* Mayor Truitt left the dais right after the preceding workshop and did not attend the regular council meeting. No reason given for his absence.

Good evening Vice Mayor Hall* and members of this council.

My name is Bill Lipscomb. I am proud to be a 23 year resident of the City of Surprise, and I am also proud to be associated with a group of concerned Surprise citizens called ORCA.

I come before you this evening to – again – express a serious and continuing concern of not only mine but of many others.

On April 24 of last year, your I-GOV (Intergovernmental Relations) Director came before this council and “intentionally” tried to mislead you with statements which he knew were false. This fact was disclosed when a contracted person filed a Notice of Claim against this Director, certain members of this council, and certain members of city staff. When commenting to the newspapers regarding his false and misleading statements made to the council, in particularly in response to questions asked by Councilman Hall, this Director stated, “Could I have answered the question better? Absolutely.”

Upon learning of this deception, only Councilman Hall expressed his resentment of being lied to by this Director. However, the rest of you seemed to have simply shrugged it off as if it were no big deal, and – unfortunately – that appears to be your lethargic and cavalier demeanor even today on this issue.

You may not appreciate this, but let me share this with you anyway: When any employee – especially a Director of a Department – intentionally lies or purposely tries to mislead any of you, he or she is in fact lying to me and to the face of every citizen in this city! Don’t forget, you are representatives of the people. You are us, and we are you.

Referencing the City of Surprise Employee Manual, Section 9.1., General Rules of Conduct, subsection A.3.(i), it describes this violation as, “Dishonesty or dishonest actions, including but not limited to: lying, deceitfulness, making false statements.”

Policy 10.1, Corrective Action Principles, states: For a violation of Group One, false testimony/statement, the progressive corrective action for a first offense is, “Disciplinary action, including termination of employment.”

The city’s employee policies were created to identify and publicize acceptable and unacceptable behavior and performance of employees and the actions that could be taken against those committing violations of policy. Those in positions of authority, including this council, are to ensure compliance with these policies by all employees. However, is it apparent that this council seems to be selective in just how these policies are implemented, who you will hold accountable to these policies, and how you will go about administering corrective action – or not, as appears to be your response to this violation.

As has been publicized recently with reference to the recent “whistleblower” ordinance proposal, a particular employee came forward to inform her superiors of serious violations of professional misconduct, ethics and polices by this Director. Instead of being applauded for having the character, sense of responsibility and personal integrity for coming forward, she stated that she was ostracized and suffered retaliation, retribution and humiliation by her superiors and certain council members until she simply could not tolerate the hostile work environment and quit.

As you may recall, during the council meeting of December 9^th, 2010, I spoke to this council and asked seven (7) questions concerning the behavior of this Director. Of course, I did not expect any council member to answer my questions since I spoke during the “Call to the Public.” Nevertheless, we (ORCA) left copies of our prepared statement, as requested by the mayor, containing these seven questions with the city clerk. As you know, none of you replied to our questions.

Subsequently, on January 27, 2011, Mr. Chetkauskas, Chairman of ORCA, sent a letter addressed to each of you on council, the city attorney, the city manager, and to the Director of Human Resources again requesting answers to these seven questions. With the exception of Councilman Woodard and City Attorney, Michael Bailey, not one of you had the professional decency to reply.

What about “trust?” Ask yourself …. In the future, when you – as a council – need this Director to provide you with important and factual information regarding his department, will you be able to trust his validity?

Allow me to share a couple more thoughts: Each one of you on council has stressed during your campaigns, during your district coffees, and during other political-social venues, the importance of listening to your constituents and to citizens of this city. You emphasized the important of the people being involved with their city government. However, it appears that the only words you care to listen to are those which are complimentary to you and to the operations of the city. But when citizens have real concerns and legitimate criticisms, and come to share those with you at this microphone, your demeanor often changes to one of annoyance and sometimes even anger. Such demeanor is not conducive to a participative council-citizens city government.

Also, realize this: Just as you have a civic responsibility to carry out your duties as the people’s elected representatives, we, too, have a civic duty, and that is to watch over those who govern us. If things are going well, we should applaud your performance. If, however, things are going wrong, “we, the people,” need to convey to you our discontent and grievances. Again, that’s “our” civic responsibility.

In closing, it is sad to say, but this “Director-false statements issue” does call into question as to the degree by which this council and our city government is being responsive, ethical, transparent, and most importantly, “accountable.”

I wish you a congenial and productive session. Good Evening.