This editorial is from today's Joplin Globe:
We’re pretty sure that if you surveyed cities and counties across the United States, you would find all of them struggling to balance budgets and pay the bills. Their reasons usually have to do with the state of the economy.
But this week, Neosho City Manager Jan Blase provided a new excuse for Neosho’s financial shortfalls. He blames mold.
Snickers and bad jokes were being heard all over the area shortly after a report was released from Neosho City Hall in which Blase states: “I believe that excessive mold spore levels at City Hall severely affected the health of the finance director and the city manager, and that the exposure to high levels of mold spores affected overall performance. The vents in the city manager office were not hooked to a distribution system, and that forced all air in the attic directly unto the city manager every time any unit turned on at the request of a thermostat.”
We’re not laughing. We see nothing funny about the situation. In essence, the city manager is not making an excuse. He’s making a veiled threat. We translate this to read: “Try and fire me, and I’ll sue over a mold issue.”
Asked for further information Monday, Blase told the Globe that “everybody (at City Hall) was sick” because of the mold, that he himself suffered from allergies, that he was “ill” for “many” months, and that he suffered from a “compromised” immune system.
We asked for medical documents, but Blase said they pertained to personnel.
The city’s general fund, which pays for city operations except the golf course and water and sewer service, has borrowed from airport hangar loan money, from the water and sewer fund, from hotel/motel tax revenues, and from city sales taxes owed to the town’s Tax Increment Financing district.
Blase last month acknowledged that he used a state loan reserved for construction of new hangars at the airport to make payroll and pay city bills. He said he had not communicated well with the council on the matter.
That admission by Blase is troubling all by itself. His mold defense, however, is insulting to the residents of Neosho.
Blase also said his “ethics” might be to blame for the city’s financial disarray. He said, “It seemed ethical to meet the city’s obligations and then manage the shortage.”
What would have been more ethical would have been for Blase to let the council in on how he was handling the shortages.
In our view, Blase lacks the credibility to stay in the position of city manager. If he really wants to do the ethical thing, he should resign.
Thanks for posting this, Richard. I know that you are working on this issue and I hope that it will be resolved before more money is misused!
ReplyDeleteDo you have an opinion on this article?
ReplyDeleteResign my hind leg....some people ought to have the back bone to fire him...don't give him the luxury of resigning.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that it should never have gone this far. Now there is no public trust whatsoever. A city manager can't, or should not be able to misappropriate funds without a check and balance system in place. The more the council has stonewalled on getting rid of Mr. Blase, the worse things look and the less trust the public has in the council.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I am not a member of Neosho Forums but I agree with a lot they have to say. When I read the statement our mayor had to say at the council meeting in the paper, all I could think was that he should have spent that time apologizing for using the term, "real Neosho" instead of letting his anger get the best of him. That was something he never should have said but I think most people are reasonable and can understand saying something that should not have been said. However, once he made that statement and did not apologize or try to make amends, he compounded the original insult.