OK, I wasn't at the city council meeting 1/8/18 but am aware of some of the things that transpired.
Question: How does a brand new council member, Matt Zimmerman, with less than two hours of experience as a council member get elected as President of the Council? This is an important question that needs to be answered since that position has two responsibilities. One, it is as presiding officer for Council Committee meetings, but more importantly, that is the person who becomes mayor if for any reason the mayor is unable to complete their term.
There was a rumor going around that prior to last night's meeting one of the sitting council members (we'll call him "A") had entertained the three newbies over a meal and pushed to have his name placed into nomination for that position and for the newbies, and one other existing council member (call him "B") to vote for him.
Then today according to another council member (let's see, that would be "C", a ward mate of one of the newbies), informed me that council member "B" notified the mayor of "the plan" and according to "C" the mayor did the right thing and notified the city attorney. It appears that the city attorney may have told these people that they could be in deep trouble if after they were sworn in they went through with their plan. So, what happened? Somehow the plan didn't go through as had been supposedly previously discussed. What is the final outcome? A different one of the five becomes Council President. Was this also discussed or was this a "spontaneous change" in preference?
After the meeting, council member "C" contacted me and suggested I go ahead and file a KOMA complaint.
I am not a lawyer, but something stinks here, and it is not as far away as the landfill. The previous KOMA investigation started with a citizen complaint (not me). I will exercise my rights as a citizen and request that the JoCo DA look into this matter. Let's not pussyfoot around because it would make Shawnee look bad. If these shenanigans are proven, and nothing is done, that would be worse. If there is no basis for concern, let the appropriate authority make that decision. An official determination needs to be made, IMHO.
Would love to have the DA discuss this with the three newbies and Messrs. A & B.
