CARTHAGE, Mo. — The regularly scheduled Carthage City Council meeting for Tuesday, June 27 had to be housed in the Memorial Hall due to the overwhelming turnout from the community.
It was during this meeting that open remarks were heard from community members regarding the recent removal of the entire Carthage Water & Electric Board. Every person who approached the microphone was in favor of reinstating the board, including Jackie Boyer – who delivered this message in 5 minutes flat (the allotted amount of time for each speaker).
The entirety of Boyer’s speech is included here:
“The mayor and city council has opened itself to a debacle by manipulating one of the city’s strongest and most successful assets, CWEP. It is owned by the citizens of Carthage and is unique in that it supplies our electricity, water, sewer, fiber optic internet and trash needs. Surrounding communities pay for each of these services to individual, private companies. CWEP also provides a percentage of its income to the city’s budget.
Reported in the June 15 Globe that Alan Snow, chairman of the Budget Committee, recommended a motion to include the salary increase submitted by CWEP to the budget committee and going forward to coordinate with CWEP a salary study next year. It passed unanimously. This information on salaries was requested by the mayor and was provided to him on May 31 by CWEP.
Mayor Rife admits that CWEP is a fantastic utility and the actions taken are not a reflection on the staff. The first thing that comes up for discussion is money and how the council can control it.
By firing the CWEP Board, that over the years has made this city asset an outstanding success, the council (with a new board in place) will make sure compensation at CWEP will fall into the average category paid by area utilities.
AVERAGE HAS NEVER CREATED EXCELLENCE! And CWEP has the recognition and awards to support their status.
The policy at CWEP is to hire the best employees, to provide training to a level of safety and excellence, to provide the best equipment for the work required. These people do dangerous work. Excellent compensation is due all city employees that work in dangerous situations, and this includes police and the fire department.
I remind you that this was before the vote to remove all CWEP Board members took place. The council at that earlier meeting approved the amendment and would take final action at its meeting June 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Between that time and now, the council, mayor etc. have been swayed in a different direction. It seems obvious that there are behind the scene influences at play.
On June 23, it was reported that Mayor Rife said the dispute was solely about meeting the requirements of city ordinances and the council has no intention of taking over the day-to-day operations of CWEP. The utility has supplied the council with employee status and salary, as I understand it, for every employee. It is formatted differently than the city’s data, however that should not reduce the comprehension. Whatever the goal of City Hall is, it is obvious it will reduce the effectiveness of CWEP and hinder or replace current management.
City Hall is expanding and reorganizing, going from an administrator/city clerk to an administrator, assistant administrator, full-time attorney, industrial developer, IT personnel and maybe others. This increases the city’s budget significantly and this is an ongoing cost. The city has a finite source of money and an increase in one area often means a decrease somewhere else in the budget. The city does have reserves that are designated for future projects and should not be used to support current needs.
My final question or observation is, how do you call for an emergency meeting and have it a Zoom meeting? What was the stated reason for the meeting and was any media aware of the call, and how do you then go into open meeting to take a vote to dismiss the existing CWEP board on Zoom? It’s a bit strange.
I would replace most of the current council and administrator for their poor decision making and poor execution. Their actions call into question their competency in guiding our community.
And I Thank you.”
After Boyer, other speakers from the public included Jack Crusa, Bill Putnam, Patrick Scott, Jeff Williams, Ceri Otero and Nathan Terry. In total, seven signed up in advance to speak during the public comments portion of the meeting. It was estimated that around 375 were in attendance.
Following committee reports, Carthage City Councilwoman Tiffany Cossey (Ward 5) made the motion to vote on re-opening the discussion of the previous vote that to remove the CWEP Board. There was some initial back-and-forth discussion between City Attorney Nate Dally, Councilman David Armstrong (Ward 2) and Cossey regarding whether the vote required simple majority or two-thirds to pass. It was eventually determined two-thirds was needed. The vote was then made, and it failed 6-4 (by one vote).
Those on the council who voted No: Trudy Blankenship, David Armstrong, Ed Hardesty and Mark Elliff. Those who voted Yes: Brandi Ensor, Christopher Taylor, Robin Blair, Terri Heckmaster, Alan Snow and Tiffany Cossey.
One or two in attendance began clapping once it was announced by Rife the motion had failed. But soon murmurs began through the crowd and a large portion of those in attendance started to leave as Parks and Recreation Director Abi Almandinger began her administrative report over the sounds of a loud “boo” and scooting chairs as they exited the Memorial Hall.
