Resident says city leadership has fallen into a funk

With all the issues currently ongoing in Maricopa, one would think the public might have a thing or two to say.

One resident at Tuesday night’s council meeting had some things to say to the council. As Anthony Smith sees it, the city’s leadership has fallen into a funk. A Maricopa resident for four years, Smith is chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“There has been some momentum lost in the last year to year and a half,” Smith said during the public’s opportunity to speak. “The incidents with the city hall decision, the firefighters’ brawl at Ramsey’s and a possible exploitation by a councilmember are just some of these issues that have detracted from the business of the city. I feel an opportunity has been missed to take advantage of the development slump and progressively put together some strategies and plans to move the city forward.”

Councilman Kelly Haddad said he thought Smith’s comments on distractions for council were pretty much right on.

“I think with the issues we have to face over the next couple of months, until we hire a city manager… once we accomplish hiring a city manager and trying to get things back on focus, I think all of this will have been for the better,” Haddad said. “I think you will see a drastic change. You can’t deny there have been distractions that have taken from the business at hand. Hopefully all the employees can get back on track and quit worrying about all the soap opera going on.”

Vice-Mayor Brent Murphree felt Smith’s comments were accurate on the city being distracted.

“I think that there have been some things that have gotten in the way of the dynamic, forward movement that we had in the beginning,” Murphree said. “Part of it is what we’ve been caught up in terms of council members and their interests. It is so unfortunate with the mess we’re bogged down in.”

Murphree believes the hiring of a full-time city manager will help the city regain some of its focus in moving forward. “It is unfortunate that Roger (Kolman) has to divide his time doing what he is doing, you know, either or. We’re better when we’re focused.” Kolman is currently serving as the interim city manager.

Councilman Joseph Estes, who has been targeted with a recall petition for alleged abuse of his council position, said he believes city leadership has gotten bogged down on second guessing itself and making ultimate decisions.

“There are a lot of issues that the city is dealing with,” Estes said. “It almost seems like it is Murphy’s Law…whatever can go wrong will go wrong. City departments though are still operating as normal as far as I’m aware of.”

With five of the seven council members having land interests in Maricopa, Smith sees challenges in getting every day business done.

“Some progress on city projects has been stalled due to a number of one or more of the council members declaring a conflict of interest,” Smith said. “While it is right to declare a conflict of interest, I think it still is a distraction and it eliminates them from being able to participate in the arena of ideas. I encourage all council members to place a moratorium on any financial interests that may be a conflict of interest during the rest of their term in office. Council members should stop dealing directly with city staff on projects that have their involvement. If not improper, it is a distraction and can be interpreted by some city staffers as an influence. Our elected officials should put the people’s interests before their own. Let’s regain the momentum and move forward,” Smith added.

Haddad said he doesn’t see the majority of council members owning land in town being a distraction.

“Should a council member not be allowed to do business in the city where he resides,” Haddad offered. “No, I don’t think that is fair. You’re always going to have conflicts of interest. I’ve had a couple and I don’t think that anyone that has sat up there hasn’t had a conflict. I think the conflicts that have occurred are the same ones over and over again.”

Addressing Smith’s remarks on council members doing business in town, Estes noted, “As to the comment that no city leader should ever do business in the city of Maricopa or deal directly with city employees, I thought it was completely irresponsible. I mean to expect your city leadership to not do business in the city. I would want my city leadership doing business in my city and showing support. Do you want that business taken to other cities?” Estes asked.

Speaking with inmaricopa.com on Wednesday, Smith said he would love to see more debate among the council members at the meetings. At Tuesday’s meeting, several council members traded thoughts back and forth on some of the issues, something that is not always witnessed at the meetings.

“I found that (Tuesday evening’s discussion) refreshing,” Smith said. “There have been allegations that some of the issues are thoroughly discussed before they get to the meetings. If that’s true, that is inappropriate. It just takes away the idea of open meetings. It was just good to hear the discussion.”

“The nature of the beast is that we do not make instantaneous decisions on the spot,” Murphree noted. “We’re called to talk, to research, and understand exactly what the issues are and come prepared to the meeting.”

Asked if we’ll see some new council members down the road, Smith said he is hoping there are some good quality candidates out there.

“Just for the sake of continued growth, we need to have unbiased people serving who are looking out for the best interests of the people,” Smith said. “I’m not saying people shouldn’t do their business, I’m just saying maybe not have your direct financial interests deal with the city.”

Smith would also like to see the public get more involved with voting next time around.

“People need to register to vote,” Smith said. “The last election was significantly under represented. If people will get in tune with the issues, register to vote and elect the type of council they want, I trust the electorate will make the right decisions.”