Another bureaucrat fired. :-)

[CNHT]

Well, another bureaucrat has been tracked down and fired from his job, thanks to a taxpayer activist in Dover and a certain taxpayer organization in NH...

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=12878&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=&S=1


8/12/2007
Beecher Booted
Council seeks clean slate after termination of city manager

Nicholas Wilbur
Miner Staff Writer


The chair in former City Manager Paul Beecher's office sits empty after Council voted to relieve him of his duties.
He had already cleaned out his desk and turned in his keys before City Council emerged from executive session Friday morning after his performance evaluation.

Paul Beecher had told the mayor before the meeting "he didn't see any purpose in being here," so he remained in his office and met with a few department heads before leaving city hall for the last time.

After 50 minutes of deliberation, Council emerged from the private room in the Council Chamber to announce what many in the community have anticipated for months.

"We have discussed the city manager's performance and employment agreement," Mayor Les Byram said. "What is the (Council's) pleasure at this time?"

Vice Mayor Dave French, clearing his throat, said, "I make a motion terminating Mr. Beecher's employment, effective immediately."

No roll call was needed to tally the individual votes, as the members' voices were synchronized in their unanimous "aye."

"I think the city needs to go forward and heal now," Councilman Kerry Deering said after the meeting. "I think under the circumstances, it was the right thing to do."

The city has faced criticism and controversy for months over many of Beecher's public statements, policies and personal views expressed in e-mails released to the public.

From the well site issues with Rhodes Homes to a lawsuit over withheld public records requests, Beecher has been at the core of the city's recent troubles, according to one Council member.

"It's all based on his performance," Janet Watson said.

The latest issue, made public Wednesday, was a claim brought against the city by former Economic Development Director Jeff Weir regarding a severance agreement signed by Beecher without Council's knowledge.

This may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, as the special meeting was called immediately after Council was informed of the claim.

According to Weir's attorney, Weir and Beecher had signed a severance agreement about a week after Council voted in May to cut Weir's position and all funding to his department. But at the next meeting, the mayor and six Council members voted against leaving any money in the budget for severance, and they cast their votes without the knowledge that a legal contract was already in place. Now Weir is targeting Beecher and the city of Kingman for unpaid wages.

Due to a state law, he's entitled to triple the $23,750 salary payout. Including unpaid leave and benefits, the bill is around $90,600, not including attorney fees, which Weir is also requesting be paid.

Council didn't learn that Beecher had signed a severance agreement with Weir until three months after it was signed - and after Weir's attorney served the city with the claim.

Watson said she had spoken with Beecher before the meeting Friday to discuss, in part, why he didn't tell Council.

"When I met with him about it, he just said he was sorry, that he was wrong but gave no explanation," she said.

Deering also said Beecher had no comment other than to say "he just goofed up."

Councilman Tom Carter seconded French's motion, and after the meeting, he commented on the decision.

"Remember the days when honor was held above all else and people would submit a resignation when confronted with these types of situations?" he asked Deering. "What happened to those days?"

The mayor said in June, before Beecher's first performance evaluation on June 8, that it would cost the city around $250,000 to fire the city manager. The employment contract that Beecher said he wrote out on a legal pad gave him a year's salary after termination and the ability to cash in on unpaid leave.

Local developer and business owner Scott Dunton, who has made repeated calls for Beecher's termination at public meeting after public meeting, was relieved.

"He was a scoundrel from the beginning. He was a scoundrel in Kansas City, Missouri, and he was a scoundrel in Dover, New Hampshire," Dunton said, referring to Beecher's two previous places of employment. "What he said is that when he left the city (of Dover) ... the city was better off. I believe that the city was better off because he left."

Beecher left Kansas City after signing a $1 million contract for arena lights. He stepped down, ironically, after signing a contract with the lighting company without the Kansas City council's knowledge and the details came out in the paper.

Dunton expressed some reservations about what comes next. As it is, the city will pay Beecher the $250,000 severance, based on his contract. Councilwoman Watson said, "We're going to do whatever we have to do" to have Beecher out.

"If they pay him anything to leave, they're out of their minds," Dunton said. "There's absolutely no way that they should pay him a dime."

Watson said Council will hold a work session at 5 p.m. on August 20 to discuss the process for appointing an interim city manager and beginning the applicant review process for finding a permanent candidate.

Public Works Director Jack Kramer has been appointed by the mayor as the acting city manager.

...and

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=12884

Council makes the right decision on firing Beecher

Mark Borgard
Miner Editor

Let's hear it for our Council! Please, lady and gentlemen, stand up and take a bow. You earned it. You made a tough decision on Friday, but it was the right one. Your courage will make Kingman a better city in the future.

Council was in a rather precarious spot when it was revealed to them last week that City Manager Paul Beecher gave former Economic Director Jeff Weir, on his way out the door, a severance package totalling more than $40,000. The fact that Beecher signed the contract AFTER Council had voted to gut the department's budget, which essentially fired Weir, was a bad move. Not saying anything about the contract two weeks later when Council voted NOT to give Weir a severance - priceless.

Or rather, senseless. But as one of my editors passionately told me Friday, "You can't say Council fired him because of the lawsuit!" No, we can't say that. One heckuva coincidence, though. Just days after Weir sues the city, the Council calls an executive session to discuss Beecher's job performance, at which time he's quickly canned. We heard he was packing up his office as Council met behind closed doors.

We knew that Beecher was on semi-probation after his mishandling of the well sites in Golden Valley and his mishandling of the citizens throughout his time here. So Council's move was a no-brainer. If I was his boss, it would be like, make me look bad once and I can forgive. Do it again, you're gone.

Hopefully, Council will explore why Finance Director Coral Loyd wanted $34,000 to stay in the budget when Council voted to de-fund the Economic Development division. As Beecher's latest e-mail released by the city shows, he had a wonderful relationship with her. I wonder if she knew about the severance contract, and if she did, why she sat quietly with Beecher at the Council meeting when Council members voted NOT to give Weir a severance.

I'd sure want to know.

While I would never condone the city of Kingman fighting a lawsuit that they probably would lose, I'm in agreement with developer Scott Dunton that the city should make Beecher fight for his $250,000 severance. Dunton has been outspoken for months that Beecher was wrong for this city. It turns out, he was right. Makes you wonder how many other things he's been right about - Jim Rhodes, Dave Hawkins, Conley Wolfswinkle.

Now the city can move forward, and maybe, the mayor will quit blaming the Miner for the problems we did not create, and maybe, some of the residents out there who criticize us for aggressively reporting city government will understand why we do it, and why we will continue to do it.

I hope when Beecher leaves, he takes these dang flies with him. They're just vicious this year.

[Fragilityh14]

did anyone here have personal interactions with this fired bureaucrat? My question here, is what the hell type of severance payment totals $250,000? How much was this guy getting paid?

[CNHT]

This is what professional bureaucrats do -- go from town to town, state to state.

Kingman did what Dover could not do. They called our guy a 'dark cloud' over government but Beecher was the real dark cloud.

[lildog]

did anyone here have personal interactions with this fired bureaucrat? My question here, is what the hell type of severance payment totals $250,000? How much was this guy getting paid?

Most information like that is accessible through freedom of information act requests, all you'd need to do is question the town he was fired in.

[CNHT]

He took care of his friends too.

People had plenty of interaction with him, but all you got was the usual whining about how people are always trying to throw a monkey wrench into gov't. (Like, yah!? LOL) Especially when it's bad!

But this was not accomplish by a confrontation of any sort -- but diligent work, done over time and using facts to expose what he had done over and over in other states.