City Council meeting Oct. 15

Oct.15, 2013
The City Council meeting this evening was, in spite of Mayor Loosen's tactics to keep it from being, a circus. It was attended by over 60 people and was held in the City Hall auditorium.  All City Council persons were present except for Richard Hightower. 

The Mayor started the meeting by saying he would not listen to any comments from the public until after the meeting, until after all matters had been voted on.  That  kind of defeats the purpose of a "public meeting", and there were several objections from the audience to that mandate. But the Mayor ignored those who tried to speak up.  The Mayor did not repeat his warning to the public to not record anything during the meeting.

The subject in contention was the appointment of Chris Teply as new Police Chief.  Evidently, not many of the Watonga Police Officers are in favor of hiring Chris Teply and two officers tried to express their dissatisfaction, but the Mayor would hear none of it.  Mayor Loosen stated that, in spite of the Police Committee being unable to make a recommendation for police chief, he was going to name Chris Teply as new Chief.  (The Police Committee is comprised of three City Council persons, and the vote at the committee meeting was 1 vote for Teply, 1 vote for Almaguer, and 1 vote for a candidate named Cancemi.)  Then he called for a vote of the City Council and Teply was approved by one vote.

The question that several people tried to raise was whether or not Mayor Loosen followed the proper procedure in dismissing/firing John Massey from his position as police chief.  And in fact, he did not follow proper procedure (according to the City's employee manual and, some say, the City Code) but it is Clay's opinion that he does not have to follow procedure -- he says he has the power, as Mayor, to hire and fire without city council approval. Though he brought Teply's appointment to the Council for approval, he did not ask for a vote of city council to approve his firing of John Massey.  Mayor Loosen said he didn't need to get a vote -- he told the meeting last night that he had talked about his reasons for firing John Massey in executive session and that's all he needed to do.  Both Kendra Baker and Edna Justice commented that there had not been a "vote" to approve his action in that executive session.

Most of the other discussion of items on the agenda were inaudible except for some discussion about hiring a new financial director.  Doyle Province is against hiring a new person, in spite of the variances in monthly charges billed by RS Meachum, the current CPA firm that the City employs.  This was not an action item on the agenda, so there was nothing to be voted on by the Council this evening. 

The Mayor then called out Andy Barrett, and complained that the Liberty theatre windows had been "defaced" without the City's permission.   Mr. Barrett replied that he had been commissioned by the Watonga Theatre Board to do that art work, and he asked Mr. Mayor if  he didn't like it. The Mayor replied that whether or not he liked it didn't matter; that Mr. Barrett should have asked permission from the City to do the etching.  Mr. Barrett again referred him to Patt Curtin and the Watonga Theatre Board if Clay has any questions about the work done at the Theatre.  A NOTE:  Clay Loosen was not the Mayor when the Watonga Theatre Board asked for permission of the City Council to renovate the front of the theatre building -- and in fact the City even voted to expend funds for the renovation!   Now, at the urging of some unknown malcontent (though we all know who is whispering in the Mayor's ear), Clay Loosen wants to complain about the artwork because HE wasn't asked for permission or for approval of the design. The Theatre Board and Mr. Barrett have been working on the theatre renovations for over two years and this is the first time anyone from the City has had anything to say about it!  [Ed.note - this is merely an attempt at more retribution by the Mayor and Ms.Nitzel against me for standing up to the City for their illegal and unethical actions, and only serves to bring their wrong actions more vividly into the public eye. /Linda]

Throughout the meeting there were calls from the audience for a "recall" of the Mayor, and at the end a contingent was asking for an investigation of our City government by the Oklahoma Attorney General.