From: Dan Huff

Sent: Mon Jul 20 08:51:38 2020

To: Chaunee Seifried

Cc: Gerald Fisher

Subject: FW: Jimmy Thompson

Importance: Normal

From: Leota Childress <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 7:43 PM

To: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>; Keith Swigart <kswigart@cityofmolalla.com>; Elizabeth Klein <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: Jimmy Thompson

I know the three of you don't follow fb so I'll give you an update on what he's saying now. If any of you have any comments that I can include in my retort to him, you can note them.

What a jerk! Oh, but we already knew that. I'll be working on responses to each of his claims. Seems my days are filled with setting the record straight.

So... this is Jimmy's post on his Thompson for Mayor page.

People First.

Simple. Direct. Unequivocal.

Let’s face it, our city government isn’t what makes Molalla great. It is our citizens and our businesses, our churches and nonprofits, our schools and our students.

Our city government paid 345 of your tax dollars to get the “Distinguished Budget Presentation Award” for doing their job.

Because of the volunteer efforts of our high school students and generous community we were recognized as a finalist as the Nicest Place in Oregon in Reader’s Digest with $430,366 raised over 19 years.

We could learn a lot from our kids.

People need to be put first when making decisions for our community. For some time now, I do not feel that has been the case.

People were not thought of first when the late fee on utility bills was tripled. People were not the first thing in mind when the business license fee was increased 43%, or when the liquor license fee was increased 233%.

In fact, since February of 2019, little has been done by the City at all other than increasing fees. During a pandemic, our City Council had enough time to have a work session to discuss and increase planning fees, to increase the sewer rates, and to temporarily eliminate the need for them to get signatures to run for re-election, but couldn’t find the time to have a discussion about temporarily suspending late fees.

Either the priorities of our current elected officials are misplaced, or that of our city administration is. If it is our administration, we are in even more trouble. The same City Council found time to discuss potentially making it harder to manage the administration. Ironically, that is one of the few jobs the Council actually has.

This is not an attack on Leota or Keith. I genuinely like them both, and both are completely deserving of your respect and appreciation for the time they have selflessly given to our community. However, our charter requiring the weak mayor form of the council-manager style of government, is not also a requirement we have a weak mayor.

In fact, it is just the opposite. It requires we have a stronger mayor since the position has no real authority beyond that of a city councilor.

Why then trade the remainder of your time as a councilor to be the mayor? Your vote carries the same weight in either seat. You can do essentially all the same things. It didn't make sense to me until I saw Keith's announcement he was running for council, right after discussion at the last council meeting of trying to require a super majority to get rid of the city manager.

It is a quite impressive political move, actually. Leota keeps a seat regardless of the results of the election. Keith is running for one of three seats, instead of just one. If either win, they maintain a majority of the current council. If they both win, they get to decide who fills Leota's seat for the next two years.

Leota says she will continue the work they've been doing. Keith says Leota will pick up where he left off. If you like the deferring to city staff and approving whatever fee or rate increases they bring forward with little to no questioning, you absolutely should vote for one of them, or both even.

These staff "experts" once recommended a 20% increase in water rates. I reviewed the financials and the capital improvement plan, and could only find justification for 12%. I confirmed my findings with staff, and provided my research to Council. Without proper oversight, we play a dangerous game.

I won't defer to staff "experts". (A stab at me for saying I will educate myself on the issues, and advocate for People First. I will hold city staff accountable, as our Mayor should.

This comment is in reply to my reply to Hendy Lund Appleton (another thorn in my side) Hendy Lund Appleton You have asked several very complex questions. I don't have an immediate answer to all of them but will do some research and post my findings on my Leota Childress for Mayor group page. (Thank goodness for experts. I get their information then convert it to laymen's language. I don't speak engineer-ease or legal-ease.)

I will share the GOOD NEWS that we have gotten the cost of the plant down to $27.7 million. We have lowered the projected cost increases to rate payers by over 50%.

Please be patient with me as I gather some basic answers to your in-depth questions.

There is a vast amount of information on this and other subjects on the City website.

I will share the GOOD NEWS that we have gotten the cost of the plant down to $27.7 million. We have lowered the projected cost increases to rate payers by over 50%.

Please be patient with me as I gather some basic answers to your in-depth questions.

There is a vast amount of information on this and other subjects on the City website.

In a text message: Me: You are picking and choosing, and taking things out of context, but that's what political candidates often do. I will eventually reply to all your comments on my page. But, you did get personal when you pointed out that my daughter was appointed to the Budget Committee, without saying there was nothing illegal about it. I hope we don't have to go back too far with personal things about our opponent that would make one look bad in the public eye.

Him: Leota, you know me pretty well I think. You know my heart. I completely apologize if the issue with Christy came off as personal. It wasn't. I spent about 5 hours reviewing minutes, agendas, and video of what has happened since I left, and took notes on things I thought were interesting. I just shared my notesI didn't say it was illegal. To be completely honest, I have no clue if it is or not. I have never appointed a family member to a board. If you confirmed with the ethics commission and the city attorney that there were no issues, I am happy to add a disclaimer. In fact, if you'd prefer, you can tell me what you would like to say about it and I will happily add that to it.

Let me know what you would like me to do about the budget committee issue

Leota Childress

City Council President

City of Molalla

503.829.6855