Bozeman city commissioner calls for mayor's resignation - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Bozeman City Commissioner Terry Cunningham is requesting Mayor Chris Mehl resign after the release of hundreds of documents that allege Mehl bullied and abused city staff and interfered with the city administration.
“I am calling upon Mr. Mehl to resign from his office effective immediately,” Cunningham said in a news release on Friday. “His actions have brought dishonor to himself, his office, and, by extension, the city commission.”
Mehl said on Friday morning that he does not plan to step down. He started his two-year term as mayor in January and previously spent two years as deputy mayor.
He said he looks forward to discussing the documents at a city commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
“We need to get past the assertions,” Mehl said. “So we can move forward, not just myself but also the community.”
He added that he is encouraged that city manager Jeff Mihelich has said his relationship with the mayor and city commission has been going well since he became Bozeman’s top administrator in late May.
In requesting Mehl’s resignation, Cunningham listed nine incidents, which are detailed in the documents, that he said indicated Mehl’s behavior repeatedly violated the city charter and was contrary to how elected officials should act.
The incidents include a statement from former city manager Andrea Surratt saying Mehl’s behavior was a “key factor” in her resignation in December. She also listed several times in which Mehl allegedly interfered with her running the city, a violation of the city charter.
Interim city manager Dennis Taylor, who held the position in 2017 and again after Surratt left, said he considered resigning and declined a temporary position with the county pandemic response team at the end of his city contract because he didn’t want to work with Mehl, according to the documents.
Emails also show Mehl violated Bozeman’s emergency response structure for the coronavirus pandemic, causing members of the incident command team to complain about Mehl’s actions to Taylor, who asked him to stop interfering.
The released documents also include emails that show “Mr. Mehl’s conduct appears to have precipitated a number of resignations among city staffers, including senior members of staff,” Cunningham said.
He also said the city commissioners tried to rectify the situation by holding a meeting in December at which they publicly adopted “norms of behavior,” but Mehl continued to ignore them.
When the documents were released on Thursday, Cunningham declined to say whether he would ask Mehl to step down.
Then on Friday, in the news release, he said, “Enough is enough.”
The three other city commissioners have yet to speak out about the documents. Commissioners I-Ho Pomeroy and Michael Wallner declined to comment before Tuesday’s meeting. Deputy Mayor Cyndy Andrus didn’t return a phone call.
Tuesday’s meeting is at 6 p.m. and will be held virtually.
Cunningham said he is ready to testify during the meeting that Mehl bullied and intimidated him.
Several female members of the public are also prepared to document that Mehl was “hostile and abusive toward them,” Cunningham said.
No action, such as voting on removing Mehl from office, will occur at Tuesday’s meeting. However, the discussion could lead commissioners to schedule another meeting where action could be taken.
Bozeman lawyer John Kauffman requested the city documents in April through the Freedom of Information Act on behalf of clients whom he declined to identify. He received a set of documents in June, which led him to make a second request. He said he was sent a second set of documents on Thursday.
Per city protocol, the city attorney notified the city commissioners in recent weeks about the release of the documents, Cunningham said.
After reading the documents, the city commission requested Mihelich, the city manager, to schedule a meeting at which they could be discussed.
2020-09-04 20:00:00Z
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/bozeman-city-commissioner-calls-for-mayors-resignation/article_c297f7be-b5a4-5528-b811-4c3a3935e310.html
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