel questions for me,” Jones said. “When something comes up that Mike doesn’t have the answer to and I don’t have the answer to, this is the man I fall to. And if you take the privilege away from the Mayor or anyone else, that’s going to have to set with all of Council and that’s going to have to set with all the Chairs.”
Rosenau said that he felt that there should be one point of contact with the attorney and that point of contact should be the City Manager. “All I’m saying is, Mr. Stranko when he was hired, had Aggie and the Mayor,” Rosenau said. “So if you’re doing your Personnel, whatever, and I’m doing my Streets or anything and I have a question, instead of bombarding him with whatever, I can just say, ‘Hey, Mike,’ and then Mike can contact the lawyer and then copy us all back in and make him responsible and hold him responsible for all of our communications.”
Stranko said he likes to think that he helps the individual Committee Chairs and the Mayor complete their jobs and help Parsons succeed. “I like to think that I help the Mayor and individual councilors do their jobs,” Stranko said. “When the Wastewater Chair calls we, we talk about sewer business, we talk about water business. When Missy calls me, we talk about Personnel. I am trying to help you all. And I want to help the Mayor, too. There is nothing that I do for the Mayor that is not focused on helping this group do better and ultimately Parsons do better.”
Stranko said he did not ask ask for the motion or the guidance and insisted that if the motion passed that he would continue to speak with the Mayor. “I don’t need this guidance,” Stranko said. “I don’t want this guidance. If you choose to enact it, I’m still going to talk to the Mayor. And if you feel that you need to fire me because I am not following your guidance, you’re welcome to do that, too.”
Jones said that there was never an issue of anyone trying to interfere with the City Manager and City Attorney communicating. “The thing is, since Mike has come on, he has been in contact with Stranko,” Jones said. “Its not that no one has told him or Mike that they could not communicate and I know that is like the next agenda item or whatever, that’s already taken in affect. So the agenda item should not even be on there.”
Following the vote, Mayor Kolsun said, “I’m part of Council. This is ridiculous. Its a pick on. Its a target. Its a target.”
Kolsun said he felt he was being silenced. “You just put a silence on me,” Kolsun said. “You just said I’m not allowed to talk. Would you want that silence on you?
The motion by Turner was initially in a stalemate vote with Turner and Rosenau voting for and Jones and Lemons against. Council Member Sam Humphrey was undecided. Council Member Kathy DiBacco was absent. Following additional, explanation, debate and discussion, Humphrey broke the stalemate with a vote in a roll call vote on the measure that would remove Mayor Kolsun’s ability to speak to the City Attorney on City matters.
