Councilman expects city administrator to be fired

JCLifer 9 months, 2 weeks ago

i think a whole bunch of voters also have the same expectation as Bryan Pope.

earlsmusic 9 months, 1 week ago

You don't like seeing the truth exposed?

Enough is enough. Leadership starts at the top. If the leader has compromised himself to the point he can not lead, then he must be replaced. Is anyone else sensing a pattern? Our current leadership has decided that the only solution is to increase taxes. The problem is that they don't have the trust and respect to be believed when they make promises about the taxes. There is a distinct credibility problem with current city administrator Nickolaus.

The mayor and the city council needs to think long and hard about this vote. This should be a make it or break it vote for our local council. If Mr. Nickolaus is not terminated then when the mayor and council members come up for re-election they should be voted out, each and every one of them.

What we have here is a failure to communicate. The council keeps putting tax increases on the ballot and the citizens keep turning them down. What part of learn to live in your income does the council not understand.

It's the economy. Citizens are living on less and less. People are afraid of losing their jobs. Ameren wants a huge increase, gasoline keeps going up. Wages are not keeping up with the cost and the powers at be want to tax us some more.

It will be interesting to see how the city circles it wagons. This is a meeting that should not be closed, every one should be on the record so that they have to live with their vote.

Sequoia 9 months, 2 weeks ago

That's the problem. Costs for everything are going up. For the individual, that means we get to save less.

City governments don't "save." They are basically non-profits. They spend what they take in, or borrow the shortfall.

I think you're assuming the city is spending all kinds of money on luxuries and frivolous things. I don't think that's true... I'm not saying there isn't some waste, but I don't think that's what's driving these tax increase requests. You guys have this knee-jerk, reflexive anti-government rhetoric you recite in any situation, regardless of the facts. You don't actually analyze anything.

"Learning to live in your income" means cutting services that, once they're gone, you'll complain about not having. When you need the government, you'll complain it isn't there.

You people are like Californians or the Greeks. You complain when city services aren't perfect, but you don't want to pay the taxes for the service you demand. You shirk and whine on taxes. You sound like children.

You complain about how costs are going up for food, health care, fuel, energy, etc., then you act like a fraction of a cent of a tax is the most serious thing to complain about. You don't complain about getting gouged by the agriculture, medical, petroleum or financial industries, but that's where all your savings are going. Then you humph and grumph and over-react to a new tax like it is tyranny. Let me tell you something: the REAL tyrants are getting rich off you. Nobody in city government is getting rich.

You keep reading off your tired old anti-government script you heard on the radio, and you can't even see what's going on right in front of your nose.

PatsyDecline 9 months, 2 weeks ago

"You people are like Californians or the Greeks."

Huh??

We just voted NO to expanding our government here in Cole County.

Cali and Greece are STILL EXPANDING THEIR GOVTS!

Austerity isn't a dirty word. Enough sometimes has to be enough.

So what is exactly is going on in front of your nose? Do you really still believe that one political party "cares" more than the other? LOL

It's a beautiful day in Central MO....I recommend you step outside and take a deep breath.

Sequoia 9 months, 2 weeks ago

No, you didn't vote against "expanding government." That's my point. Costs are going up, and that affects governments, too. Rising costs and increased competition for residents are forcing the government budgets to expand, whether you like it or not.

You just voted against paying for it.

JCLifer 9 months, 2 weeks ago

We voted to shrink government to reflect the shrinking economy that many of us have had to live with for the past 4-1/2 years.

JCLifer 9 months, 2 weeks ago

I don not want my city to provide every service that I want. I do not expect my city government to decide what kind of trash service I should have to take, and how much I should have to pay for it. I do not expect city government to provide all the recreation services in my town. I do not want my city government to build costly money-losing convention centers or hotels to compete with the private sector. I do not expect my city government to be the end-all for everything. Private enterprise and private developers and entrepreuners should be doing most of this stuff. The City needs to get out of the way and not hinder private business. I do not expect my city government to build new sidewalks for uptown property owners.

Obviously YOU DON'T GET IT EITHER.

RobHunterJohnson 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Maybe we should just privatize the Library and the Fire Dept? In JC's(Lifer) world that would be acceptable! I think I am going to post a picture of my yes on proposition 2 sign on my screen door! No Sir you do not get it what so ever. Rob

rodinman 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Privitizing such operations as the library, golf course, and swimming pools make excellent financial sense. We pay a company to operate a yard waste recycling operation, why?. Let private enterprise charge people for each drop off and load of compost they want to pickup? I utilize these operations and would directly feel the impact.

RobHunterJohnson 9 months, 1 week ago

I understand now, the growth policies of 2000 to 2008, helped set the tone for all of these things? Please do not refer to me as a liberal because I am not! I see a different way for pro growth, and better than the corparations are people method. It is called Hard Work by all, and funding of the essentials such as Fire Dept, Library, Police, Roads, Infrastructure, Nuclear, Coal, at every level from the Federal, to the State, to the County, to the City, so you, and I do not ever loose any ground on what the generations behind have installed for our USE and SAFETY. That also includes Medi-Care and Social security. This generation is thinking about nothing but their self. (I GOT MINE YOU GET YOURS) Thanks Grace! Rob

libraryfan 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Sequoia - that's a perfect and wonderful response to all the hate and anger that is daily posted in the comments.

Thank you.

spelchek 9 months, 1 week ago

I assume "hate and anger" is an opinion other than your own? I'm sure there are books at the library libraryfan that explain diversity beyond your own definition, check them out.

seeno 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Nickolaus is the recipient of the 2012 Lou Czech Award.The Lou Czech Award is awarded to Missouri attorneys based on the following critieria:  The individual’s professional accomplishments in serving the public’s interests and the various governmental jurisdictions wherein the nominee was employed.  The professionalism exhibited by the nominee in his/her relationship with elected officials, the public and other local government professionals.  The nominee’s time and effort spent in training and supporting young professionals just entering the field.  The individual’s accomplishments in addition to service to the employing jurisdiction; time and effort spent serving the local, state and international city attorney associations; service on Missouri Municipal League committees and in other capacities that have proven beneficial to the public welfare or the promotion of the profession of municipal law.  The nominee’s record of ethical conduct in all private and professional matters that bear on the individual’s acceptability of the Lou Czech Award. This article was on the city website. I do not know Mr. Nickolaus personally, but I have a family member worked as an intern under his Mentorship and she speaks very highly of his integrity. Mr. Nickolaus is not a politician and had nothing to gain from sending that email. I purchased both articles(which is the first time ever) and I found this supposed issue much ado about nothing. The councilmen and mayor, however, are politicians and I feel they are making this into a politcal three ring circus. I believe Mr. Nickolaus was shooting straight from the hip and I find it interesting that he has worked for the city since 2003 and was chose by these same politicians to be the city administrator. Do any of these politians have the, to put it politely, the courage, to speak up on his behalf.

dokeus6 9 months, 2 weeks ago

I think this goes a little higher up and Nickolaus is going to be the scapegoat.

I think the City Council and the Mayor are involved. Nickolaus was just letting the city employees know that this is the way it's going to be. If this was his decision only then shame on him but the way things are run it is more than one person coming to the kind of conclusion that he mentioned in his email.

Maybe the mayor leaked the email?

Gabrielle 9 months, 2 weeks ago

because he received an award does not mean he is free from err. I have known a number of people who received high recognition yet did questionable things. its part of being human. I am of the opinion this was a stupid thing to do. What is the best way to address this? This is what the city council will do their best to figure out. You do have a valid point with them being politicians - it does make a person wonder how that might affect their handling of this situation.

RTWise 9 months, 2 weeks ago

I don't expect the city government to be the end all and provider of all I need. That is the point I guess I failed to make. Instead of attempting to increase taxes everytime you turn around to pay the bills.

Some of the areas I think the city could cut back on would be:

Sidewalks. Don't add anymore sidewalks until the budget loosens up.

Recreations services. Cut back, let the fees for the users pay for them.

The Convention Center

Adrians Island or Sandbar

Buy smaller more fuel efficent cars to replace the police and city vehicles as then need to be replaced. You know the new Suburbans have to take more gas than a car. In this day and age with radio communication how often do the police really need such high-powered vehicles?

Cut back on city employees, even the State of Missouri has finally figured out they have to cut back and one of the places you can control is personnel expenses.

Don't buy ipads for the council. The ipads aren't the expensive part of it. The upgrades and the scanners to get the information into the system and such is where the expense comes in. The consultants who have to set up the new systems and train the staff on how to use them.

Quit trying to annex more area into the city. If we can't afford what we have currently.

Quit spending huge amounts of money on trying to get taxes passed, doing mailing and emails.

To me essential services are the Police, Fire and Emergency services. Streets have to be maintained. I'm sure there are other places that the budget could be cut back to help balance the budget.

dokeus6 9 months, 2 weeks ago

"The Convention Center

Adrians Island or Sandbar"

I still have not figured out why the Council would want to try to develop Adrian's Sandbar.

For pete's sake the river comes up one time all the development is gone. And the tunnel they are wanting to put there. Whoever the engineer said that would work is nuts.

JMO 9 months, 2 weeks ago

I admit to being a little less informed on this than I should be, but, what exactly did he do wrong? Did he ever say the Prop 2 taxes would not be diverted, then plan to do it anyway? I know the "supporters of Prop 2" said it wouldn't be diverted, but did he?

If the city was planning on it, but keeping it quiet so it would pass, then all he did was basically whistle-blow. Yeah, I suppose they'd fire him if he disclosed their secret plan. -

OR- was his letter wrong, the funds could not have been diverted, but his letter caused Prop 2 not to pass because people thought they would? Getting rid of him would probably be understandable there too. I have to wonder what the real story is.

beyondthewheel 9 months, 2 weeks ago

This nonsense about firing Nathan Nickolaus is absurd. Read Nathan’s email before you judge him. It appears from the email that Nathan has common sense and cares about making sure that Jefferson City functions properly. He is not a fool, nor is he in the city council’s pocket; otherwise Mr. Pope might not be so eager to fire him.

Nathan’s email was merely written to inform city employees about Proposition 2. First, Nathan pointed out the elephant in the room- the City has a funding problem. The City simply cannot continue to properly fund its departments, including the Fire Department, without an increase in the amount of money the City brings in. As Nathan wisely noted, the council is committed to improvements, but without funding, those improvements will only increase competition for the limited resources the City currently has. Nathan then correctly pointed out that Proposition 2 would have benefited the City Fire Department by providing them with new equipment, training, and advanced life support equipment. He then noted that the tax would free up some general funds for use in other city departments.

Bryan Pope was upset with Nathan’s email simply because, in his opinion, even if Proposition 2 passed, the Fire Department would still need funds from the general revenue. However, as Fire Department spokesman Jason Turner correctly pointed out in the article, the passage of the tax could “potentially free up $40,500 from the training, tuition and buildings and grounds budgets….” Although it was Mr. Turner’s wish that that freed up money be allocated to public safety departments, there is no denying that the money would, in fact, be freed up. Perhaps it is Mr. Pope, not Mr. Nickolaus, who “does not understand finance.”

Even if you think that the City doesn’t need more money, and that the problem is the misuse of the City’s general funds, Nathan is not to blame. The city council and the mayor are. According to the city charter, the city administrator recommends a budget to the mayor, the mayor makes changes to the budget, and the city council amends and approves the budget. In other words, the city council and the mayor have the final say in the allocation of general funds to city departments. If you have a problem with the way Jefferson City spends its money, I suggest that you attend the City’s budget meetings and voice your opinion.

JCLifer 9 months, 2 weeks ago

The city does not have a funding problem. The city has an out of control SPENDING problem.

For example, how much of our taxes did they waste on Transformation stuff this past year? Many other suggestions of pork have been suggested where they can cut funding. Citizens have had to cut back and tighten their belts and learn to live on less. Why is it so hard for the government to do so as well?

Sequoia 9 months, 2 weeks ago

The law prohibits government employees from advocating or opposing legislation. I read the email. To me it reads very clearly like an advocacy. That's the big issue here.

Moreover, the email was a very poor decision. It communicated just enough information to raise a bunch of questions, but not enough information to answer them. There was absolutely no reason for him to send the email, so why did he do it?

Beyond the possible violation of the law, the email shows poor decision making, and poor communication skills. If he was trying to inform people, he did a very poor job of informing them, and a great job of making them wonder what the heck was actually going on.

I'd fire the guy in a heartbeat.

The notion that money would "potentially" be freed up is not the same as the money, "in fact" being freed up. The actual revenue collected from a sales tax depends on how many sales there are. If a few less people buy a few less things, that forty thousand bucks is gone. But the fact that he was talking about such a small margin was not mentioned in the email, and in fact the email was worded to suggest that he didn't actually know what that margin was. That's what was so dumb about the email. It raised a question but didn't provide the answer. Now people are talking about some "secret plan," when in truth we're talking about MAYBE an extra forty thousand bucks out of a $6.5-ish million budget.

For gosh sakes, people: Think a minute before you hit "send." What are you trying to say? What's the point? Do you REALLY need to say it? Have somebody look at it first. Talk to someone. Listen to your gut... it will save your arse.

I'm sure the city has a very fine attorney. A brief visit to the attorney's office before hitting "send" might have saved the poor guy a lot of trouble. I'm sure he's a great guy and a good public servant. Another example of how one ill-conceived email can have huge consequences.

beyondthewheel 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Seq- interesting arguments. Nathan Nickolaus used to be the City Attorney, so I'm sure he thought before he hit send.

You are correct that Nathan couldn't predict with exact certainty how much money could be freed up. Pope can't be 100% certain of his point, either. However the information that Nathan provided was most likely based on reports from City staff members which were not unreasonable for him to rely upon. By the way, the 40K that could potentially be saved was an estimate for the 2013 budget year only.

In regard to your statements about government employee speech, I understand why you might be inclined to view the email as advocacy. However, the legal issues aren't all cut and dried. Under Missouri law interpreting the statute you referenced, a public official may disseminate factual information about a ballot measure. Mr. Nickolaus did not tell city employees how to vote. He spoke simply in terms of facts. Additionally, if you believe his statements in the newspaper, the City has a past practice of allowing such speech.

willows 9 months, 2 weeks ago

WHY DOESN'T POPE STEP DOWN?? SEEMS LIKE A MR. KNOW IT ALL DURING SESSIONS..NATHAN HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB FOR THE CITY..LEAVE HIM IN HIS POSITION..CERTAINLY BETTER THAN THE LAST ADMINISTRATOR...

viktorkowski 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Just to reinforce what I said yesterday, I still don't see some sinister plot. There is no substance to this carnival show.

rj27 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Most of the needs that they want to raise taxes for could have been funded with the money spent trying to promote new funding sources.Hundreds of thousands have been spent on studies of things that the citizens have been very clear they do not want.Not on actual projects,just studies.Architect drawings of convention centers,adrians island,tunnels under railroad tracks that they may not even get permission to build.Seems to be a mentality that if they can see a rendering of it they will love it.When all essential services are funded and a properly funded emergency fund is in place then they can talk about adding bells and whistles.Voting taxpayers have been very clear and vocal about this for some time.Take care of the needs not the wants.

RTWise 9 months, 1 week ago

Amen to that (And I'm not a particularly religous person)

centerguy56 9 months, 2 weeks ago

You make a good point about money spent on projects that might or did not happen but you make a leap that gets you in trouble! the leap is believing that the "hundreds of thousands" (as you say) would fund the needs as you suggest. In addition you mention "essential services". Please explain what that is and then tell us how far this 1-time money would go to funding those services. Have you looked at the Mayors proposed budget for this next year? get a copy and take a shot at doing what you suggest!

rj27 9 months, 1 week ago

The problem is it isnt one time money.The studies and proposals keep coming.As soon as one fails another is trotted out to replace it.A pig is still a pig no matter what color you paint it!Seems that every elected official wants a big shiny legacy to leave behind for the world to see.Safety first then functional.When those needs are met then we can talk about want lists.

centerguy56 9 months, 1 week ago

Sure it is one time money vs on going budgets.....why dont you take a look at the mayors budget and let us know what you would do instead? it is easy to make these very generalized talking point statements instead of making the difficult decisions the Mayor and council have to. When you give us some specifics your comments might have more credibility.

tonto_goldberg 9 months, 1 week ago

What does it say about us when there is such a frenzy to fire a guy for telling the truth?

centerguy56 9 months, 1 week ago

Agree tonto but he should have said it before to the public when he had the chance last week on KWOS!

tonto_goldberg 9 months, 1 week ago

I am just guessing and being mean for a bit, but maybe he didn't have a new job lined up last week when he was on KWOS.

spelchek 9 months, 1 week ago

I think the truth was defined differently between Mr. Pope and Nickolaus thus creating a huge communication breakdown at the 11th hour as noted by the NT.

readerofnews 9 months, 1 week ago

i don't comment very often on here, but just like to read and catch up on the news and other peoples' debates...which have valid points and some are completely absurd. First and foremost, I was in favor of Prop 2. The number one reason, it was a sales tax...anybody in the city limits was going to benefit. Have you not been in morning rush hour traffic where everyone outside is commuting on 3 majors highways to get inside. All those people who buy merchandise, lunch, or whatever...would have contributed with their purchases, increasing revenue for Jeff City from this "SALES TAX" if it would have passed.I hate paying taxes as just much as anyone else, but I try to make a decision that benefits "the best for the community" when I vote. In this decision, I went and visited a fire station to get a better idea of why we they needed updated equipment and my conclusion was a yes vote.

Now, on the topic of our city adminstrator and council...this is just government. Did the city adminstrator skewed voters opinion, I think so. Does his head need to be on a chopping block? I don't think that is necessary, but he should have provided this information to the public in the beginning and not at the last minute. The really disappointing part I see in all of this, is everyone has an opinion...yet the voter turnout percentage was really low. Which leads me to believe that 60-70% of the population really don't care what happens in this town. We could vote a brand new council in and find a new adminstrator, but would it really change anything? I really don't think so, councils come and go, it's a thankless job in a nut shell. The cost of doing business or living is on the rise, while revenues (home or business) keeps getting smaller and smaller. I personally feel sorry for future generations, their future doesn't look bright at all if these economic conditions continue onward.

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