Deception or falsehood is an act or statement which misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight of hand as well as distraction, camouflage or concealment.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Obfuscation is the obscuring of the intended meaning of communication by making the message difficult to understand, usually with confusing and ambiguous language. (Source: Wikipedia)

In August of 2017, as we went into the fall election cycle, news broke that then-Mayor Perry had been taking health benefits without “approval” by council.  Then we learned it was in the budget, and the Council had approved the budget. But some on Council felt deceived because the expense had been obscured in the budget, and it not been openly discussed  at a council meeting. It had been discussed a couple of years earlier at a study session, and it had been met with an overwhelming negative response by the public.

Here’s the October 17, 2017 City Council meeting where the incident is discussed with twelve citizen comments (link).  And for full transparency, here’s the statement then-Mayor Perry posted on Facebook (link).

At that time, then-mayoral candidate Styron-Sherrell stated that “integrity, transparency, and trust” were her “guiding principles for her campaign to be mayor” and she stated “it’s your money, you shouldn’t have to be a detective to figure out how we’re spending it.” (link).

Fast forward to the summer of 2020. On July 10, 2020, after the first council meeting discussing increasing Mayor Styron-Sherrell’s salary, there is an email exchange between City Clerk Summers and the Finance Director Robbecke (link).

Finance Director Robbecke’s email states “I didn’t have time yesterday to finish some additional information that I wanted to include in the Council packet for the Mayor’s salary study. Please review the attached and let me know if you think we should send these separately to the City Council or if I should present them at the meeting instead. Thanks!” (Note: Chief Hernandez responded to distribution question and his response can be found in the public disclosure section C, page 2.)

At 2:10pm, City Clerk Summers responds, in part, with “we are planning to hire that Planning Manager this year. I know we will have plenty of money from the first part of the year savings but that might bring up the question about how we are going to pay for them BOTH next year. Just food for thought.”

At 2:43pm she emails “I have thoughts. Call me.”

At 3:43pm Director Robbecke sends out a revised spreadsheet, with the text that had read “Wages and benefits of $139,863 are included in the 2020 Budget for a Planning Manager position that has not yet been filled” changed to read “Annual amounts for wages and benefits are included in the 2020 Budget for positions that have not yet been filled or will not have a full year of compensation.”  And the “Mayor Compensation Funding” column was changed to read “Mayor Compensation Funding for 2020” and shows funding only for July-December 2020. 

At 3:52 City Clerk Summers responds with “Looks good. Suggest changing the 46,850 to an amount for August thru December since it most likely wouldn’t be until then anyway if they pass on July 20th” and the final spreadsheet is changed once again, now showing the amount for only August-December 2020.

Why did our City Clerk feel it was necessary to obfuscate the question about how we’d pay for both positions next year? Wouldn’t transparency be preparing an answer to that question and answering it before it is asked?

Why is this exchange relevant? Because in 2017, then-Mayoral Candidate Styron-Sherrell made the comment “not having to be a detective to figure out how we’re spending it” and in May 18, 2020, Mayor Styron-Sherrell stated during the first discussion about raising her salary, “I also think it’s important that Michelle our finance person look at our finances. Honestly, we can’t just throw out a number and not be able to support it, you know, for the next 5-6 years.”

Based on the above and the other actions by the Mayor, which were highlighted in previous blog posts, I can’t help but draw a comparison between the current administration and what occurred during the previous administration.  Yes, this mayor’s salary was discussed at many, many meetings – but documents show those meetings weren’t transparent and public access was restricted (yes, restricted due to Covid, but the Mayor chose the time, and she also chose the method/process used).

So, if you were on Council in the fall of 2017, and you felt deceived then, why don’t you feel deceived now? I realize all on Council received the “lobbying” email — the citizens were the only ones left in the dark. And Council may have also known the Mayor was involved in the process, and they don’t feel it is a “big deal” that she stated at a meeting that she wasn’t. So why is one deception and the other isn’t? The only thing I can see that’s different is that in 2017 we were all in the dark — even Council — and in 2020, it was only the citizens who were deceived. And maybe that’s okay.

Something Jacquelyn Whalen said at the October, 2017 meeting resonates with me now. She ended her public comment with these nine words “Truth and transparency delayed and denied is democracy destroyed.”