ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council has come under criticism after individual councilors — responding to a consultant’s survey — listed a small vocal minority, the media and unprofessional employees as weaknesses in the city.
Councilors, however, say that their responses have been taken out of context and were just part of an exercise used to help the council develop a vision statement for the city.
The City Council’s meeting Oct. 22 at the public library began with a human resources consultant hired by the city, Laurie Bouchard, going over a raw list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats submitted to her by councilors.
Among the initial weaknesses listed by the individual councilors were “lack of professionalism among staff — this takes on different forms: staff shouting, being insubordinate, refusing to accept City Council policy decisions, going behind management’s back to council.”
Other weakness listed were: “Small group of local citizenry continually trying to disrupt progress with fear-mongering that everything is a cover up,” and, “Often times poor representation from local press outlets.”
The weaknesses, however, do not end up being listed in the council’s vision statement, which was drafted by the end of the Oct. 22 meeting.
That draft vision for Rockland states, “By June 30, 2018, the City of Rockland will be known as a place where public officials, private citizens and the press work together, with optimism, trust and collaboration, to create and promote the region’s unique assets and quality of life. Collectively, we have a strong legislative voice and are succeeding in our advocacy at the state level.”
City officials later took offense at how their efforts were characterized in an article about the meeting published in the Rockland-based newspaper The Courier-Gazette. City Manager James Chaousis issued a press release on Oct 27 criticizing the reporter for staying for only one hour of the three-hour-long meeting and then writing about the list of weaknesses and not about the draft vision statement that came out in the end,
Chaousis then stressed that the vision statement “demonstrates a more positive image of the City than that portrayed by the Courier-Gazette.”
He further wrote, “In order to set a vision and goals for the future of an organization, that organization has to be honest with its strengths and weaknesses, even if they are just perceived. Many of the comments presented in the article were terribly out of context, singular statements, and statements that were challenged by the group as we progressed through the workshop.”
Courier-Gazette Editor Dan Dunkle said Friday he stood by his reporting.
“Many of the points made in the story, city government concerns about entrenched city employees, a vocal minority of the public, and a ‘gotcha’ press, were points that were not stated just once, but multiple times during the meeting and in the accompanying documents,” Dunkle said.
The Bangor Daily News also attended only the first hour of the three-hour goal-setting session.
On Tuesday, the BDN sent an email to councilors asking them about the list of weaknesses and strengths and whether they each thought that the local press and a small group of citizens were weaknesses for the city.
Only two councilors responded. Mayor Frank Isganitis referred to the manager’s news release which unveiled the draft vision and criticized news coverage.
“This was discussed at the goal-setting meeting. Had you stayed, there would be no need for your email. Perhaps, we can entice you to stay for the remainder the next time,” Isganitis said. “It’s a complex issue that the five members of council stuck out for three hours. There was a complex discussion that occurred which we sat through. It’s a complex question that can’t be answered in a simple email response.”
“This workshop was about taking in all of these areas and moving the city forward on the best path possible by June 2018,” Councilor William Clayton said after the meeting. He said many of those items listed on the raw data were eliminated from the list as the meeting progressed.
He said he does not know who submitted each list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The Bangor Daily News has requested the individual lists submitted by each councilor but has not been provided that information.
“We all tasked ourselves with finding ways to overcome what is a huge lack of good communication between the council, press and residents,” Clayton said.
Councilors Louise MacLellan-Ruf, Valli Geiger and Larry Pritchett did not respond to requests for comment.
The city contracted with Bouchard earlier this year to advise the city on some personnel issues. The city is paying the human resources consultant $150 per hour for on-site work and $75 per hour when she works remotely.
Several people attended the council’s next meeting on Oct. 28 to react to the weaknesses discussed by the council the previous week.
Resident Kathryn Fogg, who has attended meetings in the past year to voice concerns about proposed city regulations on short-term vacation rentals, introduced herself on Oct. 28 as one of the vocal minority.
“We don’t know what people think if they are silent. Maybe I am a vocal minority of the silent majority,” Fogg said.
Also at the Oct. 28 meeting, resident David Myslabodski, who speaks at many of the council meetings, began criticizing the performance of City Manager Chaousis when he was cut off by Isganitis. Myslabodski countered with criticism of the mayor.
“You are king of the road. You are always interrupting whoever doesn’t agree with you,” Myslabodski said to Isganitis.
Isganitis then signaled for the sound to be turned off for the council meeting, which was being broadcast live on the government access channel. The sound was cut off for nearly two minutes.
After the sound was turned back on, Isganitis said that city laws give the mayor 100 percent discretion to determine what goes too far at meetings and that personal attacks of employees will not be allowed.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, barking at us from the pulpit is the least effective way to communicate with us,” Isganitis said.
The council is expected to vote Nov. 9 to approve the vision statement.