PETITIONERS’ STATEMENT: (Exactly as stated on Recall Petition)

Jeff Long and other Council members fired the City Manager without cause on June 26th.

Very recently the council gave Mr. Spies a good evaluation, a 3-year contract, a raise, and this following good ratings over his tenure.

These councilors violated TRC Section 2.06.10 by taking this action during "other business".

"Action shall not be taken until a subsequent meeting unless deemed urgent". The reason this is in our code is to give citizens notice, allowing them a chance to respond. Action was not deemed urgent by the council and was acted upon anyway. Citizens were not allowed to respond nor was Mr. Spies given a chance to defend himself against unsubstantiated claims made by councilors.

The city has lost considerable monies due to severance pay and other associated costs of firing without cause. The cost of a temporary Manager will likely be more costly than paying a permanent Manager. A lawsuit against the City would also be very costly.

These councilors have given no justification for costing the citizens this money. They have continually advanced their own personal agendas with complete disregard for the consequences.

This spontaneous dismissal flies in the face of fairness and proper personnel practices.

STATEMENT OF JUSTIFICATION: (Exactly as submitted by Jeff Long)

In my opinion Mr. Spies misrepresented the interests of the community. Some of the specific issues are:

1) Told former property owner, without Council authorization, the City would take condemnation action if the owner refused to grant the City rights-of-way. This led to the owner selling to a developer.

2) Approved issues related to the Calpine application contrary to the City’s land use rules, without seeking approval of the Council or the Planning Commission.

3) Telling the Council on numerous occasions that if it authorized Staff to pursue an enterprise zone on Calpine’s behalf the Council could withdraw at any time. When the council consided withdrawal Spies said it was legally too late to do so.

4) Allowed total clear-cutting in the Well’s subdivision, after telling Council and Planning Commission the only trees to be cut were for street location.

5) His continual attempt to control the council, planning commission and committees, is direct violation of Turner’s City Charter.

When elected to the Council, voters didn’t state I’d have to vote the way certain people demanded, but it now appears that’s why I’m on the recall ballot.