Yepper, I got my hand slapped, by the mayor at the city council meeting of Jan 27, 2020.
Mickey Sandifer was being appointed to the Visit Shawnee committee. I spoke in opposition to that appointment. Why, because Sandifer had deliberately gone to a National League of Cities meeting at the end of November knowing full well that he would not be serving on the council anymore. Former coucnilmember Stephanie Meyer did the same thing. Sandifer's expense for that meeting were approximately $2,500. He has a history of atending every NLC meeting every year. There are two of them a year. And, his expenses were usually the highest of all the Shawnee attendees.
Anyway I objected to his appointment. Immediately after taking my seat the mayor had this to say (copied from the minutes of the meeting):
MAYOR DISTLER: If a Councilmember chooses to do that I would certainly honor it, but I
would like to give my reasoning as to why I am appointing Mr. Sandifer personally because this
man has given more time to this City before he was ever a Councilmember, during the entire
time he was a Councilmember, and wants to continue to give his time to this City after he’s a
Councilmember. And of anybody that understands the value that volunteers bring and what we
save in money, I think it would be someone who is an active volunteer with our City. And he
has put in more hours than that $2,500 will ever, ever be paid in this [inaudible], ever. Just Old
Shawnee Days, he is there from before opening until after close for four days in a row and every
single event that this City puts on. So, that $2,500 that does not repay his service to the City.
So, I guess wasting $2,500 of the city's money is OK because of his volunteer work? Hope he had a nice time in San Antonio. Wonder how many seminars he attended, or did he take one of his grandkids and go sightseeing instead?
