Analysis/Commentary

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Williston City Manager Jackie Gorman continues to blunder along making her own rules and disregarding ordinances and procedures the city council has adopted to govern the city.

            Her recent decision to produce public records for Spotlight before notifying the news organization of what the anticipated costs might be is a violation of the city’s public records copy request ordinance.

            “Upon payment by the person requesting the copies, the city shall produce the requested copies as soon as possible,” the ordinance states. Gorman did just the opposite, copying the records and then notifying Spotlight of the costs.

            The Williston City Council should be commended for having the foresight to adopt this ordinance in 1998 with procedures that were intended to avoid this type of conflict.

            As written, the ordinance gives the requesting person the cost estimate in advance before any records are copied and before any research is done by staff so the requesting person has the option of rejecting the proposed costs. It avoids wasting staff time researching records and copying the records if the requesting party doesn’t agree with the costs.

            The questions Spotlight sent Gorman on April 11 asking for information surrounding the Tractor Supply Gift cards made no mention of requesting city records. The email was written in that manner because of a suggestion offered by Council President Debra Jones in a text on March 25. Jones said rather than Spotlight continuing to file public records requests for information about the 38 Tractor Supply gift cards, and not getting what it wanted, she suggested sending Gorman a list of questions instead.

            Spotlight sent the April 11 email to Gorman listing questions about the Tractor Supply gift cards. The city awarded thirty-eight Tractor Supply Gift cards to employees but left out city police, fire, and the airport. There was no mention in the April 11 email of requesting public records. Gorman responded through City Clerk Latricia Wright that the records she had retrieved and staff researched were available at City Hall for $61.80.

            The frustrating reality of dealing with a city manager who wants to do everything her way regardless of what city ordinances require poses challenges for the public and the news media.

            Gorman’s decision to copy the records and charge for staff time researching them without notifying Spotlight in advance of the costs sets a precedent for the future and sends a message that if you don’t bow on bended knee to kiss the ring of the political queen of Williston, Jackie Gorman, it will cost you money.

            City Attorney Kiersten Ballou made matters worse at the June 7 city council meeting when she announced that her legal research indicated the city wouldn’t be required to honor any future public records requests by Spotlight until the copying fee was paid. Apparently, she hadn’t read the city public records request ordinance or was misled by Gorman about how all of this came about.

            Spotlight clearly should have been given an advance estimate of costs and a chance to refuse to pay the fee, but under Gorman’s administration it was all done the opposite way in order to achieve her goals, whatever those might be.

            Deputy City Manager Issues

            There are also issues with the way Gorman promoted Human Resources Director Deanna Nelson to deputy city manager.

            In the current city budget for the year 2021/22, there is no mention of the deputy city manager’s position and no funding for the position in the Administration portion of the budget.

            The city manager’s position is listed and funding is provided, but not the deputy city manager.

            When Gorman promoted Nelson, she bypassed a requirement in the Human Resources Manual that says all department heads must advertise any vacant position citywide. Every employee in the city should have a chance to apply for vacancies.

            Gorman said she promoted Nelson to fill an existing position in city government and has the right to ignore the city policy requiring vacancies to be posted internally for five days for all employees to see.

            She claims the position of deputy city manager wasn’t really vacant. It was just a position she hadn’t filled. But what could be more vacant than a position that isn’t even listed in the city budget or funded?

            As it stands now, Nelson is both the deputy city manager and human resources director. It’s unclear whether Gorman gave Nelson a pay raise when Nelson assumed her second position, or where the money came from in the budget if she was given a raise.

            There’s also the question of whether the full city council was involved in the decision-making process to give Nelson both positions or if only Council President Debra Jones was informed of what was taking place in advance of Gorman making the announcement in a council meeting.

            As readers can tell, it is challenging to get information from the city without being entangled in Gorman’s politics. But when taxpayer dollars are possibly being spent without the consent of the full five-member city council, the issue becomes a matter of public concern. It isn’t just Jackie’s world. Gorman can’t pick and choose which members of the council she wants to work with and ignore everyone else.

            Spotlight read several emails where Gorman wasn’t respectful to a council member who was asking questions of her. She talked down to the council member from the perspective of a journalist reading the email chain. That particular council member apparently isn’t among the majority that runs the city.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt June 20, 2022; Posted June 20, 2022