2014-06-23 Reg - Laserfiche WebLink

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th to step up and take responsibility for their actions. He stated that on May 12 Mr. Kraft promised that moving forward this would never happen again and in less than a month’s th time, it happened again. Mr. Crow stated that the Mayor’s letter of May 15 stated that no action had been taken against Mr. Kraft because he had apologized. Mayor Welsch’s letter stated, “However if there are any future occurrences I will be recommending to City Council that sanctions be imposed upon you as a disciplinary action.” How long is Council supposed to wait for the Mayor to take action? Mr. Crow said it was time to take the vote and move forward. Dr. Carr stated that although she understands Mr. Jenning’s suggestion about a retreat, and was willing to participate. She believed that it might be helpful to repair the fracture on this Council, but was certain that ignoring this issue would bring about any kind of resolution with respect to inappropriate behavior would not help. Dr. Carr stated that last week Ms. Martin sent the following email to every member of Council, “Mayor Welsch and Council, I cannot attend the Council meeting tonight, but I wanted to reiterate my support of Resolution 2014-35. Mr. Kraft’s actions recently are inappropriate, as I have said, and I believe that the Council needs to make a public statement about inappropriate behavior by members of the Council. Not doing so condones such behavior and actions. Thank you.” Dr. Carr stated that this is the request of many of her constituents and therefore she is against postponing the resolution indefinitely. She stated that she is in favor of attending a retreat or a series of retreats, but thought the problem needed to be addressed tonight. Mr. Kraft stated that last week his wife and son were verbally and physically assaulted while leaving this chamber. He stated that this attack is but one of a number of personal, slanderous and violent attacks that began in February. He stated that his wife has been subjected to misinformed comments like, “I won’t vote for your husband because he’s anti-gay and anti-Semitic”. He is a strong supporter of gay rights and is Jewish. He stated that when he disagreed about the cost of the firefighters’ wage demands, his opponent spent at least $10,000 on mailers that called him “a bold-faced liar” and accused him of perjury. Mr. Kraft stated that the comments became dangerous to his wife when somebody wrote, “You have my sympathy. I wish your husband was dead.” He stated that these attacks have continued unabated even after the campaign and have now culminated into a criminal assault on his son. Mr. Kraft stated that these actions have taken a significant emotional toll and he has not always handled each situation well. So he would like to apologize to everyone for any of his mistakes. He stated that as a healthcare professional he does have access to resources that will help him deal with the emotional trauma, but at this point his emotional trauma is offset by the need to help the community. Mr. Kraft stated that his hope is that this is the last of the politically motivated measures and that Council can begin to focus on things that every member can all agree on, like the budget. Mr. Jennings stated that as a parent and former school board member, his experience led him to make a comment that he will probably get a lot of heat for; we all really need to grow up. He stated that in his short term on this Council he has witnessed inappropriate behavior by Councilmembers as well as residents. That is what he meant about hitting the reset button. Mr. Jennings stated that years ago he made a choice to renounce violence and hatred and that choice has impacted his life. He stated that he thought everyone in this room needed to make a choice to change and which was why he suggested a retreat. Members of Council need to discuss their anger, work on communication skills, Robert’s Rules, or anything else that needed attention, so that everyone on this dais can learn how to lead and be better examples.